Al Casperson held back tears as he explained why the decision to close A Casperson Books was so difficult.

He said his father, Ralph, a former U.S. Army captain, ran the Niles business for more than 35 years until his death in 2009.

It was on Ralph’s death bed, Al said, that his father gave his final order. He pointed to Al, who was standing at the foot of the bed, and said, “Books to Al, books to Al, books to Al.”

“That is the last thing he ever said to me,” said Al, looking up at a picture of his father hanging near the ceiling in the northwest corner of the shop. “My dad is up there watching me, so I feel guilty about this.

“I don’t like doing it, but it is a matter of priorities and push has come to shove. Something has to give — I just don’t want it to be me.”

Al said he has to be moved out of the 113 N. Third St. shop by Dec. 15 — the day the new owner gains occupancy.

Al said he does not know who is buying the building or what the purchaser’s plans are for it.

He said the shop was not losing money. In fact, it was making enough to pay the bills and continue Al’s “habit” of buying books.

It just never reached his goal of generating enough income so that he could hire a person to run the shop full-time.

Al already has a full time job working as a human resources manager.

“I am not getting out of the business,” he said. “This shop is not a casualty of modern day private booksellers. It is because it is holding me back from continuing on in the business the way I want to. As a result I’ve been working seven days a week for six years.”

Al said his plan is to continue selling used books — he has around 80,000 at the moment — through different online means, including EBay, AbeBooks and on his website (acaspersonbooks.com). The books he keeps will be housed at a warehouse in Niles, which can be opened by appointment. He also has a booth at the Four Flags Antique Mall in downtown Niles.

“I am still going to continue the business and the name will still be around,” he said. “I’ll just do things in a different way.

In the meantime, Al said he has to downsize his sizeable inventory enough to fit it all in the warehouse.

Beginning Saturday, Al will be selling all books in the shop at 75 percent off. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

There are 20,000 used books in more than 100 categories at the Niles shop and around 50,000 more in storage.

“There is good stuff in here,” Al said. “People should really take advantage of this thing because they are going to see things in here that they didn’t know they wanted. That is the attraction to used book stores.”