These lines by German poet Rainer Maria Rilke were what Moon News owner Mark Sipowicz chose to join his 8- and 10-year-old children in learning poetry by heart.
But the lines from Rilke’s “Sonnets to Orpheus,” are more to Sipowicz than a mental exercise. They sum up a country in crisis — and his state of mind as he prepares to close Moon News’ doors.
 Moon News owner Mark Sipowicz stands in his Half Moon Bay bookstore last week. Sipowicz plans to close one of the mainstays of Main Street on April 30. |
After 12 years of welcoming browsers with a stuffed couch, books and magazines for adults and kids, and literary events, Moon News will close April 30.
“I felt lucky to have done this as long as I have,” said Sipowicz. “But I’m not the kind of person to do one thing all my life. I feel ready for new challenges.”
Sipowicz owned two bookstores in his native Chicago before coming to the Coastside in 1996. A year later, he opened Moon News, little more than a “newsstand with books,” in Stone Pine Center.
In time, it moved into spacious new digs on Main Street, launched a book group and writers’ open mike, welcomed visiting authors and “went out of our way to be selective about what we ordered.”
The new store held its own as rural Half Moon Bay became home to five bookstores — Bay Book Company in Strawflower Village, Coastside Books and Ocean Books used bookstore just down Main Street and Ink Spell Books nearby. But changing culture and technology challenged them all.
Sipowicz cites a handful of shifts he says affected bookstores: online bookselling, the fact that “people read less because they’re looking at a screen more” and the advent of handheld devices, which did not worry him until Kindle came along.
Then the economy soured: 2008 was the first year Moon News revenue plunged, a trend which increased in 2009. And Sipowicz himself was growing tired. “I had energy to re-create over 12 years, but it didn’t work for 13,” he said.
He sought to sell, and customers and Peninsula buyers showed interest — but backed away as the economy worsened. So Sipowicz decided to close — and the Coastside responded.
“It’s been touching and beyond what I ever expected,” he said.
What is Moon News’ legacy?
Sipowicz groaned and his eyes grew moist. “We’ve been a great browser’s bookstore,” he said. “A really lovely place for certain types of readers to come in, let their minds wander and see what kind of book falls into their laps.”
His favorite part of owning it? Seeing a new Cormac McCarthy or Alice Munro novel come out — “always intensely exciting for me.”
What’s next? Sipowicz says he has a lot of ideas, including “taking the books directly to the people” by teaching English, or carrying on the spirit of Moon News. “I’d love to get together with fans and talk about creative ways the pleasure of this space can be created outside of this space,” he said.
Hoping to clear the store, he says everything — including bookcases — is for sale at 10 percent off, a rate which will increase. The next writers’ open mike (7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 26) and next book group meeting (7 p.m. Tuesday, April 7) on the raucous, arresting “Yiddish Policeman’s Union” by Michael Chabon, will be held.
Call Moon News at 726-8610.
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