Sobs. The 3 Evil Cousins must report that after 52 years of business, our local bookstore, Cody's in Berkeley was forced to close its last store.Cody’s Books was famous for its support of the free speech movement in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1989, they were firebombed for refusing to remove Salman Rushdie's controversial novel "The Satanic Verses” from their storefront. Through more than a half a century, they hosted countless poets, authors and booklovers. This year, the rent at their final store on 4th street was nearly tripled. In a last ditch effort to save the store, they moved to a new, smaller location near the UC Berkeley Campus, but even that was not enough.
The 3 Evil Cousins were privileged in Cody’s final weeks to co-host several events. These included book signings by Melissa Marr, Cody Doctorow and Cassandra Clare.
In honor of Cody’s, and in hopes we can do something small for other Independents who still struggle to stay afloat during this age of mega-bookstores and the ease of purchasing online we will link all the books we review to IndiBound.org. IndiBound (previously known as Book Sense) is the effort of independent booksellers located throughout all our neighborhoods. We hope others will join us in helping to support our local bookstores.
Yours Truly,
3 Evil Cousins
8 comments:
I was so, so sad when I heard that. I really hoped that the new ownership would be able to keep it afloat. I still remember when I first walked into their San Francisco store...it makes me feel pesssimistic, but I will keep resisting Amazon!
As an indie bookseller myself, and a Berkeley grad who LIVED at Cody's (and Moe's) back in the 80's, I am so disheartened by this news. You 3 Evil Cousins are fantastic for linking to indiebound and trying to beat the drums for the independents! Thank you.
I also thought you might enjoy Libba Bray's fantastic Ode to Independent Booksellers:
http://writtennerd.blogspot.com/
2006_09_25_archive.html
okay, it totally wouldn't let me post a comment before. and won't let me post now using my LJ account.
I, sadly, live in a land of Borderses and Barnes and Nobles. There used to be a small bookstore in town, but that went out of buisness. And i can't honestly say i even went there that much, because they weren't big on YA or any kind of children's books. Or books from the last century. This lady hadn't heard of Nancy Drew.
I try to make up with extra patronage for independents on the record store front, though.
dude it's July. Wow.
Libba Bray's Ode to Independent Booksellers WAS genius. I love independent bookstores even more because of it.
--Twyla Lee
It's always sad when an independent bookstore closes, especially one that have been around as long as Cody's.
Cool idea, linking to indiebound. And thanks to Elizabeth for linking to Libba Bray's Ode to Independent Booksellers. That was fantastic!
And I love the RIP drawing...
Awe I'm so sorry.
I'm sorry D: This reminds me of my local independent bookstore (which I can bike to in good weather-yay!). Even though it's still running strong, the fact that they have a smaller selection than, say, Borders, as well as recent upgrading in that area (can you say chain stores?) makes me worry... Several established shops have gone already.
Always make the effort to support the little people!
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