Books Inc. Opens at Opera Plaza

Shawn Decker, author of My Pet Virus.

On Wednesday, September 27, San Francisco's Books Inc. opened its 11th store, in the location formerly occupied by A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books at Opera Plaza. The opening was celebrated with a reading and signing by author Shawn Decker (My Pet Virus, Tarcher).

Margie Scott Tucker, co-owner and marketing director of Books Inc., told BTW, "I'm just very pleased that we were able to go into that location. I think it's a great addition to the other stores."

On opening day, the events space was packed for Decker's reading, and Books Inc. will be donating 10 percent of the proceeds from sales of the book to the San Francisco AIDS foundation.

At about 5,500 square feet, the new store is the largest Books Inc. in the city, and it has ample room for author events. "We're hoping to do three to five author events a week in that location," said Tucker. We also hope to get several in-store book clubs started in that location, and we're looking at holding noontime events. It's near the Civic Center, so there could be a lot of possibilities for noontime author events."

Books Inc. is also handling book sales, previously handled by A Clean Well-Lighted Place, for City Arts & Lectures, which holds a series of events, heard on NPR, at San Francisco's Herbst Theatre.

Books Inc.'s other locations are in Alameda, Burlingame, Palo Alto, and Mountain View, and its Compass Books stores are in San Francisco Airport and Downtown Disney in Anaheim. --Karen Schechner