Your local bookstore in Downtown Crystal Lake!

Brink Street Market
Located on the parking lot side of the shopping center.

Upcoming Events

Summer Reading Fun!

May 27 @ 10:00 am - August 26 @ 5:00 pm

Teacher Appreciation Night!

July 24 @ 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

@abalabixbooks21
Abalabix Books

@abalabixbooks21

Abalabix Books is NOW OPEN! Come in to find your next great reading adventure and meet George! 🐶
  • George is ready for his close up!!!

He and I and Joy Neal from @downtowncrystallake will be on Good Day Chicago, Fox32 station, tomorrow at 8:20am! 

Tune in to see our very own Waldo!

#abalabixbooks 
#georgeisthecutest 
#georgeisfamous
#whereswaldo
@candlewickpress
  • George had a great birthday today with a lot of friends stopping by to see him, wish him well and give him presents!!!

He got to meet Wolfie a senior pet from @youngatheartpets, his best friend Maddie stopped by to give him hugs and, pictured, Christy and Clementine, old friends from @pawsonpingree stopped by to wish him well!

Thanks to @cheshire_cakes_bakery for donating 36 beautiful bow-tie cookies! We sold them and raised over $200 for @youngatheartpets!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who came by to see us today!!! ♥️
  • Chillin' at book club!

#abalabixbooks 
#georgeisthecutest 
#georgeisfamous 
#welovebookclubs
  • We've said it before, but a few things bear repeating:

1) you can't get great doggie snuggles at that online bookstore
2) you can't have great conversations at that online bookstore and 
3) you can't support your local community through that online bookstore.

Plus, we LOVE our customers! Do they love you?

#abalabixbooks 
#georgeisfamous
#georgeisthecutest 
#shoplocal 
#downtowncl
  • Our bookstore had a fun, surprise visit from the cast of "Frozen" today! They will be appearing at the Raue Center for the Arts from July 18th to July 27th! Please plan to attend and support these talented girls!

@rauecenterforthearts 
#abalabixbooks 
#georgeiswaldo
  • Where's Waldo? Where's George??!!

Come visit Downtown Crystal Lake and visit all 30 stores that are participating this year!

#abalabixbooks 
#georgeisthecutest 
#georgeisfamous 
@candlewickpress
  • We will be closed on the 4th and wish everyone a sparkling Independence Day!!!
  • Our Find Waldo Local event has grown so big we had to add an extention to our stampcard!!!

The search is on!!!

#abalabixbooks 
@whereswaldo
@candlewickpress
  • Hurry! Only a couple of days left to sign up for our Stop & Paint Event this Sunday, June 29th, 2:30 to 4:30pm.

Spend a wonderful afternoon at Abalabix Books painting an 11″ x 14″ canvas of your favorite TBR pile. You’ll receive everything you need including: a canvas with a pre-drawn image, paint and supplies, and step-by-step instructions. Plus our painting instructor, Miryam, will lead us in a fun game of Bingo and provide a fun door prize!

Abalabix Books will provide some cute Grazing Bouquets from Fork It Foods and you are encouraged to BYOB with the beverage of your choice.

@stop.andpaint
#abalabixbooks
#letshavesomefun
George is ready for his close up!!!

He and I and Joy Neal from @downtowncrystallake will be on Good Day Chicago, Fox32 station, tomorrow at 8:20am! 

Tune in to see our very own Waldo!

#abalabixbooks 
#georgeisthecutest 
#georgeisfamous
#whereswaldo
@candlewickpress
George is ready for his close up!!! He and I and Joy Neal from @downtowncrystallake will be on Good Day Chicago, Fox32 station, tomorrow at 8:20am! Tune in to see our very own Waldo! #abalabixbooks #georgeisthecutest #georgeisfamous #whereswaldo @candlewickpress
8 hours ago
View on Instagram |
1/9
George had a great birthday today with a lot of friends stopping by to see him, wish him well and give him presents!!!

