Stacey’s Bookstore Closes
Stacey’s Bookstore announced that it will be closing in March after 85 years in business. This is sad news to anyone who cherishes independent bookstores and to San Francisco readers in particular. The SFGate has all the details.
The San Francisco area has seen a number of independent bookstores close in the last few years. Stacey’s follows Cody’s Books and Black Oak Books in particular. Both were excellent stores and Cody’s in particular was another long-time fixture. In my own neighborhood both Diablo Books and Bonanza Street Books closed their doors in the last few years. (Readers, please use the comments section to detail any other Bay Area bookstore closings in the last 3 to 5 years.)
I try to think about how books may find a wider audience through the Internet and through new social reading sites that allow exploration and discovery as you might find in a physical bookstore. It’s still unsettling to see these stores disappear from the landscape. It feels like a society that doesn’t value literature.
The continuing difficulties for Barnes & Noble and the prospect of Borders Books going out of business perpetuate the impression that books are not as valued as they once were in America. The new booksellers extraordinaire are Costco, Target and Walmart. And while I am happy to have books and literature of any sort survive, these retailers are not stocking a broad range or diverse selection of titles.
It’s at times like these that I’m proud to have worked at Alibris for 3 years, helping independent booksellers survive, and more importantly, keeping the long-tail of books in circulation. Aggregators like Alibris, Abebooks and Biblio, online store providers like Bibliopolis, as well as social reading sites like LibraryThing, Goodreads and Shelfari should be looked upon as the ‘keepers of the flame’ so to speak.
Because the homogenization of books is a scary prospect.
