At Sonoma Bookends this week, several customers greeted owner Jennifer Simmons as if she were presiding over a wake.
"I'm so sorry," one woman said.
"It's a sad story," said another.
The shared grief was over closure of the bookstore next week, 32 years after it opened in 1979 at the Sonoma Marketplace.
Businesses come and go, especially in tough economic times. But the demise of a family-run bookstore with long ties to a community is often deeply felt, with some fearing it represents a vanishing way of life.
The closure comes at a time when Sonoma residents are debating the need to regulate chain or big-box stores to protect the town's self-image and boost homegrown merchants.
California lawmakers also have been battling with Amazon.com over the Internet retailer's failure to pay sales taxes on items bought from the site — a particular sore point with independent booksellers who contend they are at a competitive disadvantage by having to charge customers those amounts.
Simmons said Bookends ultimately could not compete with digital readers. such as Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iPad. When she and her husband, Jeff, close the doors for good Oct. 15, there will be just two bookstores left in Sonoma, including one that sells only rare and collectable books.
The other is Readers' Books on East Napa Street, which stands to benefit by essentially having a lock on local book sales. Owner Andy Weinberger, however, was not in a celebratory mood this week, saying he's also struggling to survive.
"I think we made each other better booksellers," he said of Bookends. "My heart goes out to them."
The Simmons, who are from Calgary, bought Bookends in 1987 from Tom Piper, who owned a similarly named store in Napa.
Back then, a "browser" was someone who wandered around a store and "carts" were physical objects in which to place things to buy. Bookstores, like record or video stores, were places for hanging out and making new discoveries.
Some feel nostalgia for the book store's traditional place in American life.
"I'm just not used to that technology," said Jean Hopeman, who lives in Sonoma and belongs to two book clubs. "There's something about the feel and touch of books."
But others view the passing of Bookends as a natural evolution.
"There was probably a time when buying an automobile contributed to the demise of buggy whip manufacturers. Some things become anachronistic," said Tom Scott.
The Sonoma man, who stopped in at Bookends this week to buy a book on clearance sale, noted new technologies have made it easier for people to self-publish their own works.
"Let's talk about what's not going to die," he said. "There probably will be more books because publishing will be more efficient."
Oren Teicher, chief executive officer of the American Booksellers Association, said there's no doubt the nation has fewer independent bookstores than a decade ago. But he dismissed the notion that the independents are in a losing "David and Goliath" battle with online retailers.
"We're fighting back," he said.
The Simmons said new technology wasn't solely to blame for their decision to close Bookends. They said the first real threat to the store's bottom line was when Ralph's grocery pulled out of the Marketplace and left the shopping complex without an anchor store to attract large numbers of people.
Whole Foods eventually moved in, but the two-year vacancy took its toll.
Stores such as Whole Foods and a recently opened Staples in Sonoma have sparked debate about the need for the city to regulate so-called formula stores, which have been defined in other communities as stores that offer services or feature decor that is substantially similar to other stores.
Other than design review of buildings, Sonoma does not regulate businesses that meet zoning requirements.
The City Council formed a controversial committee that has been meeting regularly to consider changes to zoning ordinances that could affect future applications submitted by chain or similar businesses.
The eight-member group, comprised of council members, business interests and slow-growth advocates, so far has shown support for new restrictions for Sonoma's Plaza area, including a new use-permit review process for formula retail businesses.
Businesses at the Marketplace, including Bookends, are outside of that area. But the committee's work reflects concern across Sonoma over what kind of commerce the city of 10,000 should allow and support.
"It's a choice to support your local business or not," Jennifer Simmons said.
The debate spills well outside city limits.
Last month, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law legislation that requires Amazon and many other out-of-state Internet retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases by California customers. As part of the deal, Amazon agreed not to go forward with a planned referendum to ask voters to overturn an earlier sales tax collection law that took effect July 1.
The new law is a victory of sorts for Weinberger, who has long fought Amazon and once confronted Jeff Bezos, the company's founder and chief executive officer, at a trade conference in Chicago.
"Amazon does not put one penny into the community. It's like having high blood pressure. You don't feel it and then all of a sudden you have a stroke," the owner of Readers' said.
He said to survive, he and his wife, Lilla, have had to recast the bookstore as a community hub. The store, which opened in 1981, offers live music and even yoga classes to try and draw customers in. Customers also can purchase books from the store online through Google Books.
"The shopping experience is the difference at the end of the day," Teicher with the Booksellers Association said. "A book, no matter where you buy it, is the same."
It remains to be seen whether Weinberger's efforts pay off. He said the store's most recent profitable year was 2007 and he had to lay off two employees this year. He reduced the store's hours and dropped his membership in the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau to save money. His wife got another paying job.
"I'm just trying to keep things afloat," he said.
The Simmons, in the meantime, are going through the painful process of closing down their store. The couple, who are in their 50s and have a grown son, said they will take a few months before looking for other work.
"It's a scary thing," Jennifer Simmons said.
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