The Black Rose, the West Branch bookstore and cocktail lounge that opened earlier this year, has closed its brick-and-mortar location, owner Ashley Kofoed announced on Sunday on social media.
“This isn’t a goodbye,” she said. “It’s a page turn.” Even without the Main Street store, “the story continues online, where so many of you have already shown us incredible support.”
The two-story Black Rose had its grand opening in June. It featured new and used books, food and drinks, including adult beverages. A visit to “boozy bookstore” The Literary in Champaign, Illinois, helped convince Kofoed that a bar in a bookstore could help create the welcoming atmosphere she was striving for. But her vision for The Black Rose went well beyond that.
“I want to highlight the differences in people,” Koefoed told LV’s Kellee Forkenbrock shortly before the June grand opening.
Forkenbrock described the bookstore’s name as evoking “not just danger and rebellion, but beauty and intimacy — qualities present in many of the diverse, fantastical books Kofoed has in stock.”
Koefoed explained that books had been her safe space growing up, especially when she experienced bullying over her biracial heritage.
“I want The Black Rose to be that same space for anyone who feels othered, to anyone seeking community,” she said.
The Black Rose began developing an online community months before it opened. In March, Koefoed posted a TikTok after her last day as an English teacher at North Central Middle School, in which she talked about being able to shift to working on setting up The Black Rose.
“Today is my first full day in the store,” she said in the TikTok. “I don’t know if you can tell I am blushing, but I am blushing, because I’m living my dream.”
The video went viral on #BookTok.
As The Black Rose transitions to an online store, familiar parts of its Main Street existence will continue, including “Blind Date With a Book experiences, Special boxes, curated collections, & holiday drops and The pieces of The Black Rose that still bring joy, not stress.”
In her post, Koefoed said she wanted to extend her thanks to everyone “whether you visited once, visited often, or found us from miles away through a screen. The love you’ve shown us has meant more than you know.”
“This chapter was full of beauty, struggle, laughter, long nights, and unforgettable moments — but like all stories, it has reached its natural end,” she wrote.
“But endings are not the same as disappearance.”
“The Black Rose lives on — just in a different form.”
