People gaze into Horizon Books Monday, Jan. 13, 2019, in Traverse City, Mich. The bookstore that has served Traverse City for nearly 60 years is closing. Horizon Books has been a downtown landmark on Front Street, selling books and making space for musicians, authors and community groups. The store will close at some point this year. (AP Photo/John Flesher)

TRAVERSE CITY (AP) — A Michigan bookstore that has served Traverse City for nearly 60 years is closing.

Horizon Books has been a downtown landmark on Front Street, selling books and making space for musicians, authors and community groups.

“Talking about books — that’s my superpower,” longtime employee Marla Van Hook said. “Communities don’t realize what they lose when they lose a bookstore. It’s a meeting place. It’s a home.”

Horizon Books began in 1961. It moved into a former J.C. Penney store in 1993.

“We have recovered from competition and poor sales before but now see ourselves as older and looking toward retirement,” the owners said on Facebook.

“Horizon Books has been our focus all these years but we now find that our focus is turning towards other needs of family.”

Amy Reynolds, who owns the store with her husband, Vic Herman, told the Traverse City Record-Eagle that it was a “very hard decision but it’s time.”

The store will close at some point in 2020.

“I never got into it for the money. I got into it because I loved it,” Herman, 90, said. “Our sales are down, but we could survive financially. We’re just getting to a point in our lives where we want to do some other things.”