Independent bookstore

An "Independent bookstore" is a retail bookstore which is independently owned. [ [http://www.bookweb.org/about American Booksellers Association] ]

Literary and countercultural history

Author events at independent bookstores sometimes take the role of literary salons. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1154/is_n9_v78/ai_8855440/print?tag=artBody;col1 Bookstores are bestsellers - independent bookseller Chapters: A Literary Bookstore is successful - includes related article on starting a bookstore] ] The bookstores themselves, "have historically supported and cultivated the work of independent authors and poets. Chances are if it were not for bookstores like "McIntyre’s", Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg would not enjoy the celebrity they did." [ [http://www.chathamjournal.com/weekly/business/localbusiness/nc-authors-support-independents-61212.shtml North Carolina authors support independent bookstore] ] This relationship with authors is referenced in the 1988 film, "Crossing Delancey" which stars Amy Irving.

City Lights

"City Lights Bookstore" in San Francisco, California was founded in 1953 by Peter D. Martin and Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Ferlinghetti became its sole owner in 1955, and started "City Lights Publishers" that same year. [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/11/DDGRNLNBRB43.DTL Ferlinghetti's City Lights lands a West Coast first as host for National Book Award announcement] ] Among the writers it publishes are the Beat poets, including Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso, and Allen Ginsberg. [ [http://archives.cnn.com/2000/books/news/06/27/beat.establishment/ Landmark status likely for beatnik-era bookstore] ]

In 1956 "City Lights" published "Howl & Other Poems" as number 4 in its City Lights Pocket Poets Series. Ferlinghetti and the bookstore manager, Shigeyoshi Murao, were arrested on an obscenity charge for publishing and selling the book. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/books/review/09marcus.html 'The Poem That Changed America: "Howl" Fifty Years Later'] ]

Cody's Books

The now defunct "Cody's Books" in Berkeley, California opened in 1956 on Euclid Avenue in Berkeley, California. It moved to a larger location on Telegraph Avenue in 1967. In 1968, "Cody's served as a first-aid station [...] when anti-war protesters were teargassed and clubbed just outside its Telegraph Avenue doors [...] the store's employees were tending the wounded -- anti-war protesters teargassed and clubbed by the police and the National Guard as protests broke out on Telegraph Avenue." [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1996/06/27/MN65072.DTL&type=printable Berkeley Celebrates 40-Year Love Affair With Cody's Books: Independent bookseller has outlived beats, hippies and the rise of chains] ]

On February 28, 1989 unknown persons threw a firebomb at the store in response to the prominent display of Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" which had a fatwa placed against it by Iranian clerics one month prior. In response the owners and staff unanimously voted to keep the book on display despite the attack and the increasing willingness of chain book-stores to bow to pressure to withdraw it. [ [http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/give/bene53/codys.html Cody's Books: An Historical Berkeley Landmark and Independent Bookstore Begins Archive at the Bancroft Library] ]

Kepler's Books

" Kepler's Books" in Menlo Park, California was founded on May 14, 1955 by Roy Kepler. [http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/2005/2005_05_11.kepler11mb.shtml The culture of Kepler's: At 50, venerable bookstore still has soul] ] The store "soon blossomed into a cultural epicenter and attracted loyal customers from the students and faculty of Stanford University and from other members of the surrounding communities who were interested in serious books and ideas." [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/05/13/PNGJHCLJAJ1.DTL Kepler's turns another page: After 50 years, the epicenter of the Peninsula's counterculture is still shaking things up] ] The "Palo Alto Weekly" notes that, "Through the 60s and 70s, the culture of Kepler's began to evolve into a broader counter-culture. Beat intellectuals and pacifists were joined by 'people who worked for "Whole Earth", hippies into the rock and roll and recreational drug scene, politicos, and people with an interest in ethnic groups.'"

The" Grateful Dead" gave live shows at Kepler's early in their career. [ [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7582743/waking_the_dead How the Dead Came to Life] ] . As noted in a 2005 article, "folk singer Joan Baez, members of the "Grateful Dead", and many local leaders remember sharing ideas, political action, music, and danger in the cramped store." [ [http://www.almanacnews.com/morgue/2005/2005_05_04.keplersa.shtml Cover story: Kepler's: more than a bookstore] ] Kepler's also features prominently in John Markoff's 2005 text, "".

Printers Inc.

The now defunct "Printers Inc. Bookstore" in Palo Alto, California is mentioned in the novel, "The Golden Gate". The novel follows the lives of a group of yuppies in San Francisco (author Vikram Seth based the work on his experiences as a graduate student in Economics at Stanford University). [ [http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/nov/18bsp.htm Vikram Seth returns to the Golden Gate] ] The "Printer's Inc Cafe" is referenced in section 8.13 ("Should we walk down to Printers Inc, and get some coffee? [...] brownies, muffins, fudge, cake, toffee-most of the stuff's so good it hurts") [Vikram Seth. "The Golden Gate," (New York, Vintage, 1991): 179] and the "Printers Inc Bookstore" is referenced in section 8.14 ("The enchanted bookstore, vast, retangular [...] skilled extractor of my last dime on print or drink, mini-montmartre, Printers Inc!") [Vikram Seth. "The Golden Gate," (New York, Vintage, 1991): 180]

hakespeare and Company

"Shakespeare and Company (bookshop)" in Paris during the Sylvia Beach period in the 1920s was often visited by authors belonging to the "lost generation" such as Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and James Joyce. [ [http://www.themodernword.com/joyce/jj_shakespeare.html James Joyce Images] ] [http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/~hayward/paris/shakespeare-observor.html The Beats go on] ] It was Sylvia Beach who first published Joyce's book, "Ulysses", in 1922 through "Shakespeare and Company". [ [http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/01/09/specials/joyce-shakespeare.html Shopkeeper of Shakespeare and Company] ] The store was also referenced in in Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast".

