Book Passage to Celebrate Grand Opening of Second Store

"I always said I'd never open a second store," said Book Passage's Elaine Petrocelli, who will be celebrating the grand opening of her second store on October 18. "Never say never," she added. The new Book Passage is located in the historic San Francisco Ferry Building. To celebrate, Book Passage is hosting a catered party with a stellar line-up of authors including Isabel Allende, Michael Chabon, Donald George, Pat Holt, Terry Ryan, Sheldon Siegel, Martin Cruz Smith, Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler), and Amy Tan.

The first Book Passage was opened 27 years ago and moved to its current location, in Corte Madera, California, during the late '80s. More recently, Petrocelli was approached to be one of the independent businesses in the restored San Francisco ferry building and couldn't say no, despite her former policy.

"To make the Marin/San Francisco connection a bit more tangible," the Book Passage Web site says, "some enthusiastic folks are planning to take the … ferry from Larkspur Landing to the [Grand Opening] event. That should allow them to make a dramatic entrance, landing just outside the new store as the event begins."

The new store's all-selling space of 1,400 square feet is about a tenth of the size of the Corte Madera store, but the landlord has made a large adjacent space available for spillovers and author events. The 1896 building, which Petrocelli describes as "beautifully restored" overlooks the waterfront and, aside from Book Passage, houses only food or garden-related businesses.

"There's a flower shop that grows its own flowers," Petrocelli said. "A market that grows its own vegetables. There's also an organic farmer's market open four days a week. People come from all over the Bay Area for it."

Although the number of customers and friends planning to attend the grand opening celebration, which will run from 12:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, is not known, Petrocelli said she thought that a couple hundred would be traveling on the ferry from Marin. She told BTW that Isabel Allende will be on that ferry along with Sheldon Siegel. Catering for the event is being handled by merchants in the ferry building, so if she's underestimated, she can always buy more, Petrocelli said. There'll be toasts, drawings for prizes, including a pair of tickets to anywhere in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean donated by American Airlines.

Anticipating a gala bash, Petrocelli said, "Everyone I see tells me they're coming." --Karen Schechner