Alexander Book Co. Grows in Unexpected Directions

When Michael Stuppin moved back to his hometown of San Francisco to open Alexander Book Co. with his sister, Bonnie Stuppin, they wanted to provide the city with "something a little different," a general bookstore that filled under-met needs. During Alexander Book Co.'s 14 years, they have developed the store's strengths, which include serving the working community in their South of Market (SoMA) neighborhood and building the African-American literature section and events schedule into a Bay area resource.

Michael Stuppin originally got into bookselling at a B. Dalton's in New York City, where he worked while attending school for a Masters Degree in Literature.

In 1990, he and Bonnie Stuppin opened the 5,000-square-foot store on the first three floors of a historic brick building rebuilt (with some of the original bricks) after the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. The SoMa neighborhood in downtown San Francisco is primarily a business district, with little activity on nights and weekends, said Stuppin, who coordinates lunch-hour events to suit customers' schedules.

Of the store's extensive African-American literature section, Stuppin explained, "It wasn't necessarily our intent to develop such a strong selection of African-American books, but since we've opened, we've always had someone here who was African-American. Two gentlemen worked here at different times, and they worked on and nurtured the selection. Now it's one of our top-selling departments; it's been great for the bookstore."

Bookseller Jerry Thompson helped launch the section when the bookstore opened and eventually opened his own bookstore, the defunct Black Spring Books. Currently, Bernard Henderson buys for the section and coordinates events. Stuppin noted that the majority of the events calendar is devoted to African-American literary events.

When Alexander Book Co. opened, Stuppin wanted the store to serve the entire city. "When we opened 14 years ago, I had thought about adding something unique and different to San Francisco to supplement what was in the city, to truly make a difference in the San Francisco book industry," Stuppin said. "But as the industry changed over the years, with the advent of the superstores, I scaled back my thoughts.... I'm very happy to make this store a place that serves the people who work in downtown San Francisco. It's great to have more of a direct community interaction instead of with the whole city."

Alexander Book Co. has been part of the Book Sense gift card program since December 2003. Stuppin reported that nearby businesses gave Book Sense gift cards to their employees during the holiday season and actively "want to support independent bookstores." Alexander is also a BookSense.com store (alexanderbook.booksense.com), and customers use the site as a tool to "stay connected with the store," said Stuppin.

The store will be launching a new project that's geared toward simultaneously fostering community involvement and improving the environment. Stuppin told BTW, "I had struggled to find a way to give something back to the environment, and I wanted to find a way to connect it with our customers. Starting this Earth Day, every time somebody makes a purchase, we'll plant a tree," said Stuppin. "We're working with ... Trees for the Future, which plants trees around the world in communities severely hit by deforestation."

The organization offered a solution for Stuppin, who "was always passionate about the environment," but who had little time to devote to Green issues. "This way I can help the environment without having to leave the store, and I can also get other people involved," he said. "This will have a very positive impact for us. We know we'll be giving something back to the environment and hopefully our customers will make that connection and support us." --Karen Schechner