The last A Clean-Well Lighted Place for Books, on Van Ness in Opera Plaza in San Francisco, Calif., is for sale, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Low foot traffic and expensive parking on Van Ness are among reasons that sales have been declining for years. Owner Neal Sofman says “My long-term partners want out, and I don’t have the capital to buy them out.”
Sofman founded the original store in 1975 and opened the Opera Plaza location in 1982. The company’s stores in Cupertino and Larkspur closed in the 1990s. Last month, Sofman sold the store’s domain name, the very attractive www.bookstore.com.
Undoubtedly the domain name sale will help make ends meet. Sad when a virtual internet destination has so much monetary value, and a treasured independent bookstore with a brick and mortar location has so little.
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