| SPECIAL ISSUE: JUNE/JULY/AUGUST 2009 – NO. 34 |
Images from the Liquidation of Stacey's Bookstore
Since I was old enough to read, I have wandered happily through countless bookstores, and for more than a decade I have made my living in the book business. One favorite bookstore, Stacey's on Market Street in San Francisco, filled personal as well as professional needs. Many of my clients have given crowded lunch time readings there, and the store's location a few blocks from my office made it a frequent place to research, to buy, or just to browse.
But Stacey's closed recently, and I feel partly at fault. I buy most of my books from Amazon these days. They discount more than any local bookseller can offer, buying from a company out-of-state means I avoid sales tax, too, and they deliver each package literally right to my desk at no charge.
I had lamented the recent news that Stacey's was closing and added my voice to the murmuring at literary parties about how sad and frustrating it is to lose a local bookstore. But it was accident not plan that took me down Market Street on a recent Spring day with a point-and-shoot camera in my coat pocket. Signs saying Fixture Liquidation, For Lease, and All Sales Final hung where poster-sized book covers and author photos used to hang. Now those signs, too, are gone and the storefront sits empty.
Photos courtesy the author.
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