Honey, I Bought a Bookstore
This is Eureka Books, one of the last classic antiquarian bookstores on the West Coast. As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, I own it (along with my wife and our friends Jack and Peggy Irvine). I like this picture because in black and white you really can't tell if it was taken last week (which it was) or twenty years ago. Those of you who scouted in Northern California probably know Carlos Benemann, the previous owner who is retiring from the book trade. He started out working for John Howell in the 1960s and opened his first shop in Humboldt County in 1982.
One of the former employees recently wrote about Jere Bob Bowden, the store manager, in the Americana Exchange newsletter (A.E. Monthly). Karen Wright wrote:
Eventually, we moved from Oregon to Eureka, California, where I had the good fortune to immediately go to work for Eureka Books. The eight years I spent at Powell's taught me a lot about the book business, but the two years I worked for J.B. Bowden at Eureka Books taught me about books. J.B. was a stickler for searching long and hard through mountains of reference books to price a book correctly. Keep in mind that this was pre-Internet or, at least, just at the beginning of its rise to fame. Eureka Books did not even have a computer when I worked there, so I was forced to learn to price my books the old-fashioned (correct) way. I couldn't just jump online and see what some other idiot was pricing a book for and then undercut him by two dollars.
Mark Shikuma, who holds down the fort on the weekends, is a veteran of Gotham Book Mart in New York City, and a number of other bookshops around the country. Ann Hunt, the newest bookseller at Eureka Books, has been plying the book trade for ten years and is our master of the local history section. I look forward to working with them as Eureka Books starts its second twenty years. The next time you're in Northern California, beyond the redwood curtain, stop in and see us.
As for the magazine, it's business at usual. The January/February issue is just about in the can, and the stories for March are already flowing in. Now when people accuse me of not knowing what I'm talking about when it comes to the nuts-and-bolts reality of the book business, they may be right, but it's not for lack of trying.
Congratulations! That's good news!
Posted by: Björn Biester | December 05, 2007 at 04:49 AM
Congratulations! Has this been in the works for a while, or did it fall into your lap, so to speak?
Posted by: Benjamin L. Clark | December 05, 2007 at 06:23 AM
The answer to Benjamin's questions is yes.
Posted by: Scott Brown | December 05, 2007 at 08:53 AM
So that's why we're late on the magazine, right?
Congratulations!!! Wow!
Posted by: | December 05, 2007 at 11:59 AM
Congratulations! That looks to be a great shop. Will you be selling online any? Or just from within the brick and mortar store?
Posted by: trav | December 05, 2007 at 12:16 PM
Congratulfreakinlations. now go take a lie down, that was a huge undertaking.
don't forget the liquor goes in the right hand drawer and the loaded revolver on the left. don't mix them up.
Posted by: jgodsey | December 05, 2007 at 01:26 PM
Congratulations and good luck from all of us here at Northtown Books.
Posted by: J. Herzog | December 05, 2007 at 02:07 PM
Congratulations from the crew at Tin Can Mailman! We were thrilled to hear Eureka Books was sold to such nice folks!!
Posted by: Samantha | December 05, 2007 at 02:26 PM
Congratulations from all of us here at Auto Weekly! Good work, Scott!
VS
Posted by: Vic Stewart | December 05, 2007 at 03:56 PM
Very, very exciting. Congratulations & best wishes for success. Bookshops ain't over til they're over.
Posted by: T. Brennan | December 05, 2007 at 04:30 PM
Thank you!
Posted by: Mike Buettner | December 05, 2007 at 06:05 PM
Wonderful news, Scott. I wish you nothing but the best and look forward to tales of continued success. Welcome on another aspect of the business.
Posted by: Ian J. Kahn | December 05, 2007 at 06:42 PM
Fabulous news! I'll drop in the first time I'm in Eureka! And I know how thrilled you are... my husband and I just bought Hobart Galleries, the oldest art gallery in Humboldt County, in Ferndale!
Unknown treasures in every box! Thanks for the fabulous news!
Posted by: Ellin Beltz | December 06, 2007 at 10:03 AM
Thanks for quoting me from AEMonthly. Jerebob is the best and I can't tell you how glad I am that he gets to stay in "his" store. Be nice to him or I'll have to getcha! We'll come say hello when we come up in the spring. Regards and good luck, Karen Wright, The Wright Book
Posted by: Karen Wright | December 06, 2007 at 03:43 PM
As awesome as that facade is, I'm already imagining it all flowered up by Amy. Over on GardenRant we want to see a photo of that, if you please, with the proud owners lined up in front, grinning.
Congrats!
Posted by: susan harris | December 06, 2007 at 03:46 PM
Wonderful news! Interior and exterior both look just right!
Posted by: Nigel Beale | December 08, 2007 at 10:40 AM
Wonderful news! Interior and exterior both look just right!
Posted by: Nigel Beale | December 08, 2007 at 10:40 AM
I must add my congratulations - what a perfect storefront - not to mention the lovely interior. Does this mean we'll see more stories in the magazine about booksellers??
:O)
Posted by: sarahsbooks | December 11, 2007 at 11:44 AM
Congrats on the new adventure. It's a beautiful bookstore!
Posted by: Bibliognost | December 11, 2007 at 08:36 PM
How cool -- congratulations! It seems to be every booklover's dream, and it gives hope to the rest of us when somebody succeeds like you have.
Posted by: Derek Dahlsad | December 12, 2007 at 06:34 AM