Gonzalez opened in Boxville to offer a running store on the South Side, a part of the city he felt lacked running communities. Shiny sneakers line the walls of his box, and running shirts and shorts are folded neatly on the shelves. That’s when I fell in love with running.” “I had years and years of pent-up energy not going anywhere that I just let out. ”I did not know you could physically see salt on your body the way you do after training for a marathon,” Gonzalez said. Gonzalez has now run five marathons and two ultramarathons. Their stories inspired him to go on longer and longer runs - 5 miles, then 10, then 15. He said meeting the athletes who ran the race inspired him to try running for the first time. He barely ran, not even to the bus stop.īut he has always been an entrepreneur, he said, and while working his dream job at Nike Running Bucktown, he got hired to work the 2016 Chicago Marathon. Gonzalez said he read Harry Potter books and played “Grand Theft Auto” when he was a kid. She worked on his decal and helped him with on-site printing for different Nike events he hosted, she said. “I wanted to share all these wonderful titles that I’ve read and had exposure to with different people who may not know they exist.”ĭa Book Joint hosts two book clubs a month in the nearby incubator space.įrazier works closely with Ian Gonzalez, owner of Last Lap Cornerstore in Boxville, which sells running goods. “It has always been a dream of mine to have a bookstore,” Singletary told the Tribune.
Walter Mosley and K’wan Foye are authors she’s been reading a lot lately, she said. She pours through publishers’ magazines to curate her selection, which ranges from children’s books to crime fiction. Singletary said she can’t have all the books she wants because her space is so small. It’s modern, and almost has the feel of a tiny speakeasy. There are bookmarks and notebooks for sale under LED light, and plastic green vines that drape down from the ceiling. The store has about 350 books on small shelves mounted to the wall. Store owner Courtney Woods works inside Da Book Joint, a Black author-focused bookstore on May 5, 2023, at Boxville in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood.
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