Bibliophiles in Sri Lanka have over the years relied on Book Depository for the many titles that don’t make it to local bookshelves, as they offered free worldwide shipping and had a vast collection of books. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Sri Lanka, along with several other countries, were taken off the list of countries they deliver to, and while many of us still held on to the hope that the service would be accessible again, Book Depository on 4 April announced that they will be closing later this month.

According to a tweet posted through the verified Book Depository account, the store will close its doors on 26 April. Orders can be placed until then, with Book Depository delivering orders and providing support for any order issues until 23 June.

“From all of us at Book Depository, we want to say thank you. Delivering your favourite reads to you since 2007 has been a pleasure,” a second tweet read.

The announcement was met with surprise and sorrow, as users of the book delivery service shared their experiences with Book Depository. Authors such as Lang Leav, Laura Kaye, and Sylvia Day shared their dismay.

“Living in Serbia, I find your bookstore to be the best and most affordable choice. Amazon is very expensive,” one user tweeted, while another shared: “I live in LatAm and in my country, there are a lot of import regulations, along with authoritarian governments, that are a nightmare. So it’s difficult to have access to books and other things, but you were the ray of sunshine, and access to many English and Spanish books.”

Yet another user shared: “As a third world country, this is so devastating. Books are almost impossible to afford, with the international shipping charge from other places. And so many books are just not available here. This is awful.”

Book Depository was founded in 2004 out of Gloucester, United Kingdom and was initially called The Book Depository. It was a small-scale competitor to Amazon’s online bookselling business, and was acquired by Amazon in 2011. TechCrunch states that the news of its closure comes “hot on the heels of a swath of cutbacks at the internet giant, with two separate rounds of layoffs impacting at least 27,000 people across various divisions, including its highly profitable AWS cloud unit and, indeed, its devices and books businesses.”

TechCrunch went on to say that since acquiring the company, Amazon did little to integrate Book Depository, with the latter’s website not providing any visible indication of its ownership, unlike other similar Amazon acquisitions.