Shake-up in Bay Area Bookselling
by Bridget Kinsella -- Publishers Weekly, 5/15/2006
The announcements that San Francisco's A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books is for sale and Cody's Books is closing its 50-year-old flagship store on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley hit Bay Area book people like an earthquake. But upon reflection, most agreed that both moves are sound business decisions. "In retrospect, I think Andy [Ross] did something strategically well," said Clark Kepler, owner of Kepler's Books, about the closing of Cody's. "It's the end of an icon and a place we know and love, and at the same time we all have to do things in our businesses as things change. So for him to do that is bold."
The Telegraph Avenue store is in a neighborhood with declining foot traffic and an increase of homeless people and drug dealers. Melissa Mytinger, Cody's events coordinator, said she is not canceling any of the Telegraph store's author events but will shift them to Cody's stores on Fourth Street in Berkeley and Union Square in San Francisco.
Neal Sofman said that the decision to sell CWL's store near the San Francisco Opera came after a terrible first sales quarter and his partners' unwillingness to continue the business. He said potential buyers have expressed some interest in the store, but even as early as last summer he had begun to consider opening another store (separate from his CWL partners) in the city. Sofman expects to open a 2,300-sq.-ft. store in the West Portal neighborhood in about two weeks. And he plans to continue hosting The Writer's Voice radio program spotlighting Bay Area bookstore events on National Public Radio on Sunday evenings.
The dual announcements from Cody's and CWL come less than a year after Kepler's avoided shutting down when the Menlo Park community rallied to its support. But Kepler is the first to say his store is not out of the financial woods and is struggling to stay in business. "The notion of bookselling is changing," he said. "It's fascinating to see how we are all coming along to face the challenges."
Hut Landon, executive director of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, observed that while the Bay Area may have lost two marquee venues for author events, it would be wrong for publishers to assume that there are no other stores to send authors to. The region, Landon noted, still maintains an average of 50 events a week. And he is quick to point out that neither Sofman nor Ross is leaving the bookselling trade.
Elaine Petrocelli, owner of Book Passage, is facing her own struggles, with Barnes & Noble set to move in down the street from the store in October. Book Passage customers have lobbied Marin County officials to favor local businesses, but any action will not affect B&N's move. "Customers have been very supportive but their loyalty will be proven in the fall," said Petrocelli. "And publishers will help determine what happens by where they book their authors."
