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Given the sad state of current economic affairs, it comes as no surprise that independent bookstores are suffering a tortuous drought at the bottom of the food chain. Remember when we mourned Cody’s Books closure in June 2008? It was certainly not the first instance of a local bookseller losing business to the proliferation of online stores and ubiquitious chains–nor was it by any means the last.
It’s an unfortunate reality that renders last week’s opening of a Books Inc. location in Berkeley (not far, in fact, from Cody’s Books’ previous turf) all the more auspicious. Indeed, the independent chain, which now has 10 stores scattered throughout the Bay and one in southern California, serves as something of a beacon of hope for any and all bookworms who have ever waxed nostalgic on literary days of yore.
In accounting for Books Inc.’s successful tenacity, Hut Landon, the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association’s executive director, explains: read more »
