River Park Square branch of Auntie’s Bookstore to close

Spokane-based homegrown Auntie’s Bookstore announced it’s closing its River Park Square shop, after three years of not being able to grab enough shoppers in the downtown mall. The final day is Jan. 31. The company’s large downtown central store, at 402 W. Main Ave., is not affected and is doing well, said company founder Chris O’Harra. O’Harra said Auntie’s will continue running a Spokane airport operation. “We just weren’t able to tap into that mall market,” she said. It might be that the RPS shop was too near the other downtown store, O’Harra said. The strongest sales for the RPS store were for children’s books, which makes sense. Auntie’s took over a space on the second floor previously used by Children’s Corner Bookshop. “I still think there’s a market to sell books at the mall,” she added. “We just weren’t able to develop it there.” The mall has not yet identified a tenant for the Auntie’s location. RPS is owned and operated by Cowles Co., which also owns and publishes The Spokesman-Review.