Renaissance Books

Renaissance Books is a large independent bookstore in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, specializing in used books. Founded in the early 1960s by George John and Erwin Just, it is now owned by Robert John, George's younger brother"Shabby Image Threatens to Cost Airport Bookstore Its Lease", "Wall Street Journal", July 9, 1980] . The store's main building (a former furniture warehouse) is five stories high (plus the two-story building next door) housing somewhere from 350,000 to 600,000 volumes. [ [http://www.onmilwaukee.com/market/articles/bookstores.html "Used bookstores in Milwaukee"] , OnMilwaukee.com, July 3, 2000] A review of the bookstore in late 2002 noted that "while in the past it may have been difficult to locate the gems at Renaissance and figure out their prices, nowadays, most everything is alphabetized and has a price clearly marked". [Bobby Tanzilo, [http://www.onmilwaukee.com/market/articles/renaissancebooks.html "Half a million books make Renaissance a treasure trove"] , OnMilwaukee.com, December 9, 2002]

Renaissance also operates a branch at Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport, which opened in 1979. With strong aviation, history, cooking and genre fiction sections, plus rare books, ["The Bookstore Arrives at Airports", "Publishers Weekly, Sept. 12, 2005] , it is believed to have been the world's first used book store in an airport ["The Challenge of Airport Bookselling", "Publishers Weekly", July 13, 1984] . It holds about 60,000 volumes.

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