Sad news for book lovers in San Francisco. According to reports, independently-owned A Different Light (489 Castro) in the Castro and Modern Times (888 Valencia) in the Mission will close their doors this year. Why? Because no one patronizes bookstores these days, that's why. Which is too bad since bookstores, you know, kinda smell nice and are (were?) great places for meeting people.

As for A Different Light, we think Castro resident Michael Petrelis sums it up nicely: "About two months ago, I walked past the once-bustling store and signs were in the windows hawking cheap-ass, bleach-based poppers for sale. Maybe 4 people, practically a crowd for the store, were milling about the place. When this bookstore started selling the amyl, you could just smell that its demise was approaching."

Alas.

According to Modern Times' blog, however, the closure is only temporary until they find a new space.

We had hoped to continue in our current space month to month until a permanent space was ready, but this is no longer an option. Over the last year, we were led to believe by our landlords that we could negotiate an extension on our lease so that the timeline of this transition would be more contiguous. Unfortunately, this has turned out not to be the case. As soon as we find a temporary space to move into, we will post the location in our window at 888 Valencia and on our website and facebook page.

In the meantime, we will still be open throughout March and April, bringing you awesome events and selling books as we work to consolidate our stock and prepare to move. If you've been waiting for a reason to come out and buy that book, this is it. Every book sold helps to pay our bills, finance our move and lighten our load.