Beloved Lakeside book store may be lost to building demolition

St. Michael’s Catholic Church plans to close and demolish its Lakeside Professional Building this summer. Gabriel’s Used Bookstore, located in the building’s basement, will close this spring if it cannot find a new location. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
Plans to demolish a business center housed in a historic Lakeside school building will displace several organizations, including a beloved bargain book store, this spring.
St. Michael’s Catholic Church announced in December the Lakeside Professional Building, 4915 E. Superior St., has been deemed structurally deficient and will be demolished later this year. The project means the church will close its volunteer-run Gabriel’s Used Bookstore, which has been located in the building basement since 1994.
Offices for an insurance company, a research firm and the Sami Cultural Center are also listed as building occupants. A May 1 deadline has been established to vacate the building.
Gabriel’s Used Bookstore volunteers say they hope to find a new location for the 55,000 books and other media currently packed into the former school cafeteria. The bookstore will continue its long-running $5 bag sale during the search.

Gabriel’s Used Bookstore manager Ann Jorgensen, left, and volunteer Cas Grochowski staffed the store counter on Saturday.
“We’re looking for an angel to come along,” said longtime customer and current store volunteer Cas Grochowski. “If there is a way to rescue us it would be really, really nice to hear.”
Currently a team of 11 volunteers take donations, sort books, stock shelves and help customers during Tuesday through Saturday store operations. Proceeds go to St. Michael’s Church but many of the books are given away to children, teachers and through other programs.
Store manager Ann Jorgensen said the Gabriel’s Used Bookstore is more than a place for readers, she said it has become a community gathering center. Lakeside does not have a public library.
“Our mission for the bookstore has turned into actually making sure that everyone has books available to them,” said Jorgensen. “And we’re also really proud that our bookstore has become a real large draw and community space. People feel like this is their home. This is where they feel comfortable.”
A local piano player sets up a keyboard in the corner most Saturdays to perform background music. Upholstered chairs invite customers to sit and socialize. The store is even open during Thanksgiving for people who do not have commitments or need a family break.

Gabriel’s Used Bookstore is packed with more than 55,000 donated books. The volunteer-run store sells bags of books for $5. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
Jorgensen said the store sees almost 10,000 customers a year, most from Lakeside but some come to hunt books from Chicago, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Donations have increased recently, too. Volunteers process hundreds of boxes of books left at the store every month. Years ago the store would see two or three dozen boxes a month.
“We have a number of people who are older and are downsizing. They come to us because they know their books are going to go to other homes and that we actually treasure what other people give us,” she said.
While store proceeds now go directly to the church, operations also help in other ways. Every child visiting the store receives five free books. The store donates full bags of books to any teacher who needs them and sends books to local jails and prisons. Free books are given to anyone wishing to stock a front yard “little library.”
Jorgensen has volunteered at the bookstore for 12 years and said an uncertain future has been difficult for staff and customers.
“The bookstore for me has become a big part of my community. When I come here I feel a lot more rested and very comfortable with all the other people who are here,” she said. “I think it’s hard for everyone who volunteers here and our customers, it has become so much of their community and family.”
Longtime customer Amy Rutledge stops at the store nearly every Saturday and takes home two or three bags of books. She called the store a peaceful and friendly place that helped her cope with the loss of her husband six years ago.
“This is such a special and unique place,” she said. “It’s such a welcoming, quiet place and I will literally just browse the shelves and lose myself for a day.”
The store plays an important and unique role in the Lakeside neighborhood. For example, in a screen-dominated digital world, young people can learn the value and responsibility of physical ownership.
“It would be a tremendous loss,” Rutledge said. “I really think it’s been an important part of the fabric of the community. It’s a gathering place. People come in here and feel it’s a welcoming haven, a sanctuary — our lives have become so busy.”
“Books are treasures,” she said. “This idea of making books accessible to everyone — certainly libraries do that — but this is a case where (children) come in and they are actually taking that book home. They’re owning that book.”
Anyone with building space available in Lakeside is encouraged to contact the store during business hours — found on its Facebook site. Jorgensen said if a new location is not found, books will be dispersed to other stores and programs this summer.

St. Michael’s Catholic Church parishioner and Duluth East High School teacher Bert Minwegen, top right, worked with the church to establish Gabriel’s Used Bookstore in a house adjacent to the former St. Michael’s School and current Lakeside Professional Building in 1987. Proceeds from book sales supported St. Michael’s School programs. Minwegen died in 2017. (Photo courtesy of Gabriel’s Used Bookstore)
The St. Michael’s School building is more than 100 years old. Its cornerstone was laid in 1920 and it was operated by the St. Dominican Sisters from Springfield, Illinois as a school from 1923 to 1981, according to the St. Michael’s website.
The Gabriel’s Used Book Store project was launched by St. Michael’s parishioner and Duluth East High School teacher Bert Minwegen in 1987. The store operated for about seven years from a church-owned house just east of its current location. Money raised through book sales originally went to St. Michael’s School, which had relocated into the former Lakeside Elementary School on the corner of Pitt Street and 47th Avenue East in 1982. The grade school closed permanently in 2017 consolidating students at Stella Maris Academy at Holy Rosary.
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