A Senior Moment -- Stacey's Turns 80

In September, Stacey's Bookstore in San Francisco celebrated its 80th anniversary with a day-long party replete with a string quartet, a huge cake, and an active popcorn machine, and throughout the month the store's front window featured a rotating exhibition of vintage photographs and memorabilia. Sydney Hannan, a staff member at Stacey's since 1979, joked that the customers had their priorities straight because they came in and immediately asked for cake. "It was really fun," she added.

Like any other octogenarian, Stacey's has seen a lot of change. In 1921, John W. Stacey, a botanist and bookseller, talked with a physician friend of his about the lack of places to buy medical textbooks in the West. Stacey then began to ask other doctor friends if they needed a medical book service in their area. With a stake of $20,000 raised from 47 California physicians, he opened a 216-square-foot store in the Flood Building on Market Street in 1923.

In 1946, Stacey's branched out and began carrying a line of technical and professional titles, including the first computer books published. Hannan told BTW that when she started working at Stacey's, there was one shelf of computer books; that section now occupies an entire floor. A second store was opened in 1959 at the current Market Street location. Eventually, the original location closed. The new store drew glowing reviews. San Francisco Examiner reporter Luther Nichols said the elevator doors were "the color of raspberry sherbet; the sexiest elevator doors in town."

In 1968 Brodart, a library supply company, bought the store and continued to diversify, adding general trade books and a large paperback book department in the basement. Hannan said Stacey's undertook two more remodelings. One in 1987 and another in 1996 when the store added 10,000 square feet of retail space and expanded its stock of general books. The current location is 25,000 square feet with three full floors, a mezzanine, and additional office space. The store now employs a staff of 35.

Tom Allen, Stacey's general manager, described the store as "the main bookstore serving the financial district of San Francisco. Over the course of the years we've moved from being a medical and science bookstore to a general bookstore. Now we're known not only for technical books, but for author events and all those things that go along with being a large modern bookstore."

Some of the transitions long-timer Hannan has witnessed are a bit more personal. "The one horrifying thing is that some of the people who are working here now, weren't even born when I started working here," she joked, adding that she "started out on the register and just hung around until I became the buyer." About her work, she said, "I love the job. It keeps me thinking all the time. I learn so much about everything and, of course, I get to read everything too. I guess that's why we're all in this business." --Karen Schechner