A door closes: Baltimore's Sibanye welcomed black authors.

Baltimore, "The city that reads," has recently lost an African American institution with the closing of Sibanye, Inc., formerly owned by Robin Green and Mary Douthit, after nine and-a-half years in business.

Store oysters cited the economic downturn, coupled with the cancellation of the annual Baltimore Book Festival last fall where Sibanye single-handedly brought in 60-plus African American authors each year--as contributors to Sibanye's end. The festival usually accounted for 25 percent of the store's annual income.

Green, who closed the store on New Year's Eve 2003, says that she might open another bookstore in the future. Meanwhile, "I will continue to chair our cultural arts education foundation, Ripe Harvest, and through it I will continue to sponsor our literary conference (Write Now) and our African American Children's Book Festival (Jambo, Watoto!), and participate in the Baltimore Book Festival, among other literary, visual and performing arts events," she says.

While some view Sibanye's shutdown as a just loss in Baltimore, authors, publishers and publishing industry insiders from all over the United States, say that the mourning won't stop there. The impact will be far-reaching because the store gave so many first-time and self-published authors a boost.

Christina Royster-Hemby is a television writer and journalist who currently lives in Baltimore.