Judy's Book To Shut Down. Yelp Is The Last of The Local Review Sites Still Standing.

We just got word from Judy’s Book founder and CEO Andy Sacks that the Seattle startup will be shutting down operations, and most of the staff of twelve was let go today. The company had raised a total of $10.5 million over two rounds of financing.

Judy’s Book started off as a community driven review site for local businesses, but changed it’s focus in 2006 when the original model looked to be failing. The company de-focused on local reviews, and went more towards the shopping angle and local deals.

The assets of the company are being sold, and Sacks says the company is in discussions with a few interested parties.

Other players in the local review space have fallen in the last year, too. Intuit shut down Zipingo last summer, and Insider Pages sold for little more than the capital it originally raised to CitySearch.

Yelp is still standing and reportedly doing well, although fierce competition from Yahoo and Google as well as younger startups is looming. We sadly put Judy’s Book into the TechCrunch Deadpool.