Closing the Book: Gabriels’s Bookstore Closes After 40 Years of Serving the Duluth Community

Entrance of Gabriel’s Bookstore on E. Superior St. Photo by Abby Grafmyre

The shelves that once housed generations of books are torn down and the books are packed away at Gabriel’s Bookstore. For 40 years, the bookstore provided Duluth and beyond with affordable books and a great community surrounding it. Books are an essential part of college life and second-hand bookstores are a great place to find them.

Volunteer-run Gabriel’s Bookstore resided in the Lakeside Professional Building, which is set to begin demolition on May 1 due to the need of building repairs. The building is owned and operated by St. Michaels Church and is located at 4915 E. Superior St.

The building is over a century old and issues have been prevalent for years. 

While not at risk of collapsing, the building is  founded on cracking red clay and the boilers and heating system need to be replaced; an estimated $2 million is needed to repair the building entirely. 

“The mission is for everybody to have access to books,” says Ann Jorgensen, a volunteer at Gabriel’s Bookstore.

The bookstore gives away loads of books to people seeking them. Teachers and professors can receive free books for their students.Children can take home up to five free books, and those looking to refill free little libraries can receive books too. The store also provides books to inmates in four jails and two prisons in the Duluth area.

The bookstore makes $24,000 to $26,000 a year and the profits go to the church to continue operations. This makes renting a new space to continue operations unattainable, although another volunteer says it would be possible to operate the bookstore from another location.

David Beard, a professor in the Writing Studies department at UMD, visited Gabriel’s Bookstore every Tuesday to get books for his students. There he chatted with the same shoppers and volunteers, and they have grown to have meaningful connections. Gabriel’s Bookstore provided him with a welcoming community and useful books for his students.

“It was like my neighborhood bar,” Beard says.

Tourists also frequent the bookstore because of the wide-selection of books, all of which are unregulated by the church.

Before Gabriel’s was told of their upcoming closure, there were 55,000 books on the shelves on any given day, and the books always remained affordable. For nearly the last seven years, everyone could purchase a paper grocery bag of books for $5. These are the same paper bags Beard brings to his students to prove poetry is still alive.

Adeline Dahl, a sophomore at UMD, volunteered at Gabriel’s in 2022. She enjoyed the time she volunteered there and recalls the never-ending selection of books. 

“It was such a good place for anyone to get books. It’s sad to see it go,” Dahl said. 

Gabriel’s Bookstore was founded by Bert Minwegen, a missionary who longed to own a bookstore. St. Micheals Church provided him with a space in 1985 that was special to the community until the doors closed on April 30.

Minwegen’s desire to have a bookstore has given a generation access to books and will be missed by many in the Duluth community.