In one instance recently, a customer asked about “Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned,” a collection of short stories by Wells Tower that she wanted to buy as a gift. Ms. Jennings, who had actually read  but had not connected with  the book, looked up the Kirkus review.

“When I read the woman the review from Kirkus, she said, ‘That will exactly work for my husband,’ ” and she bought the book, Ms. Jennings recalled.

In some ways it seemed that the passing of Kirkus was mourned much like the local deli that finally closes after a long battle with a landlord  missed as much in theory as because of its practical effect on the market.

“While I hate to see the closing of another major book review outlet, truth be told, it’s been a long time since a review there actually moved the needle in any meaningful way,” wrote Tim Duggan, executive editor at Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, in an e-mail message. “It has less to do with Kirkus than with the way the rest of the media marketplace has evolved.”

Still, some publishers noted that Kirkus reviews, reliably cantankerous, often differed from the other prepublication reviewers. “It wasn’t just broad, it was rigorous, curmudgeonly, and it was often a dissenting or idiosyncratic voice,” said Nan Graham, editor in chief of Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

For small presses, Kirkus might be one of the only places a book would get a write-up, other than Publishers Weekly. Martin Shepard, co-publisher of the Permanent Press, an independent publisher in Sag Harbor, N.Y., said Kirkus had generally reviewed about 10 of the 12 to 14 books that the company publishes each year.

Because small presses rely heavily on sales to libraries, Mr. Shepard said, the loss of Kirkus is a significant blow. Although he said the most important trade journal remained Publishers Weekly, he said: “It’s like Hertz and Avis. To have the No. 2 close down is sad.”