Around Indies

Close to two years after winning $15,000 in the Power UP! Business Plan Competition, presented by the Brooklyn Public Library's Business Library and sponsored by Citigroup, Jessica Stockton Bagnulo and business partner Rebecca Fitting are putting the finishing touches on Greenlight Bookstore in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. The pair will host launch parties on Saturday, October 24 -- one at 10:00 a.m. for kids, and another at 7:00 p.m. for adults only.

The Brooklyn Paper noted that the store's location is "in one of the borough's most literary communities, close to the Brooklyn Academy of Music and far from any real competition." Greenlight will stock an inventory of 10,000 titles.

In the large airy space on a busy corner of South Portland Avenue, the paper said, "there will be a section dedicated to the performing arts... and a long, sunlit set of shelves at the front of the store will be dedicated to local authors, a group that has shown overwhelming support for the new independent store." Among them is Jonathan Lethem, who will do a reading from his new novel, Chronic City (Doubleday), at the store. Other events on tap include a panel discussion by writers from the New York Review of Books and blogger/author pairings later in the month.

Books Inc. Opens New Store in Berkeley

Co-owners Michael Tucker and Nikolai Grant hosted an open house at the new Books Inc. in Berkeley, California, last week. The event drew many booksellers and reps who were in town for the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association trade show, as well as neighboring merchants.

Calvin Crosby, Books Inc. community relations director, will manage the new store and its staff of 12, which includes six full-timers and six part-timers. Staff members hail from other Books Inc. branches as well as from Cody's, Stacey's, Borders, and Shakespeare & Co.

The San Francisco Chronicle noted that "book-hungry customers forced the store to open hours before its planned time of 1:00 p.m. on Monday [October 5]." Crosby told the newspaper that "so many people were waiting to browse or trying to come in when tradespeople left, that we had to let them in early."

The new Books Inc. offers an array of fiction and nonfiction, a roomy children's section, and space for author events in 3,100 square feet.

Tucker, who is ABA's president, told the paper: "I'm a Berkeley boy, so for me it was absolutely anathema that there wasn't a general-interest bookstore left here." The Chronicle noted that Books Inc. was able to open in Berkeley, because "the store is getting a big break on the rent because Fourth Street's developer wanted a bookstore as an anchor tenant."

Vroman's Purchases Book Soup

Last week, Vroman's, a cultural landmark in Pasadena, announced that it was purchasing another California icon, West Hollywood's Book Soup.

Before Book Soup's longtime owner, Glenn Goldman, died from cancer last January, he had begun looking for a buyer. Vroman's President and COO Allison Hill told the Los Angeles Times, "Glenn and I had talked about it, and we've been in conversations with the seller since January."

The Times literary blog, Jacket Copy, noted that the purchase of Book Soup was not an obvious match for Vroman's. Calling the 115-year-old Vroman's "the Auntie Mame of Los Angeles bookstores," the paper noted, "It's got room to spread out and offers a deep, rich stock of literary fiction, travel books, cookbooks, kids books and toys, local history, stationery and -- yes, already -- holiday cards. It's done so well with this model that it opened a branch in Hastings Ranch in 2001 to serve the deeper east valley."

On the other hand, Book Soup was shaped by Goldman's "eclectic, artistic sensibility. It's equally fascinated with the edgy, the glamorous, and the smart, packing those sometimes disparate books into its tight space and towering shelves.... If a bookstore can be a pair of skinny jeans, Book Soup is one, and they're black."

However, Hill, who had been a manager of Book Soup for six years, reassured Book Soup customers who were concerned about the pending sale. She told the L.A. Times: "The hope is that the transition is invisible to customers. Book Soup will continue. Vroman's will just provide the behind-the-scenes, operational infrastructure to keep it going."