When Black Oak Books, one of our favorite used book locations, closed its doors while mentioning vague plans to re-open, we thought they might be in store for an agonizing, drawn-out decline, à la Cody’s Books.

However, it appears that is not the case, at least not for the time being. The store has purchased a new location on San Pablo, it seems, and hopes to reopen by next month.

The new location is apparently even larger than the last, although not nearly as accessible after a stop at Cheeseboard. However, the new location might have an additional draw of incorporating a café and/or music venue into the store.

There will also be fewer new books, but the draw of the place was really the labyrinthine shelves of used books, so we’re not too worried.

Image Source: 0olong under Creative Commons
Black Oak Books Buys West Berkeley Home [Berkeley Daily Planet]

Posted in: Sandbox
Tags:black oak books, books cheeseboard, the slow agonizing death of independent bookstores
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Black Oak Books, once providing the perfect location for post-Cheeseboard-meal book shopping, is officially moving out. It seems times are tough, and the store is packing up and looking for greener pastures … or cheaper retail space, as it were.

The new location doesn’t appear to have been officially confirmed, although there has been talk of a move to the intersection of Dwight & San Pablo Avenues. We can only hope that this move will go well and the store will reopen in its full labyrinthine glory at its new location.

However, we can’t help noticing certain similarities between this move and the throes of closing-reopening agony Cody’s Books went through last year before finally succumbing to its wounds. Not that the trend is altogether surprising—given that the current economic downturn seems to be compounding the bookstore-annihilating forces already wielded by Amazon.com.

Image Source: 0olong under Creative Commons
Black Oak Books Moves [Berkeley Daily Planet]

Posted in: News
Tags:black oak books, books, Cheeseboard, Cody's Books, in light of the economic downturn
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