Cody's Closed

by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 6/22/2008 5:01:00 PM

Cody’s Books, the one-time iconic Berkeley, Calif. bookstore that has fallen on hard times in recent years, has closed. In an e-mail sent late Friday, Cody’s management said the store “will shut its doors effective June 20.”  Founded in 1956 by Fred and Pat Cody, the store was acquired by Andy Ross in 1977. Ross expanded Cody’s to three locations, but, faced with declining sales, scaled back to one outlet before selling the company to the Japanese distributor and retailer Yohan Inc. in 2005. Yohan president Hirosho Kagawa said in the e-mail while he was “excited” to save the store from bankruptcy in 2005,”unfortunately, my current business in not strong enough or rich enough to support Cody’s. Of course, the store has been suffering from low sales and the deficit exceeds our ability to service it.”

Kagawa tried several different approaches to keep the Cody’s name alive. The last move came in March when the last Cody’s store, located in an upscale shopping area in North Berkeley, was closed and re-opened in a 7,000-sq.-ft. space on downtown Shattuck Avenue. At the time, some Bay area booksellers and publishers questioned if there would be enough customer traffic in the neighborhood to support a store that once had been a Berkeley institution. The final answer came Friday.