ah crap...Cody's to close

[Guest guest]

Famed bookstore's last chapter -- Cody's on Telegraph to close

Steve Rubenstein, Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writers

 

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

 

 

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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.''

 

Bates said he suspected that older book buyers felt more at ease shopping at

Cody's store on trendy Fourth Street.

 

" It's more upscale and more comfortable,'' Bates said. " Telegraph Avenue is a

great place, but some people don't want to go there.''

 

For decades, the store was a friendly retreat on tumultuous Telegraph Avenue,

where extended browsing was encouraged and authors frequently dropped by to

discuss and sign their latest works.

 

It was 50 years ago when Pat and Fred Cody opened a small bookstore on the north

side of campus. In the early '60s, the store moved to its much larger, current

location at Telegraph Avenue and Haste Street. The next year, it served as a

first-aid station when anti-war protesters were teargassed and clubbed just

outside its doors. In 1989, after a minor firebombing, the store announced that

it would continue to sell Salman Rushdie's controversial " Satanic Verses'' -- a

decision that Ross called " our finest hour.''

 

" Rushdie came to the store once, a surprise visit when he was still in hiding,''

Ross said. The author gave the bookstore five minutes' notice to announce that

he was in the store and would sign books. " There's a hole above the information

desk from the bombing. Someone scribbled 'Salman Rushdie memorial hole.' When

Rushdie was here, he looked up and said, 'Some people get statues, others get

holes.' "

 

Over the years, Cody's hosted appearances by Allen Ginsberg, Anais Nin and

Lawrence Ferlinghetti. It also built a comprehensive section of computer and

math books and a wide variety of new fiction, gay titles and academic critical

studies.

 

Fred Cody died in 1983. Andy Ross bought the store from the Codys six years

earlier.

 

" People in Berkeley are very conservative about some things, " Ross said. " When I

took over, they said, 'We don't want you to change a thing.' Of course, I have. "

 

Ten years ago, when the store was honored with Cody's Day by the city of

Berkeley for 40 years of service, Ross expressed fears about being squeezed by

large chain stores.

 

" Many of our customers found other sources for their books -- particularly the

scholarly and academic titles that have always been our specialty, " Ross said.

 

At Cody's on Tuesday evening, the store appeared to be sparsely populated, and

customers said they were saddened by the news.

 

Isaac Israel, who was sitting on a bench perusing physics books, said he was

" very unhappy. " Israel received his doctorate from UC Berkeley in 1994 and said

he had bought about a quarter of his 2,500 books from the store. He said he

stops by the store five times a week to browse. Down the block at equally

venerated Moe's Books, bookseller Dave Yetter said sales have been down

throughout the area. He blamed Berkeley city officials for neglecting Telegraph

and instead focusing their efforts on other shopping corridors such as Shattuck

Avenue in the downtown area.

 

" The Berkeley City Council left Telegraph to go to seed with a lack of upkeep

and lack of interest, " Yetter said.

 

Yetter said he feels for Ross.

 

" I understand, sort of, his dilemma, " Yetter said. " After dark, nobody's here,

nowhere. "

 

Shawn Misaghi, who has operated a flower stand outside Cody's for 18 years, said

the area can be unsafe and parking can be hard to find.

 

The Cody's announcement came a week after another large independent bookstore --

A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco -- went

up for sale.

 

Chronicle staff writer Heidi Benson contributed to this report E-mail the

writers at srubenstein and hlee.

 

 

What's gonna happen when the buses don't run

and what's gonna happen when the, winter comes

what are you gonna do,

what are you gonna do

when the oil runs out?