Cody's Books, the venerable independent bookstore that has served generations of UC Berkeley students, has announced that it will close its flagship store on the south side of campus because of declining sales and competition from chain stores and the Internet.The store, on Telegraph Avenue, will close its doors on July 10 after 43 years.
"We have lost over $1 million attempting to keep the store open,'' said owner Andy Ross. "As a family business, we cannot continue to afford these ruinous losses.''
Ross said the store had been losing money for 15 years and that pressure from chain stores and the Internet had contributed to an "economic concentration in bookselling'' that was forcing out independent stores like Cody's.
"We leave Telegraph with great sadness but with a sense of honor that we have served our customers and community with distinction,'' Ross said.
Cody's two other, smaller stores -- on Fourth Street in Berkeley and on Stockton Street in San Francisco -- will remain open.
Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said he was "saddened but not surprised'' by the closure.
"It's a terrible blow for us,'' Bates said. "Cody's is an institution. But they've been struggling for years. It's just part of the changing times we live in. With the Internet and all the other innovations, these (stores) have all taken a hit.''
I have to admit I haven't been to Cody's much lately. I live in Oakland and work in San Francisco, so it's not easy for me to get over to Telegraph Avenue. But it's such a fabulous place. I generally buy books at Stacey's in the city, and while I like them a lot (and they are also independent!), they don't have the same atmosphere. I can wander into Cody's and spend half an hour browing the tables in the front of the store. I've gone to book readings there, like David Sedaris's a few years back (he brought a tip jar and told us that if we gave him $50 in change, he'd sing the "Oscar Meier Weiner" song for us. And he did!) When I was in graduate school, I was in that store all the time. Their computer book section was great at the time, not so great now, but generally, anything I've been looking for, they've carried.
I heard for years that the Internet was killing local independent bookstores, but it seemed in recent years that things had improved; that local stores had learned to fight back, with the BookSense website, loyalty programs, and just plain old being better. But it's difficult running a business on Telegraph; crime has gone up everywhere, and the Avenue is a scary place to be at night sometimes, especially since you have to park wherever you can and then walk to the store, often several blocks away. That probably didn't help.
So, farewell to Cody's this summer. Sure, Moe's Books is next door, and they're great too, but Telegraph has now become even less appealing a place to go than it was before...
