This Fall Sees a Number of Independents Rising

After a season when 80 new or prospective booksellers enrolled for Paz & Associates Bookseller School at BookExpo America and more than a few new independent bookstores opened, there are further positive signs in a sometimes bleak economic picture. In October and November, a number of independent booksellers are expanding or opening new or additional stores.

In early October, Porter Square Books will open in North Cambridge, Massachusetts; in mid-October, Village Books in Bellingham, Washington, will be moving into an expansion; and, in mid-November, Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver will open its third store, and Books Inc. of San Francisco will open its 11th store, in Alameda, California.

After last year's shakeup at the Concord Bookshop in Concord, Massachusetts, which resulted in the store's three longtime managers being relieved of their managerial duties, they and many of the remaining staff resigned in frustration. Now, that experienced management -- Jane Dawson, Carol Stoltz, and Dale Szczeblowski -- along with other former Concord booksellers, will be opening Porter Square Books in early October.

Szczeblowski, who is the managing director of the new store, as well as the vice president of the New England Booksellers Association and a member of ABA's Booksellers Advisory Council, said, "We're getting a sense that there's a lot of excitement in the community about the bookstore opening. The landlord is hearing positive things."

Village Books, in Bellingham, Washington, is currently located in two interconnected buildings, but next month owners Chuck and Dee Robinson will be moving part of their inventory into a larger third building that is currently under construction. The result will be three adjacent buildings, with each outer building connected at the middle building. The plan is to have the new space open in mid-October, said Chuck Robinson.

"We're gaining about one-third in square footage, going from 7,500 to 10,000 square feet," Robinson said. He noted that Village Books' 3,000-square-foot Readings Gallery and Bargain Book Annex is currently in the basement of the middle building, but with the move, bargain books will be integrated in the new space. However, the Readings Gallery will remain in its current location.

In the meantime, the remainder of the bookstore will be moved from the old building into the new building. "We're probably moving about 4,500 square feet from the old building and then expanding into the new building," Robinson said. The new building will also have a café, Book Fare, on the mezzanine level.

In an effort to take advantage of Denver's burgeoning suburban market, Tattered Cover Book Store will be opening a third, 22,000-square-foot bookstore in Highlands Ranch, a southwestern Denver suburb, in "mid-November," said Cathy Langer, buyer for Tattered Cover.

One of the key reasons for opening a third store in Highlands Ranch is "Denver's population expansion is occurring in the suburbs, for the most part," Langer told BTW in late July. "[Highlands Ranch] is a great neighborhood with lots of potential. [It] ... is continuing to grow at a breathtaking pace, and we want to be a part of that." Tattered Cover's two other bookstores are in the LoDo and Cherry Creek areas of Denver.

Michael Tucker of Books Inc. told BTW via e-mail that, "barring any unforeseen difficulties, we will be opening [the 11th bookstore] the second week in November" in Alameda, California. "Alameda is an island and an old bedroom community in the San Francisco East Bay," he said. "The west end of the island used to be the site of a large Naval Air Station -- in fact, up until a few years ago, it was port to several of the Pacific fleet aircraft carriers. It is now becoming very gentrified -- great old Victorian and Craftsmen houses."

Tucker noted that the median age in Alameda has dropped to 35, and, with a population of around 80,000, it is "awash in young families."

"We had received a number of requests to open up a store, and as I followed up on locations and demographics," Tucker said, "I discovered they were preparing to do a major street landscaping renovation in the old downtown district and were very excited about the possibility of a downtown neighborhood bookstore….

"Another upside is that there isn't another independent bookseller on the island so we are not sitting down on top of one of our own."

The new store will be 3,800 square feet, "which is a typical size for our stores," Tucker said. "We are excited to be able to add another neighborhood store, which is what we do best." --David Grogan