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We at SFist love our independent bookstores. We cried when Kepler's closed and cheered when it reopened. Every week in SFist Reads we urge you to visit the many fine independent bookstores scattered around the Bay Area.
So we're giddy about the new Cody's Books at 2 Stockton Street, in the old Planet Hollywood space across from the Apple store. Cody's, a Berkeley institution started by Pat and Fred Cody in 1959 and now owned by Andy Ross, is our favorite general bookstore in the East Bay. Those of you who haven't had the pleasure of browsing the shelves at the two Berkeley locations are in for a treat, and you'll be glad Ross decided not to pass on this primo spot.
The new store, whose staff includes Cody's veterans as well as a slew of freshly hired San Franciscans, opened its doors on September 29, but we didn't make it there until last Thursday, when the staff held a celebratory party for all their book-industry friends (SFist photographer Melissa works on the events staff at Cody's). We were impressed as soon as we walked through the doors into the high-ceilinged, well-lit lobby, which offers quick access to current releases and San Francisco guidebooks. But the bulk of the store's 22,000 square feet is downstairs, past the books and small magazine collection on the mezzanine.
Photos by Melissa Schneider
This store is huge. You have to see it to believe it. The cavernous space is a bookworm's heaven, and the view across the sunken middle area from the foot of the stairwell encompasses a seemingly infinite number of books. You'll find benches and chairs scattered about so you can rest your feet after hours of browsing. Rubber-coated floors keep the noise level down, something we'll all appreciate as tots frolic in the children's area in one corner. For those who know the Berkeley locations, the Stockton Street store will remind you of the Fourth Street location more than the Telegraph site, at least until you get to the wall o' magazines near the computer books.
Even a store this amazing will have to work to establish itself. Union Square and its neighborhood are well-trafficked, but kitty corner from the new Cody's is the well-established Borders (boo! hiss!). And though the East Bay Cody's locations host some of the best author events around, the new location will have to compete with A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books and Stacey's for authors on whirlwind book tours.
Next time you're up for a good book, swing by Cody's and take a look. Just be warned: You may not want to leave.
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Best part -- a certain Governator was an investor in the Planet Hollywood chain, so his loss is our gain!
Watch out, the independent bookstore you love today could be the conglomerate you hate tomorrow.
I grew up in Ann Arbor, MI and when I was a kid Border's was Cody's. Brilliant and independent.
Now look what happened.
Jackson,
Yes, indeed (though I think the PH space has been empty for a while). I can't imagine he recouped much from whatever they scraped off the floor when PH crashed.
Nolan,
Happily, Cody's won't go that direction under current management (Andy Ross is deeply involved with various independent bookseller associations). They weren't even planning on expanding, but the chance was too good to pass up.
But it's worth remembering that Border's used to be an independent bookstore (and Starbuck's used to be funky Seattle coffee shop). Do you know if management shifted all of a sudden? Or was it in the cards from the beginning?
why don't we like Borers anymore?
Because they grew into a chain, a victim of their own success?
How is the recipe book section, Derrick?
Borders one is so cruddy,
I can't find a recipe book section that makes me hungry
Would love to know how Cody's do with the cook books
Sam,
Borders is a big chain that preys on neighborhoods where independent bookstores have established active communities (admittedly, B & N is much worse about this). Much in the same way as Starbuck's. Three times the money you spend in an independent stays in the local economy compared to a chain (see http://www.newrules.org/retail/news_archive.php?browseby=slug&slugid=150). Independent bookstores represent a greater diversity of reading material in general. Cody's doesn't take money for placing books the way the chains do.
The Cody's cookbook section rules. Possibly Stacey's is slightly better, but you won't be disappointed. That is definitely something that the SF Cody's has in common with the Fourth Street store.
thank you - for the explanation.
Its a shame these places start off well and then lose their reasoning as they expand.
I guess its like safeway with coccola buying the shelves. (see i understand in food terms but less well in other areas)
oh goody cant wait to visit for the recipe books.
Derrick,
After a little research I can tell you that Borders was started in 1971 by Tom and Louis Borders in a 800 square foot space in Ann Arbor. It expanded modestly (Cody's style, if you will) and in 1992, was then bought by K-Mart who already owned Walden Books. It then blew up into the parking lots of every shopping mall in America. (And in 2004 they got in bed with Starbucks.)
Nolan,
Thanks for filling us in. An interesting history. I bet K-Mart wishes they had held on to the stores, though. The rest of the company isn't doing too well.
As soon as I wandered into this place, I wondered where it had been all my life ... it is so frickin awesome.
I grew up - quite literally (!) - in independent bookstores. And when I was in my teens, in the 1980's, Cody's on Telegraph wasn't just a haven; it was something like a magic doorway (think Narnia) for this oft-troubled Berkeley kid.
Independent bookstores really are different, and superior to, the big chains, even when some of those chains (Borders) are marginally less evil than their compatriots.
Wherever I go in my rather extensive travels, I look for two things in a new town: the locally-owned, independent cafe, and the locally-owned, independent bookstore. With those two things, I can always bring myself to believe that everything will be alright.
Kudos to Cody's for their third store. The City will be better off for it.