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Although the bookstore is no longer there, it is alive in people’s mind and brings back many beautiful memories and is considered one of the most memorable wooden buildings in the town of Kazlų Rūda. The history tells that before it was a bookstore, this building was the Plaušinis restaurant – one of the four operating restaurants in Kazlų Rūda at that time. In addition to the Plaušinis restaurant, the Lurjė hotel’s and Štreimikis restaurants, together with the restaurant located in the Vyšniauskas house on Vytautas street, worked in Kazlų Rūda. The visitors were served by men because most of the visitors were only men, and meatballs, steaks, schnitzels, sausages with various toppings were served. The bookstore building belonged to the Jews at the time and had a typical architecture – the entrance was at an angle so that the flow of visitors from both streets was directed equally.
Later, the bookstore was established in the building and occupied the ground floor of the house, meawhile, the above floor had apartments for people to live. The bookstore had two rooms – a storage room and a hall with shelves where books were displayed according to the genre. Various literature, children’s books, dictionaries and encyclopedias were sold in the bookstore. When a new shipment of books arrived, the queue of those who wanted to buy them would stretch across a larger part of Vytautas street, and the most persistent ones would come at 6 AM to wait for the books. In addition to books, it was also possible to purchase school supplies, lottery tickets and flowers that were delivered straight from the nursery. Usually on Women’s Day, the flower sales would be very active and the male visitors would keep the doors of the bookstore constantly open through the day.
In the winter of 1997, the apartment above the bookstore caught fire. Although the fire was quickly and successfully put down, the bookstore stopped working and was later closed. At that time, the institution that managed the bookstore decided that the bookstore was unprofitable, because it was no longer relevant to the residents of the town and had to compete with the library as it was also possible to buy books there. Later, the bookstore was sold to a private owner and eventually demolished.
