A Montrose mainstay will soon close the book on a nearly 20-year run. Half Price Books, located at 1011 Westheimer Rd., will close on January 17, the company confirmed.

“We’ve been looking for another location in the neighborhood, but were unable to find one before our lease ends,” Emily Bruce, a representative for the Dallas-based company, tells CultureMap. “We still hope to find one in the area at some point.”

That would be welcome news for loyal local customers, as the Montrose store, which opened in 2002, is the chain’s last Inner Loop location. The popular Rice Village location shuttered early last year after a nearly 40-year run. Half Price continues to operate seven outposts across the Greater Houston area.

As CultureMap previously reported, Skanska USA Commercial Development purchased a nearly three-acre tract at the southwest corner of Westheimer Road and Montrose Boulevard, which includes the strip center housing Half Price Books and a Spec’s liquor store, for $27 million in August. With Skanska hinting at a possible multi-family, retail, and office tower, the future of the beloved bookstore was up in the air.

The news comes as Montrose is in the midst of revitalization (or, as some locals grumble, gentrification). The Montrose Collective, a new project from Heights Mercantile developer Radom Capital, constitutes five buildings on Westheimer along Grant and Crocker. It promises to transform Montrose with over 100,000 square feet of office space, more than 50,000 square feet of retail space, and the relocated branch of the Houston Public Library currently housed on Montrose Boulevard.

Bruce adds that Montrose employees have been encouraged to apply at our other area Half Price stores, a sad reminder that a beloved local gem is in its final chapter.