Financial struggles and notable closures

Since the rise of big chains and online booksellers, independent bookstores have been under considerable financial pressure [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9807E3DF1330F933A15757C0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print Smaller Bookstores End Court Struggle Against Two Chains] ] [ [http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2000/05/oxford.html Light in Oxford: How the vision of one independent bookseller has revitalized the heart of Faulkner's Mississippi.] ] and many have closed due to their inability to compete. [ [http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-10-09-independent-bookstores_x.htm Independent bookstores fighting chains, Internet to stay open] ] This phenomenon is reflected in the 1998 film "You've Got Mail" (starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan), which explores the difficulties faced by an independent bookseller competing with a large corporate bookstore.

Notable closures include "Cody's Books" (2008) in Berkeley, "Printers Inc. Bookstore" (2001) in Palo Alto, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books" (2006) in San Francisco, [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/19/BAG1SK1FU31.DTL&type=books Clean Well-Lighted Place dimming its lights for good] ] "Midnight Special" (2004) in Santa Monica, [ [http://www.lavoice.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=104&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 Great Loss - Midnight Special Bookstore to Close for Good] ] "Dutton’s Brentwood Books" (2008) in Los Angeles, [ [http://articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/31/local/me-duttons31 Dutton’s bids loyal customers farewell] ] and "Coliseum Books" (2007) in New York.

In some cases, the community became involved and prevented an independent bookstore from closing. A notable example is "Kepler's Books" in Menlo Park, California. Kepler's closed its doors on August 31, 2005. [ [http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/2005/2005_09_02.keplers02mb.shtml The End] ] The local community held demonstrations to protest the closing. [ [http://www.almanacnews.com/morgue/2005/2005_09_14.keplers.shtml Saving Kepler's: Investors await response from landlord] ] [ [http://voice.paly.net/view_story.php?id=3204 Paly Voice: Rally to save Keplers Bookstore draws hundreds in support] ] Kepler's subsequently re-opened in October 2005 with community investments, volunteers and donations. [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/10/09/KEPLERS.TMP MENLO PARK / As Kepler's Books reopens, customers queue at registers] ] A similar attempt was made with "Printers Inc. Bookstore" in 1998. In December, Printers Inc. announced that it would be closing. [ [http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/news/1998_Dec_11.PRINTERS.html COMMUNITY: Printers Inc. will shut down in March] ] [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/12/26/MN90209.DTL Internet Smashing Small Bookstores: Printers Inc. in Palo Alto to close] ] [ [http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,17216,00.html Death of a Bookshop] ] The local community protested the closing and in March 1999 Printers Inc. found new management. [ [http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/news/1999_Mar_26.PRINTRS1.html BUSINESS: Palo Alto Printers Inc. to remain open] ] This management only lasted a few years, however, and in 2001 "Printers Inc. Bookstore" closed for good. [ [http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/2001/2001_07_04.town04.html Saving a bookstore] ]

The 2008 documentary "Paperback Dreams" is "the story of two landmark independent bookstores and their struggle to survive. The film follows Andy Ross, owner of Cody's Books, and Clark Kepler, owner of Kepler's Books, over the course of two tumultuous years in the book business." [http://paperbackdreams.com/index.php/about/the-film/]

Bookstore tourism

"Bookstore tourism" (2003- ) is a type of cultural tourism that promotes independent bookstores as a group travel destination. It started as a grassroots effort to support locally owned and operated bookshops, many of which have struggled to compete with large bookstore chains and online retailers. The project was initiated by Larry Portzline, a writer and college instructor in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania who led "bookstore road trips" to other cities and recognized its potential as a group travel niche and marketing tool. [ [http://www.publishingbasics.com/newsletter/march2005/lportzline.html Larry Portzline] ]

In 2007, "The New York Times" argued that the Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts, is the " most author-saturated, book-cherishing, literature-celebrating place in" the United States. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/16/travel/escapes/16North.html?_r=1&oref=slogin In the Valley of the Literate] ] In particular, it discussed three bookshops in the region, "Amherst Books" in Amherst, Massachusetts, "Broadside Bookshop" in Northampton, Massachusetts, and "The Odyssey Bookshop" in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

In 2008, "USA Today" listed nine top bookstore travel destinations in the United States as: "Books & Books" in Coral Gables, Florida, "City Lights Books" in San Francisco, "The Elliott Bay Book Company" in Seattle, "Politics and Prose Bookstore" in Washington, D.C., "Powell's Books" in Portland, Oregon, "Prairie Lights" in Iowa City, Iowa, "Tattered Cover" in Denver, Colorado, "That Bookstore in Blytheville" in Blytheville, Arkansas, and the "Strand Book Store" in New York City. [ [http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2008-01-09-nine-bookstore-destinations_N.htm Nine destination bookstores worth putting on a tourist's itinerary] ]

List of current independent bookstores

Notes

External links

* [http://www.bookweb.org/ American Bookseller's Association] - a non-profit group which represents independent bookstores
* [http://www.abfc.com The Association of Booksellers for Children] - a non-profit trade association of independent children's booksellers
* [http://www.bookstoreguide.org Bookstore Guide] - a non-profit site which lists independent bookstores throughout Europe