After news broke out earlier this week that Penn Book Center, the independent bookstore operating on Penn’s campus since 1962, is going out of business and closing next month, the owners – Ashley Montague and Michael Row – received a lot of messages of support from community members. The University of Pennsylvania’s English Department has also launched a petition on Change.org urging the University of Pennsylvania to “save” the store by possibly offering discounts for textbooks purchased there, much the way Princeton supports its independent bookstore.

“This closure would mean an immeasurable loss to Penn’s intellectual community and to that of the surrounding University City neighborhood,” the petition reads. “We believe that of all universities, Penn, with its strengths in business innovation, is capable of finding a solution to this problem.” 

If you want to support the store and sign the petition, go here.

“Many thanks to all of you who have emailed, contacted us via social media and in person to share our sadness over the store’s closing,” Montague and Row said in an email announcement on Thursday. “Here’s hoping we can find a way to keep PBC alive.”