ASU's Student Book Center set to close

TEMPE, Ariz. (KSAZ) - A long-time Tempe business is saying goodbye. The Student Book Center located next to the campus of Arizona State University is shutting its doors after 49 years of business.

As Jo Ann Keller looks back on the nearly half a century she's owned the Student Book Center near the ASU campus; she can't help but feel proud. The book store has become an institution in Tempe. Keller and her husband started the business in 1967, but at the end of the month, they are shutting their doors for good. The building has been sold, and they are losing their lease.

"It's very sad, yeah," said Jo Ann Keller.

Three generations of the family now work here, for many the news that they have to close came as a shock.

"Students they just come in to say hi, I'm serious they love us, we love them, and it's really going to be sad, and it's really going to be hard for me because I've been able to work alongside my cousin for the past eight years everyday, and it's just going to be really hard," said Christi Johnson.

"We'd come and visit my grandparents and hang out as a little kid like I've got pictures sitting on a huge stack of books, and riding on the conveyor belt we have in the back," said Valerie Penrod.

"The people, the people that I work with, my family, and the kids that come here, it's the future that comes through these doors, and they're awesome, college kids are awesome," said There Stohlgren.

Although sad, the family says they're honored to have made a mark on the lives of so many ASU students that have come through their doors for the past 49 years.