'It feels like a death in the family...' (independent bookstore closings)

Customers and booksellers alike can suffer a great loss when a friendly, community-oriented independent closes its doors

Day by day we dismantle this place--our community-centered, independent, focally owned and run bookstore. This is the second time I have been involved in the closing of a bookstore. First, it was Cottage Bookshop in downtown San Rafael, Calif., which closed after 45 years, and now A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books in Larkspur Landing, Calif., which has closed after almost 20 years.

We booksellers are devastated. It feels like a death has occurred in our family. Working in the store over the years, we have formed countless friendships, and the loss of these relationships--to us and to the community--cannot be measured. I'm full of memories about what it has meant to be a bookseller in stores that encouraged flexibility, creativity, dedication and, yes, a little eccentricity among the staff in order to continually respond to the needs of the clientele in fresh ways. And I am only one of many staff members who worked with and befriended individual customers and created unique opportunities for them to connect with books. This was the hallmark of the Larkspur Landing store.

Special Attention for Seniors

I fell in love with the seniors first. Some of these customers at A Clean Well-Lighted Place I …