better news than a health care bill
Dec. 24th, 2009 08:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calimacIn courtesy especially to residents from other climes who otherwise might not hear about it before their next visit:
Black Oak Books, a mixture of new and used which was one of Berkeley's finest, driven out of its longtime North Shattuck location a year and a half ago by punitive rents, has found a new home just as they promised.
It'll now be down in the flatlands of West Berkeley, at 2618 San Pablo Ave. (why couldn't they put the address in the article?), three blocks south of Dwight Way. Three blocks south of Dwight? I never go to that part of San Pablo, but I guess I will now.
"We're not stocking Sarah Palin's book, but we won't sneer at someone who requests it," says the manager. Naturally this has generated some right-wing huffing in the comments. (Maybe they should sneer? I mean, that's what you go to Berkeley for, right?) Really, though, not carrying everything but ordering anything on request is customary at any general new-books store. Since the signal virtue of a physical store is the browsing, I judge such stores by the selection of which few dozen, out of the hundreds of new commercial books in print at any time, they choose to put out on their display tables to catch the wandering eye.
By those standards I miss the Cody's on Telegraph the most, as they always had on display lots of books I'd never heard of but which fascinated me. But Black Oak, a a strong double-threat with new and used, was always dangerous to visit. You'd go in but you could fall so far under the spell of all those books that you ... might ... never ... come ... out.
Black Oak Books, a mixture of new and used which was one of Berkeley's finest, driven out of its longtime North Shattuck location a year and a half ago by punitive rents, has found a new home just as they promised.
It'll now be down in the flatlands of West Berkeley, at 2618 San Pablo Ave. (why couldn't they put the address in the article?), three blocks south of Dwight Way. Three blocks south of Dwight? I never go to that part of San Pablo, but I guess I will now.
"We're not stocking Sarah Palin's book, but we won't sneer at someone who requests it," says the manager. Naturally this has generated some right-wing huffing in the comments. (Maybe they should sneer? I mean, that's what you go to Berkeley for, right?) Really, though, not carrying everything but ordering anything on request is customary at any general new-books store. Since the signal virtue of a physical store is the browsing, I judge such stores by the selection of which few dozen, out of the hundreds of new commercial books in print at any time, they choose to put out on their display tables to catch the wandering eye.
By those standards I miss the Cody's on Telegraph the most, as they always had on display lots of books I'd never heard of but which fascinated me. But Black Oak, a a strong double-threat with new and used, was always dangerous to visit. You'd go in but you could fall so far under the spell of all those books that you ... might ... never ... come ... out.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-12-24 05:31 pm (UTC)Presumably the rent is a lot less than on North Shattuck -- it damned well better be, because I just can't imagine them getting more than 5% of the foot traffic they got in their previous location. You never see anyone (figuratively) walking up or down that stretch of San Pablo.
I wish them well, but it's really hard to see how they will be able to survive once the 'oh, let's go take a look' crowd takes it look and then goes back to ordering on Amazon.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-25 12:35 am (UTC)The foot traffic (and related neighborhood attractions) issue is a legitimate concern. What is best to hope for is that, with the ease of driving access to and parking at the new location and the rapid fall of independent competition, they can fill a regional, as opposed to neighborhood, niche. That would require a large expansion of their new-book selection, which they've been moving towards for some time, and a canny Cody's-like differentiation from what the box chains feature.
I trust that there's still room for such an operation, especially positioned between Berkeley and Oakland as it is, so long as fixed costs are not too high, which is what's killed most of the competition. And that may be the trick here. We'll see.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-24 10:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-25 12:36 am (UTC)