Loomes Theological Bookstore

Some sad news: Loome Theological Booksellers in Stillwater, Minnesota, will be closing. [See, however, update below.]

Here's who they were:

Our bookshop, housed in the beautifully restored Old Swedish Covenant Church in Stillwater, is the largest secondhand dealer of theological books in the world. We supply institutional libraries, monastic communities, churches, clergy, scholars, and collectors with a vast array of books in theology, religion, and all related areas.

They usually housed between 250,000 and 275,000 books packed into the interior of the old church. One of Loome's distinctives was that in the wintertime, it seemed that they barely used any heat at all. For some reason the experience of being able to see your breath and not feel your extremities makes browsing old books all the more enjoyable!

When we lived in Minneapolis, it was one of my favorite dates with my wife to drive to Stillwater and to spend at least an hour getting lost in the stacks for a while. I'm truly sad to see them go, and thankful for this little oasis of resource and enjoyment for this bibliophile!

On the bright side: they are having a closing sale, details of which can be found here.

(HT: James Grant)

Update: Good news. It's only their Antiquarian Bookstore which is closing. [Stillwater is a "book town" with multiple bookstores. The theological granddaddy of bookstores, mentioned above, will still be in business.