The Book Oasis

The Book Oasis Blog

Saturday, May 21st

Makeover Madness

It seems as though "makeovers" are all the rage now: Cars, Houses, Hairstyles, and now cities are getting into the act. Right outside my front door, the street is being torn up and reshaped for "The New Downtown". As a result, traffic is being rerouted, and soon the sidewalk will be torn out and replaced with blue slate slabs for a 'more aesthetic walkway'.

Needless to say, this hurts business. Not just mine, but every merchant on First Street. If you're a downtown shopper, this is when we local businessmen need your support.

However, the reduced traffic has given me the opportunity to enact a long-planned makeover of my own: the remodeling of Book Oasis! Having secured a supply of metal bookshelves, my friends and I are systematically replacing the old shelving in the store. The extra-large wooden bookcases you may remember from the center aisle? They are replacing the particle-board shelves in the cookbook section. Likewise, the big gray shelving units which we bought from Crown Books' liquidation sale have been replaced by the new metal ones. They're sturdier, have adjustable shelves, and are nicer to look at.

Of course, like all makeovers, this has been a slow process. Those of you who've braved the street construction to buy our books have seen the piles of metal shelves, book ends, and steel ends strewn about. All of you have been overwhelmingly supportive, and I appreciate it. I've been embarrassed, but one customer nodded in the direction of the street (filled with construction vehicles) and quipped, "If I'm willing to put up with all of that, do you think this stuff in here bothers me?" :)

I hope to have this Bookshop Upgrade finished by next week. With the more efficient shelving, I'll be able to eliminate one entire row of bookcases, which will open up the shop, and reduce the cramped feeling that some of you have talked about.

And while I can't add bows to the hair like some makeover people, a longtime friend has volunteered her services to decorate the place! She has already loaned me a beautiful rust-colored throw rug which has elicited several compliments. More to come? We'll see!

Someone once told me that change is the only constant in the world; it appears to be true even in the realm of old books! If you have any changes here you'd like to see, drop me a line.

But, regardless of any surface changes, Book Oasis remains committed to offering quality books at affordable prices!

Hope to see you all in here soon.

Larry Burdick
Book Oasis

Larry Burdick on 05.21.05 @ 12:43 PM PST [link]

Saturday, May 7th

Making Book on the Freedom to Read

The demise of Altamont Books (the local retail bookshop here in town) is not just the end of a bookshop, but also a hallmark in a disturbing trend: the loss of the freedom to read!

The late Hunter S. Thompson said, "No one is stealing our freedoms. We're dealing them away." Ironically, this is also what's happening to our choice of bookstores. Every time a person buys a book online, or from a superstore, that's less money that goes to an independent bookshop. As chain-bookstores dominate more of the market, publishers rely more on the chain stores' sales to dictate what is worthy of printing. In effect, a de facto censorship is slowly rising, as superstores refuse to order books which don't measure up to their standards; publishers won't publish anything they think won't make them money.

Alarmist thinking, you say? Not really. From what I've heard, author Frank McCourt initially couldn't get a publisher for his book, Angela's Ashes (later awarded the Pulitzer Prize). As an unknown writer, no publisher wanted to take a chance; they had no data on him. So, he published it at his own expense and started selling it through independent bookstores. Only when it had attracted a following of its own did publishers decide to buck their own system and offer him a contract. But how many other worthy authors will have the resources to do the same? And even if they can, how can they sell them if there are no independent bookshops to market them in?

Granted, I don't have the same dilemma that Altamont did. As a seller of used & rare books, my market is different. But as the last remaining independent bookseller in Livermore, my responsibilities have increased substantially. Still, I will continue to offer quality books to the public, as I have for the last twelve years.

But the reading public also has a responsibility: to help maintain their own freedom of choice. And only by "giving their custom" (the origin of the word, 'customer') in shopping to independents, do they exercise that freedom. Unless of course, they feel good about dealing away this freedom.

Larry Burdick on 05.07.05 @ 07:41 PM PST [link]