Here’s some bad news:

From The Hartford Courant:

“Bookworm, the independent bookstore that has been a fixture in town since 1973 will close by the end of the month and leave its Farmington Avenue store, founder and owner Sarah Bedell said Monday.

“Bedell, 67, said concerns about her health, and not the faltering economy, prompted her recently to decide to retire after nearly 37 years in the business she said she still loves. The unrelenting six-day-a-week schedule has become too difficult for her, she said.

“She plans to close the store on Feb. 21, then use a few more days to pack up what remains after a retirement sale.”

This is bad news on so many fronts — except where it is good news that Sarah can get a little rest. The closing of a community bookstore is a sad loss for, well, the community. You can buy books anywhere — in the supermarket, on the web, in the giant boxes. But the special qualities of a local bookstore will never be found within the Kindle or the giant chains that move books the way McDonalds moves burgers.

You could go to the Bookworm and order a book — and, at the same time, hear the local gossip, be advised to the latest offering of some local writer. As a local writer, it meant a lot to me that my books found a life on the shelves of a store that might actually care that I had done them. As a local book buyer it meant even more that there was friendly place to find something that would be below the interest of the chains.

I did signings at the Bookworm and always felt that I was there among friends. I have done signings at big stores, too, and appreciate the opportunity. But, boy, it is simply not the same.

This is a sad development, no matter how much Sarah Bedell has earned a little more relaxation.

We will so miss her and the store.