Students returning from summer break with the intention of renting books from TXTBookRental will be out of luck. The West Side shop has decided to close its doors.

TXTBookRental Founder Alex Beaver sent an email to customers July 25 notifying them of the closure.

“I want to assure you that we are not closing due to a lack of customers and support,” Beaver said in the email. “Great customers helped make us, and we truly appreciate the enormous amount of enthusiasm we have received.”

The store, located at 4818 W. Lloyd Expressway, has served the USI community for five years. They are liquidating all remaining textbooks.

Store Manager Will Bader said they had been looking to sell for quite a while.

“We are still hoping someone will come in and take over the store and the name,” he said.

They are hoping it happens at some point during the fall semester, but can’t be certain it will, he said.

Bader said Beaver is pursuing “other opportunities” but couldn’t comment on what those might be.

If the store does not reopen, Bader recommended students utilize online resources, such as Amazon or Chegg.

“They’ve always been fairly competitive with our prices,” he said.

Sophomore psychology major Abby Schreyer discovered TXTBookRental before she was even a student at USI.

“There was a book that I needed for a history class and I could not find it anywhere other than the campus bookstore and I refused to pay full price for a book that I may or may not end up using,” Schreyer said.

So she searched the web and found TXTBookRental, which was conveniently located.

Every time she stepped foot in the store, the line was almost out the door, she said. At least half of her friends utilized TXTBookRental as well.

“I am horrible at remembering to mail things, so using Chegg or other textbook rental websites isn’t really an option for me,” Schreyer said.

She plans to buy her books from both Amazon and friends who are also psychology majors, she said.

“Textbooks are the biggest rip off and a little bit of my soul dies every time I pay for them,” Schreyer said. “I have to pay for college entirely by myself, so every dollar counts.”

The following status was posted to the local business’ Facebook page Aug. 12: “Yo, we’ll have a small space open until August 28, 2013 for online order pickup, rental returns, and store credit redemption. We’re no longer buying books back or taking orders in store.”

The current store hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Bader said no potential buyers have been announced and there are no plans to remain open after Aug. 28.