About Bookstores

Three years ago, Coliseum Books reopened in a location directly across from the main branch of the New York Public Library in midtown Manhattan. Now, the bookstore is in danger of closing for good: On Thursday, September 28, the independent filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Federal District Court.

Shawn Decker, author of My Pet Virus.

On Wednesday, September 27, San Francisco's Books Inc. opened its 11th store, in the location formerly occupied by A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books at Opera Plaza. The opening was celebrated with a reading and signing by author Shawn Decker (My Pet Virus, Tarcher).

A Prairie Home Companion's Garrison Keillor has, of course, been part of the literary world for years: he's the author of more than a dozen books, including Lake Wobegon Days, The Book of Guys, Love Me, and Homegrown Democrat, and has been a writer for the New Yorker, a writer and host of The Writer's Almanac, and an emcee of the National Book Awards.

First Street in Port Angeles, on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, is a long way from Leslie Street in Newark, New Jersey, but Alan Turner, co-owner of Port Book and News, and author Philip Roth share a connection to both. Turner grew up in the same Newark house once occupied by Roth and his family, and he now keeps Roth's many titles in stock, along with about 75,000 other new and used books, in his 20-year-old community bookstore.

Creekside Books & Coffee, a 6,500-square-foot coffeehouse and bookstore, is owned by Erika Davis in the lovely, but tough to pronounce, village of Skaneateles, New York. "Try to pronounce it as 'skinny atlas,'" Davis advises the uninitiated. The town is a scenic place on the north side of the Finger Lakes, 25 miles outside Syracuse, with a population of 7,000.

Charis Books & More, the 32-year-old feminist bookstore in Atlanta, Georgia, has announced a new ownership team, along with improvements to the store's physical appearance, including a new color for the building. Sara Look, a co-owner and book buyer for 12 years; Angela Gabriel, a part-time staff member for many years; and Amanda Hill comprise the new ownership team.

Since 1973, Bear Pond Books has been selling books and creating a sense of community in downtown Montpelier, Vermont. The store has brought dozens of well-known authors to the store and took a well-publicized, defiant stand protecting the privacy rights of its customers in the face of the USA Patriot Act.

After nearly a year of conducting its bookselling business almost exclusively online due to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, Pass Christian Books in Pass Christian, Mississippi, is hoping to reopen a storefront in early October -- thanks to the help of a local resident, Scott Naugle told BTW.

On Wednesday, September 6, Cody's Books announced that it had been acquired by Yohan, Inc., a Tokyo-based bookseller, distributor, and publisher. Yohan -- which owns 18 bookstores in Japan, as well as the Tokyo-based IBC Publishing, Inc. and the Berkeley-based Stone Bridge Press -- purchased Cody's two stores, on Fourth Street in Berkeley and on Union Square in San Francisco.