There is no question that it is hard out there for independent bookshops these days. Online book sales are robust—*cough* Fifty Shades Of Grey *cough*—but that doesn't do much for your friendly neighborhood bookseller. So stores are struggling to figure out ways to make it work. Some seem to be doing just fine, some seem to think it is everyone else's job to help bail them out, and some, sadly, are just giving up the ghost. To that last group we can now add Partners & Crime Mystery Booksellers in the West Village.

As GalleyCat notes, the lovely little shop recently put the following note on their Facebook page:

THANK YOU!
After 18 years in the shop on Greenwich Avenue, Partners & Crime Mystery Booksellers is closing its doors on September 20th.
We've had a great run and have enjoyed helping a generation of readers find the books they love.
We've had a lot of fun, learned a tremendous amount, and enjoyed our time with all of you - customers, authors and publishers.
Stop by, reminisce and check out our THANK YOU sale -- and maybe find that favorite title you really can't live without!
Couldn't have done it without you!
With our great appreciation to all and a special thank you to our landlord, who has been a prince!
All of us at Partners & Crime

A shame, as that little strip used to have two nice niche bookstores (the late Oscar Wilde being the other) and soon enough it will have none. Definitely worth stopping by to say good bye!

Meanwhile, the perpetually troubled St. Mark's Bookshop is trying to figure out how to survive in the era of e-books and, well, they'd really like your help, again. After rent squabbles, the store is now looking to move to a new East Village location and develop "a more sophisticated online presence." And to do that they are asking their fans to give them money. Donate $50 bucks and you'll get two invitations to their new shop's grand opening and 5 percent off all your purchases there for a year—assuming they make it that long.