The Greenwood Book Shop was an independent bookseller founded by Alice Steinlein (1880-1965) in 1920 after her husband died from tuberculosis. That same year, she hired Gertrude Kruse (1900-1981) as a clerk. The store was originally located at 223 West 11th Street in Wilmington, Delaware. As the bookshop prospered it moved first to 307 Delaware Avenue, and then again to 912 Market Street in the Delaware Trust Building. Steinlein retired in 1945 and the business was bought by W.W. Laird, Jr. (1910-1989). He kept Kruse on as the manager and she was able to buy it back in five years. The shop moved again in 1958 to 110 West 9th Street. Under Kruse’s direction, the Greenwood Book Shop sponsored literary projects and published a number of books. She resisted carrying paperbacks for many years, but finally relented. Gertrude Kruse retired in 1972, selling the shop to Colwyn Krussman (1935-). She passed away in 1981, two years before the shop closed its doors in 1983.