Cody's to Open in San Francisco

This August, Cody's Books is opening in San Francisco, across the bay from the store's other locations on Telegraph Avenue and Fourth Street in Berkeley. The 21,000-square-foot space, a former Planet Hollywood, is in the busy Union Square district. Cody's owner Andy Ross told BTW that although he had no intentions of expanding, when he visited the site at the landlord's request, he "immediately knew it was a great space and a great location. After 15 minutes, I decided it would work. I believe it's the greatest location in California."

The new space will continue in the Cody's tradition and will be a literary bookstore with an "intellectual focus," Ross said, adding, "at the same time we recognize that we'll be in a commercial shopping district, and we'll have a lot of tourists and big businesses in the area, so we'll also address that market segment." Cody's also plans to augment its author series.

Much of the new retail space is below floor level accessed via escalator from a small ground-level entranceway. "It's an 18,000-square-foot basement," said Ross. "But it's not like a family basement. It's a very dramatic space with 20-foot ceilings and multi levels. We'll have to make serious modifications, but we'll create a very memorable space." Near the soon-to-be Cody's is an Apple flagship store, Virgin records, and Bloomingdale's. "We're really centrally located," said Ross.

Ross noted that the staff would adjust and tweak the store after opening and doing business in the Union Square district. "When we opened the Fourth Street store, it took about a year to make adjustments. I expect some of the same things will happen with the new store."

It's interesting that the landlord thought to bring an independent store into an area that is dominated by retail brand names, said Ross. "I think it will be good for everyone," he said. "It'll be good for us to have them as neighbors, and it will be good for them to have us add quirkiness and diversity." --Karen Schechner