He got to meet Wolfie a senior pet from @youngatheartpets, his best friend Maddie stopped by to give him hugs and, pictured, Christy and Clementine, old friends from @pawsonpingree stopped by to wish him well!

Thanks to @cheshire_cakes_bakery for donating 36 beautiful bow-tie cookies! We sold them and raised over $200 for @youngatheartpets!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who came by to see us today!!! ♥️
George had a great birthday today with a lot of friends stopping by to see him, wish him well and give him presents!!!

He got to meet Wolfie a senior pet from @youngatheartpets, his best friend Maddie stopped by to give him hugs and, pictured, Christy and Clementine, old friends from @pawsonpingree stopped by to wish him well!

Thanks to @cheshire_cakes_bakery for donating 36 beautiful bow-tie cookies! We sold them and raised over $200 for @youngatheartpets!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who came by to see us today!!! ♥️
George had a great birthday today with a lot of friends stopping by to see him, wish him well and give him presents!!! He got to meet Wolfie a senior pet from @youngatheartpets, his best friend Maddie stopped by to give him hugs and, pictured, Christy and Clementine, old friends from @pawsonpingree stopped by to wish him well! Thanks to @cheshire_cakes_bakery for donating 36 beautiful bow-tie cookies! We sold them and raised over $200 for @youngatheartpets!!! Thank you so much to everyone who came by to see us today!!! ♥️
3 days ago
View on Instagram |
2/9
Chillin' at book club!

#abalabixbooks 
#georgeisthecutest 
#georgeisfamous 
#welovebookclubs
Chillin' at book club! #abalabixbooks #georgeisthecutest #georgeisfamous #welovebookclubs
5 days ago
View on Instagram |
3/9
We've said it before, but a few things bear repeating:

1) you can't get great doggie snuggles at that online bookstore
2) you can't have great conversations at that online bookstore and 
3) you can't support your local community through that online bookstore.

Plus, we LOVE our customers! Do they love you?

#abalabixbooks 
#georgeisfamous
#georgeisthecutest 
#shoplocal 
#downtowncl
We've said it before, but a few things bear repeating: 1) you can't get great doggie snuggles at that online bookstore 2) you can't have great conversations at that online bookstore and 3) you can't support your local community through that online bookstore. Plus, we LOVE our customers! Do they love you? #abalabixbooks #georgeisfamous #georgeisthecutest #shoplocal #downtowncl
5 days ago
View on Instagram |
4/9
Our bookstore had a fun, surprise visit from the cast of "Frozen" today! They will be appearing at the Raue Center for the Arts from July 18th to July 27th! Please plan to attend and support these talented girls! @rauecenterforthearts #abalabixbooks #georgeiswaldo
6 days ago
View on Instagram |
5/9
Where's Waldo? Where's George??!!

Come visit Downtown Crystal Lake and visit all 30 stores that are participating this year!

#abalabixbooks 
#georgeisthecutest 
#georgeisfamous 
@candlewickpress
Where's Waldo? Where's George??!! Come visit Downtown Crystal Lake and visit all 30 stores that are participating this year! #abalabixbooks #georgeisthecutest #georgeisfamous @candlewickpress
1 week ago
View on Instagram |
6/9
We will be closed on the 4th and wish everyone a sparkling Independence Day!!!
We will be closed on the 4th and wish everyone a sparkling Independence Day!!!
2 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
7/9
Our Find Waldo Local event has grown so big we had to add an extention to our stampcard!!!

The search is on!!!

#abalabixbooks 
@whereswaldo
@candlewickpress
Our Find Waldo Local event has grown so big we had to add an extention to our stampcard!!!

The search is on!!!

#abalabixbooks 
@whereswaldo
@candlewickpress
Our Find Waldo Local event has grown so big we had to add an extention to our stampcard!!!

The search is on!!!

#abalabixbooks 
@whereswaldo
@candlewickpress
Our Find Waldo Local event has grown so big we had to add an extention to our stampcard!!! The search is on!!! #abalabixbooks @whereswaldo @candlewickpress
2 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
8/9
Hurry! Only a couple of days left to sign up for our Stop & Paint Event this Sunday, June 29th, 2:30 to 4:30pm.

