Is B&N Moving Too Close for Book Passage’s Comfort?

by Bridget Kinsella with Jim Milliot, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 1/25/2006

Barnes & Noble said this morning that it will open a new store in the Town Center mall in Corte Madera, Calif. The company will close its nearby outlet in the town, which it has operated for 14 years. Even before B&N confirmed that it would be moving into the site formerly occupied by Marshalls, rumors of its plans prompted local residents to rally support for Book Passage, Corte Madera's large independent store owned by Bill and Elaine Petrocelli.

To back the indie, Book Passage customers formed Concerned Citizens of Marin County, which is comprised of an alliance of local groups and have already created a Web site (www.omnibusol.com/ccsib.html) to post updates on the situation. "We are going to make it difficult for B&N every step of the way," Pat Ravasio, a local real estate agent and newspaper columnist," said, adding that protests and boycotts are being discussed. "It's bad enough when it happens with shoes and clothes and everything else, but when it happens to books it really gets to the heart of things," Ravasio said.

Book Passage has developed tremendous goodwill over the years in Corte Madera not only among those in the literary world, but in the community at large and is seen by some as the "community center." Author Anne Lamott talked about Book Passage’s unwavering support of struggling writers. "When my first book Hard Laughter came out in 1980 it hardly sold at all," she said. "Elaine bought hundreds of copies. Over the years she's done that with all of my books until my career took off.”

For over a decade B&N and Book Passage have operated stores on opposite sides of the freeway. The new site will give B&N three times the space it has in its current location and permit it to add music and movies, at a location closer to Book Passage. A B&N spokesperson said the company, "is looking forward to continuing to serve the community." Stan Hoffman, general manager of the Town Center, said B&N and Book Passage have different customer bases and that he didn't think Book Passage's loyal customers could be lured by music and movies.

Hut Landon, executive director of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, was not so sure. "The notion of peaceful coexistence is not the Barnes & Noble way," he said. And for those who know the California freeways and the Marin 101 corridor, he pointed out, moving from across the freeway to down the street is not innocuous as it sounds.

For her part, Elaine Petrocelli is ready for battle. "We never roll over nicely," she said.