GREENFIELD — After more than two and a half years on Main Street, The Imaginary Bookshop is closing at the end of January.

Business partners Crista DeRicco and Maura MacDonald announced the closing of the bookshop, which is located at 365 Main St., on the store’s Facebook page Jan. 1, citing a difficult year of business.

The Imaginary Bookshop will remain open through the end of the month on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. — with a half-hour break at 1:30 p.m. — and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.

“While we had really strong growth the first two years, we were down in sales so much in 2024 that it’s no longer financially viable to continue,” DeRicco said in an email, adding that while it’s a difficult decision to close, it also makes sense. “It’s very clear that we aren’t going to hit the volume of sales we’d need for it to make sense to continue. We’re sad it didn’t work out, but we’re glad we tried and we’re thrilled that were able to help cultivate a really lovely and warm community around books.”

Along with lagging sales, DeRicco and MacDonald said in their Facebook post that book prices are also a challenge small bookstores across the country are facing, which is “not sustainable for anyone.” In the first two years of The Imaginary Bookshop’s existence, the owners hosted numerous community events, such as author readings, puppy adoption events and displays of children’s art, as well as its popular book club.

“One book’s price went up a full $8 from one order to the next,” they wrote. “Sadly, we simply don’t have the reserves to hope things improve, and a planned exit seemed much better than allowing an emergency situation to arise.”

The Imaginary Bookshop isn’t alone in facing the uphill battle of running a small business, particularly in the book industry. The Facebook page of World Eye Bookshop, located farther up Main Street, also indicates that it has closed, with a “permanently closed” status set and a post announcing that all bookcases, display racks and other items are for sale. A sign on the business’ door conveys the same information.

DeRicco and MacDonald opened The Imaginary Bookshop on Main Street in April 2022, though it began operating as a primarily online business in 2017. And, while The Imaginary Bookshop started out online before finding a brick-and-mortar home, DeRicco said it is unlikely they’ll go back to their roots.

“The online shop was a launching pad for the brick-and-mortar space; the community aspect of the bookshop is what’s most important to us and that’s hard to do with an online shop,” she said. “We plan to continue hosting our book club, but do not have any new ventures we’re currently interested in starting. We’re looking forward to enjoying our new spare time instead of using it to run the business.”

The book club’s final meeting in the shop will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 7:30 p.m., with “Books and Bookshops” serving as the theme. From there, DeRicco said they may try to host the book club at a rotating list of places, potentially with some businesses around Greenfield.

As they close up shop, DeRicco said she and MacDonald are hopeful someone else will take over the space they’re leaving behind.

“We still have a year left on our lease and are looking for a subletter to step into the space,” DeRicco wrote. “We made quite a few improvements while we were in the space and could leave a number of fixtures if a new tenant would like them — we’d hope to make starting up as easy as possible for the next folks.”

Announcements from The Imaginary Bookshop can be found on its Instagram page at @imaginary_bookshop.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.