[New post] Davis bookstores persist through uncertain times
Gerardo Zavala posted: "The rise of large book chains, Amazon and E-readers have all been referred to as the "independent bookstore killer" in one way or another in the last couple of decades. While some have proven to be true "bookstore killers" and others not so much, small" Daily Democrat
The rise of large book chains, Amazon and E-readers have all been referred to as the "independent bookstore killer" in one way or another in the last couple of decades.
While some have proven to be true "bookstore killers" and others not so much, small bookstores have been making a comeback since facing a steep decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Wordsrated, an international research data and analytics group, the number of bookstore locations dropped from 2,524 in 2019 to 1,689 in 2021. That number recently climbed back up to 2,023 last year and shows no sign of slowing.
Davis has several independent bookstores that cater to the city's diverse population in their own unique ways. The Daily Democrat spoke to three of the most popular downtown locations to learn how they have succeeded when so many others have failed.
Avid Reader
The city's last traditional independent bookstore, Avid Reader, has been serving Davis residents for over 30 years and has pivoted a plethora of times to meet the growing demands of the digital age.
Jina Fahrni, one of the bookstore's managers, called the store — located at 617 Second St. — a "nice third place" where people can find information, share ideas and see new things. She argued that large chain bookstores like Barnes and Noble have a "hive mind" when it comes to ordering their books, "so they're not necessarily reflective of the community they exist in."
"They just have no autonomy when it comes to buying and having things that reflect the community," she stressed.
Fahrni has worked at Avid for 12 years and called it a "world within a store that you get to experience."
"We have children who have grown up coming to this bookstore that come and get their engagement photos taken at the bookstore because it's been such a part of their lives," she highlighted. "People who move in as retirees find us, so it's a great resource for them. We don't cater to any one demographic, we try to have things that can be enjoyed by the whole gamut of the Davis community."
The bookstore provides a selection of books in Spanish for adults and children with a "smattering of things in other languages," a "blind date with a book" section that provides vague descriptions of wrapped books meant to be a surprise and highlighted books by Latino authors during Hispanic Heritage Month.
Furthermore, Fahrni said the store doesn't believe in banning books, arguing that it "goes against the whole idea of being a purveyor of ideas and other perspectives in the world."
"Davis is not a community where that is necessarily needed because we haven't had that sort of response to books," she noted. "If there was a need for that, I'm sure we would fill that, but right now that hasn't impacted Davis in the way it has other schools in the country."
She thanked the community for being loyal and ensuring the store survived the "onslaught of Borders and Amazon" and encouraged anyone who hasn't been to visit the store.
"We love it when first-timers come into the bookstore," she remarked. "We've have people who've lived in Davis for years who've never been in the bookstore and that always makes me sad because it's such a fun place to come and take a look around."
Avid Reader is open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. To learn more, visit avidreaderbooks.com.
Bizarro World
Bizarro World, located at 223 E St., sells comics of all eras, graphic novels, manga, and science fiction and fantasy novels.
Owner Dan Urazandi opened the store in the early 90s as just a comic book store but kept adding other things he was interested in throughout the years.
"You can rent tens of thousands of movies here," he emphasized. "We also have other media like music, cards, games and other things."
Urazandi argued that the diversity of things he offers is what distinguishes his store from other bookstores in the region. However, he noted that things weren't always like that, particularly when he opened in 1991 when Davis wasn't as diverse and comics were still a niche thing "just for nerds."
"Every time I added a new product line, I would get a little bit more diversity," he said. "It was primarily young people that I catered to but then I started renting DVDs and I'd always get folks in their 80s and 90s coming in to watch the movies that they grew up on. Nowadays, I think we do have an actual wide audience."
Additionally, Urazandi said he was proud of the store's name because it served two purposes – getting people who are comic nerds into the store and intriguing people who weren't interested in comics to check the store out.
"Bizarro World is a place in the old Superman comic books of the 1960s where they did everything the opposite of earthly things," Urazandi explained. "So this would resonate with anyone who was a comic book nerd. Anyone who was not then would know that they were getting into something bizarre, odd and unusual. So either way, it worked."
He grew up in the Bay Area but graduated from high school in Davis and attended UC Davis, so he's happy to hear when community members tell him his store is their favorite.
"It's funny because we used to be the nerdiest, but now our entire culture is made up of things that I used to get picked on for liking when I was a kid," he highlighted. "I literally got beat up for stuff like this when I was a kid.
"If anyone is interested in individual retail and have a non-corporate mentality, they should stop by."
The future of the store is currently up in the air as Urazandi is considering retiring. He said the faith of the store will depend on how interested his son, who currently works at the store, is in taking over the business.
Davis resident Paul Contini, 29, was looking through an old collection of Pokemon cards Urazandi was selling with pricing based on rarity. He's been coming to Urazandi's store since he was a kid and recently got back into collecting Pokemon cards as a way to bond with his 12-year-old nephew.
"Over time, it seems like places like these might fade and I'm glad that there's still a place like this because it's one of the last few staples in the community," Contini argued. "To have a place like this is amazing and I hope his son continues the business so other people are able to carry on that tradition and the hobbies.
Bizarro World is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. For more information, visit bizarroworld.net.
Logos Books
The profits raised from sales at Logos Books goes towards developing and expanding the Davis Public Library's book and eBook collections, funding children's program and special events and purchasing furniture and equipment for the library.
The store – located at 513 Second St. – is ran by nonprofit organization Friends of the Davis Public Library and is fully staffed and run by dozens of volunteers who are responsible for all the ins and outs of running the store, according to its website.
Ann Crane, a volunteer cashier and manager for the store argued that local bookstores are important because they allow people to browse for books instead of finding specific books online.
"If you go online to Amazon, you're looking for a book then you get that book and that's it," she said. "You see a variety of books when you go to any bookstore. I think that's an important aspect to a local bookstore."
What makes Logos unique, according to Crane, is that all of their books are donated by Davis residents and many volunteers have backgrounds in history, art, fiction and more.
"There's often great books out on the $1 bookshelves and they're just there because we get a lot of copies of them," she added. "They may be a little older or maybe somebody underlined in them a lot. Children's books are priced at lower prices intentionally because we want to make them more available to children."
Furthermore, the store is also a great place for people to find books in several foreign languages including Spanish, German, French and more.
"We often have people come in and say, 'Do you have anything in German,' and we say, 'Yeah, a whole shelf,' and they get all excited about that," she emphasized.
The store is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and is closed Mondays. To learn more, visit davislibraryfriends.org/logos-books.
No comments:
Post a Comment