The iconic family-owned bookstore announced it will cease trading this year, after sending decades of students back to school, keeping Launceston locals up-to-date with its plethora of reading options and being a well-loved location for buying gifts.

The business has been on the market for 10 months and the building on Brisbane Street, which has been the site of a book store since 1844, was sold in November.

Many residents across the North wrote of their heartbreak about the impending closure on The Examiner’s social media pages.

JAC group managing director Dean Cocker said it was a sad day for Launceston.

“Birchalls is a unique store that has become an institution much loved by generations of families,” he said.

“A place where you can always find something for yourself, a suitable present or take your kids to find a new toy to keep them entertained.”

Launceston resident Julie Davis, who worked for the business in the 1960s and 1970s, said it was the end of an era but she could understand why the Tilley family needed to move on.

“It was a wonderful workplace and to this day [I] have great memories of things I was taught by Mr Ray and Mr Norm Tilley and my other wonderful boss, Mr Barry Bracken,” she said.

Jarrod Hodge said he fondly remembered “going upstairs to the model trains and slot cars … spending hours just wandering around looking at all the different trains.”

Hobart’s Rebecca Bone said she once drove all the way to Launceston just to buy something from Birchalls.

Elliot Wallace said it was sad watching Launceston's “special shops disappearing” with Birchalls following in the footsteps of Fitzgerald's, McKinlays, Duncan's of the Mall, Brisbane Street Gifts and Whittle's Jewellery.

“Routleys, Petrarch's, Neil Pitts and Barratt's seem to be [the] last oasis amongst a sea of national and international franchises,” he said.

On Thursday, Birchalls managing director Graeme Tilley told The Examiner that no further restocking would take place of the books, toys, games, magazines, art and gift departments. 

He said hoped a buyer will be found for the education stores in Hobart and Devonport.

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