Goodbye, old friend - a farewell to Chicago's last Russian bookstore
I should have expected this. Over the last ten years, right before my eyes, Russian businesses along the section of Devon Avenue between Fairfield and Sarcamento avenues have been vanishing one by one. The Russian residents of West Ridge neighborhood have been moving to the suburbs, and businesses have been moving along with them. When I started attending college, there were three stores that sold Russian books, music and videos. By 2010, it was down to just one.
Yet, for some reason, I always thought that Russian Books would hold out, the way the Italian pizzeria in the Indian-Pakistani section somehow managed to survive for nearly half a century. And the truth is, I've grown to like the store, it's large selection of Russian books in nearly every genre and its equally diverse collection of CDs. This is where I've been buying presents for my mom for years. It may have taken me a while, but I knew that somewhere on its shelves, I would be able to find a perfect book. This is where vladiatorr once got my mom a CD compilation of the songs by Vladimir Vysotski. As recently as last year, this is where I got my mom the DVD of an English-subbed version of Charodei (a Soviet-era holiday classic that, up until then, my family only had on unsubbed VHS).
I've gotten to like the couple that owned the store. I regret to realize now that I don't even remember their names. But I will always appreciate the wife's kindness and the husband's determination to sell me whatever thing he thought a young Russian man like me could use. But most importantly, they were always ready to help the customers any way they could. And, unlike some of the other Russian businesses I won't mention, they didn't may you feel like you didn't belong if they thought you were a non-Russian.
So when I saw that Russian Books was gone, replaced with a carpet store... I was a bit heartbroken.
There are other Russian bookstores, but none of them are in Chicago. None of them are as easy to reach as Russian Books was. None of the ones I've seen have the kind of selection Russian Books did.
I will get a present for my mom. But it will be different now. And I'm still not sure where the heck I'm going to go if I need to find a Russian movie. Or a Russian book that isn't a bestseller or a classic.
Russian Books was the last Russian bookstore in Chicago. And for me, at least, the holiday season isn't going to be quite the same without it