§ || ¶Fog Returns!
§ || ¶Cody's Telegraph Ave Store Closes!
Cody's Books celebrated 50 years in Berkeley while at the same time closing its flagship store on Telegraph Avenue. (Two other stores, one on 4th Street in Berkeley, the other in San Francisco).
Needless to say, it was a bittersweet moment.
Fred and Pat Cody (seen on the left) started Cody's Books on Telegraph Avenue in 1956.
In the late 70's Andy Ross (seen on the right) bought the store from the retiring Codys. (Fred Cody died in 1983).
Later, Andy opened a branch on flourishing 4th Street in West Berkeley, and recently another store in San Francisco.
But since the '90's the Telegraph store was losing money. Telegraph Avenue was the problem.
So today they threw a party at the Telegraph store -- first to celebrate 50 years as a bookstore in Berkeley, and to say farewell to the Telegraph store.
Tomorrow, Monday, the store will be closed, everything carted away. Big FOR LEASE signs are already up on the windows.
Independent bookstores like Cody's are closing and few new stores are taking their place.
There are lots of reasons for this. You could say the economy, high rents, high book prices, have made the traditional stores unprofitable.
You could blame the internet for providing instant access to online catalogs and discounted prices.
Or, you could blame the community and local politicians for letting places like Telegraph Avenue, the driveway into the University of California campus, decay and drive away business.
Or, you could just say that bookstores and a reading public are now a thing of the past. Maybe only niche stores that specialize, take up less floor space, employ fewer booksellers, can survive these times.
No one had an answer today. This was a hard and cold business decision. Still, everyone in the crowd had stories and memories of times well spent at Cody's Telegraph, even if you had to fight the panhandlers outside on the street.
I have two memories of my own.
First was in the mid '70's. A guy named John Gage was working part-time at Cody's, managing the math and science sections. I would stop by at lunch and we'd talk about math books. John was getting his graduate degree in econometrics at UC Berkeley, down the street. He eventually went on to become one of the earliest employees at Sun Microsystems.
The other was the time Bill Clinton came to the Telegraph store in June, 2004. I've blogged about that elsewhere.
Still, Cody's Books is alive. The 4th Street and San Francisco stores are ok. No one said running a large bookstore was easy these days. But stores like Cody's, and Moe's, and all the other independent stores in your neighborhood need your support.
Support your local independents!
Here's the coverage in the SF Chronicle.