Spend a wonderful afternoon at Abalabix Books painting an 11″ x 14″ canvas of your favorite TBR pile. You’ll receive everything you need including: a canvas with a pre-drawn image, paint and supplies, and step-by-step instructions. Plus our painting instructor, Miryam, will lead us in a fun game of Bingo and provide a fun door prize!

Abalabix Books will provide some cute Grazing Bouquets from Fork It Foods and you are encouraged to BYOB with the beverage of your choice.

@stop.andpaint
#abalabixbooks
#letshavesomefun
Hurry! Only a couple of days left to sign up for our Stop & Paint Event this Sunday, June 29th, 2:30 to 4:30pm.

Spend a wonderful afternoon at Abalabix Books painting an 11″ x 14″ canvas of your favorite TBR pile. You’ll receive everything you need including: a canvas with a pre-drawn image, paint and supplies, and step-by-step instructions. Plus our painting instructor, Miryam, will lead us in a fun game of Bingo and provide a fun door prize!

Abalabix Books will provide some cute Grazing Bouquets from Fork It Foods and you are encouraged to BYOB with the beverage of your choice.

@stop.andpaint
#abalabixbooks
#letshavesomefun
Hurry! Only a couple of days left to sign up for our Stop & Paint Event this Sunday, June 29th, 2:30 to 4:30pm. Spend a wonderful afternoon at Abalabix Books painting an 11″ x 14″ canvas of your favorite TBR pile. You’ll receive everything you need including: a canvas with a pre-drawn image, paint and supplies, and step-by-step instructions. Plus our painting instructor, Miryam, will lead us in a fun game of Bingo and provide a fun door prize! Abalabix Books will provide some cute Grazing Bouquets from Fork It Foods and you are encouraged to BYOB with the beverage of your choice. @stop.andpaint #abalabixbooks #letshavesomefun
3 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
9/9

We can’t thank you enough!

Our Grand Opening was a huge success and we can’t thank our Crystal Lake community enough! Your kind words of gratitude and encouragement for our little bookstore were, and continue to be, amazing and uplifting. As they say, we hope this is the start of a beautiful relationship.

In order to serve you in as many ways as we can, please know that we offer curbside delivery. Whether you placed an order in the store or on the phone with us, we can take payment over the phone and then bring your books out to your car.

And if for some reason you can’t make it into the store, like, idk, you live in Florida or something, you can continue to support us by shopping through our page on bookshop.org.

We truly appreciate and value your business and hope that we can be of service for many, many years to come!

Happy reading!
Diane (and George)

It’s a Local Thing. It’s a Community Thing.

You probably never think about it but when you support a local business you are not just supporting that business, you are also supporting all of the small, local, independent businesses that they support. Small businesses make up over 99% of the businesses in this country and when you support a small business, on average 67 cents of every dollar stays in your community.

Abalabix Books is proud to support the following merchants:

  • Baldwin Web Design
  • DowntownCL.org
  • Ed’s Rental
  • Fastsigns (independently owned and operated)
  • George Roach & Associates, CPAs
  • Mason Wasz Foundation
  • McGrath Printing
  • Howell’s Flooring and More
  • Men in Paint
  • Today’s Uniforms
  • Waggoner Law Firm

We look forward to seeing this list grow and grow as we become an integral part of the Crystal Lake business community.

Abalaba who?

So, no, you’re not crazy. “Abalabix” is not a real word. But it is a word that resonates with my family and makes us smile every time we think about it or say it.

When trying to decide what to name my bookstore, I, of course, began by Googling every literary or reading type name that I could think of. One that I almost used, were it not for the copyright of the great Mr. Ray Bradbury, was “Stuff Your Eyes” in reference to a passage in Fahrenheit 451, “Stuff your eyes with wonder. Live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world.”

…Read More

Get In Touch!