Groton — Customers told Dennis McGee that they’d pray for a new owner of his bookstore.

Cornerstone Bookstore, a privately-owned Christian bookstores, will close next month after 24 years. McGee, who owns the store at 770 Long Hill Road with his wife, Liz McGee, said Internet sales and the rising cost of business caught up with them.

“A lot of people have been coming in to express their gratitude and to some extent, their sadness,” he said. “But they have been encouraged by the hope that the store will live on again.”

McGee hopes someone will buy the business and open in a new location.

“It’s sad, it’s sad,” said Monika Zevallos, a customer from Gales Ferry, who shopped on Thursday. “I just feel sad about it. You can’t find a store around here like this. You just can’t.”

The McGees bought the business in 1992. The couple ran the bookstore first on Bridge Street, then moved to Groton Square, then moved to Groton Shopping Plaza nine years ago. McGee said he can’t see moving a third time, and is hoping someone younger will step in. He’s had a few inquiries, including one from a church. A restaurant is taking over the space Cornerstone rents.

“We’ve been blessed to serve the local faith community all these years,” McGee said.

Cornerstone Bookstore, named after the reference in Ephesians 2:19-22 to Jesus as the “cornerstone” of the church, carries church supplies, Bibles, a Christian line of Hallmark cards, Christian movies and DVDs, and gifts with spiritual messages.

In 2011, the store opened Jubilee Junction, a craft center within its walls which displays and sells the work of local artists and crafters. Nooks in the store offer items ranging from wool hats and crocheted baby outfits to handmade chocolate and soap. The craft center also houses a children’s consignment shop.

Jeanne Berg of Niantic said she’ll miss having a place to buy spiritual gifts.

“There’s not another one around that I know of,” she said Thursday after buying three shirts, a nightlight and wooden signs with spiritual messages.

Groton has a strong evangelical presence, partly because of the Naval Submarine Base and many submariners grew up in the Bible Belt and are used to seeing a church on every corner, McGee said. Cornerstone has served both Catholic and Protestants in the area, but McGee believes churches themselves may be the future of Christian bookselling.

“Churches have their ends to meet as well,” he said. “It could be that having a store could be a benefit to their ministry.”

After he retires, McGee said he’ll help his wife with her watercolor painting business and possibly work as a consultant to churches who want to try opening a bookstore or gift shop.

“We put together a little piece of paradise, so it’s sad to see it go,” Dennis McGee said. “But we’d like to hand off the baton to someone else if possible.”

d.straszheim@theday.com