The Chronicle reports that Cody's Books will be closing its flagship store on Telegraph Avenue, near the UC Berkeley campus. Sales have declined as the store faced competition from the internet and chain bookstores. The store has been losing money for the last 15 years.
We've been customers - albeit not faithful ones - for even longer than that. I remember the days and evenings in college I spent at Cody's looking at their books - science, history, anthropology, whatever interest I had at that particular moment - before making my careful selection and treating myself to a book. Before my year abroad in Egypt, and then prior to following trips, I spent hours in the travel section getting more and more excited about what was to come. Cody's introduced me to Lonely Planet and then to the Rough Guides. Later, as a newly married woman, I started visiting the cookbook section. I don't know if I ever actually bought a cookbook there - at least a new one - but browsing was enjoyable enough.
But the years went by, and we too succumbed to the internet. As much as one wants to support independent stores - and once in a while I will go and by a book at Cody's just because - prices are often 40% higher than on the internet. I am part of the problem, I know. I want the best but I don't want to pay for it. And thus Cody's falls.
I'm glad that the Cody's on 4th street will remain open, it's a beautiful store with a nice area for kids (which reminds me, it's time we go back there again). But it's not the same. The 4th street store is a yuppy store, it lacks the passion and hippiness and youth. My youth.