Cody’s Books, my favorite new bookstore in Berkeley, has been going through a series of painful transitions over the past few years—closing their original Telegraph Avenue store, closing their new San Francisco store, and now, being forced out of their one remaining store by rising rents.
Thankfully, something good may have come out of all this, as Cody’s retrenches in a new, smaller, location in a heavily-trafficked part of downtown Berkeley. Charlie and I have been really enjoying having Cody’s back in the neighborhood. He and a group of our friends were at Cody’s Friday night to see a friend of ours read from his (excellent) new book. It almost feels like old times, when we still had the original Cody’s back on Telegraph.
John King, the urban design writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, writes about the Cody’s move, and neighborhood bookstores in general:
Posted by Anirvan“The newest Cody’s is wrapped in glass, an inviting space with maple shelving and a buffed concrete floor left bare except at the entrance, where the blue rug hides the logo of prior tenant Eddie Bauer….’We’ve had to give up on the idea that we can stock every book that we love,” says Mytinger, 60, who joined the staff of Cody’s in 1982. ‘That model doesn’t work anymore. It isn’t viable.’ The hope is that this year’s model—lean but not mean—will evolve into something that attracts people willing to buy books in person rather than simply adding to their online shopping carts.” (more…)
It’s been a while since I last did any walking/eating tour around the city because I’ve been very occupied with sport activities. However, since I’m forced to take a break from training due to my ankle injury, I have a whole day of gorgeous weather and free time to spend.
Posted by: Discount Vibram Five Fingers | June 17, 2011 at 07:41 PM
it's really funny and interesting to have a free walk around the very crowded street.
Posted by: christian louboutin outlte | March 26, 2012 at 06:19 PM