In July of 2023, the Dusty Bookshelf announced there was a possibility the beloved bookstore in Manhattan would close because the cost of rent would increase at the end of its lease. 

The lease was set to end in the spring of 2024.

Tracy Emery, a manager at Dusty Bookshelf, said she was shocked by the news of the bookstore’s closing.

“I was in my previous place of employment handing out school supplies to students, and one of the people that was working with me said, ‘Tracy, you need to sit down,’” Emery said. “… She said, ‘Tracy, they just posted to Facebook that Dusty is closing,’ and I literally had to sit down. I have tears in my eyes, and I’m thinking, ‘No, no, this can’t be true.’”

Emery said she has been a “loyal Dusty fanatic” since 1988.

“While I may not own the store, the special place that Dusty has in my heart is, it’s big, it’s big,” Emery said. “The idea that it could close and then this place would go away was heart-rending … I’ve been a Dusty customer, [a] loyal lover of the Dusty Bookshelf for a long time since I went to K-State for undergrad.”

Emery said Dusty Bookshelf announced they were staying in late November of 2023 after coming to an agreement with the landlord on rent.

“The fact that I was here was so cool,” Emery said. “It’s very cool.”

Sam Creagar, another manager at Dusty Bookshelf, said saving the bookstore was a community effort.

“There’s nothing else like Dusty and so to lose it would have been really hard, and the fact that it gets to stay just continues to be a really big deal in people’s lives and provide a good thing for the city,” Creager said.