Wordsmith Bookshoppe

When Book World, Inc. based in Appleton, Wisconsin, closed the doors on their 45 stores in the Midwest in January 2018, West Burlington, Iowa Store Manager, Teri Parks, decided that would not be her final chapter. With the support of her husband, John, they began the process of trying to reopen the store. After almost a full year without any support from the community, Teri and John thought they would have to give up their dream of owning a bookstore.

In December 2018, as that chapter closed, they started a new one by looking at Galesburg, Illinois as a potential home to their store. After a single conversation with a local businessperson, Teri and John were soon talking with Knox County Area Partnership for Economic Development who helped to get their story out to banks and to help get a positive response. The following eight months were dedicated to making Galesburg their home again (as Teri is a Galesburg native), and the community embraced the store with open arms at the Grand Opening on August 24th, 2019.