SPRINGVILLE — It's hard to miss the large white banner hanging on the east side of The Bookmark.

Its message in red block letters is equally clear:

LDS BOOKSTORE

GOING OUT OF BUSINESS

CLEARANCE SALE

The signs inside the store are more subtle:

There are empty rows on some of the bookshelves. Stray key rings, cards, stickers and other assorted knickknacks dot racks that used to be full.

After serving 16 years as Springville's source for all things Mormon, The Bookmark soon will be closing its doors.

"I've never lost a child, but I say that's what it feels like," said owner Sharon Ewing, who opened the bookstore 16 years ago and has worked there ever since. "This is not what I want to do. I do not want to close this store."

The store's closing also marks the end of an era in Utah County. The Bookmark was among the last of the independently owned LDS bookstores in the county.

And Utah County is not alone. Independently owned LDS bookstores are disappearing across the nation, said Ewing, who serves on the board of directors of the Independent LDS Booksellers Association.

"There were 250 independent bookstores" in August 2004, she said. By August 2005, "112 of those closed."

Ewing said she's aware of six other independent LDS bookstores that plan to close before the end of the year.

"All of us who are independent store owners got into this market because we love the gospel," she said. "We want to be a service to those around us. But it's a different animal now."

Ewing says she really didn't have a choice. The store, though never a big money-maker, was becoming a financial burden on partner and next-door neighbor Copies Plus Printing Inc., also owned by the Ewing family.

"Last year, we had to make the decision" to close The Bookmark, she said. "Because (the copy center) is how we make our living, how we pay our mortgage, how we pay our bills, we didn't want to continue to drain that business to make this one work. We just can't keep doing that anymore."

The Bookmark's future had been in question for several years, Ewing said, particularly the past three. Independent bookstores — catering to the LDS crowd or not — have been struggling to keep their customers as chain bookstores and big-box stores offer their products at discounted prices.

"For several years, to keep customers, we've matched prices with other places," she said, "but more and more it's becoming trying to match prices with people who are below my costs."