Cody's Final Chapter

June 24, 2008

On Friday, June 20, after 52 years in business, Cody's Books, in Berkeley, California, closed. Describing it as "a heartbreaking moment," Cody's President Hiroshi Kagawa, said in a statement, "Unfortunately, my current business is not strong enough or rich enough to support Cody's. Of course, the store has been suffering from low sales and the deficit exceeds our ability to service it."

Hut Landon, executive director of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, told BTW, "The closure of Cody's is achingly sad, and the store's stature and history have rightfully drawn a great deal of attention to its struggles over the past couple of years. However, it is important to remind people Cody's situation is not a mirror of independent bookselling in the region."

"In point of fact," Landon continued, "the independent bookselling community in Northern California, while made less rich by Cody's passing, remains vital and stable, even in challenging economic times. A large majority of stores are neighborhood fixtures that are strongly entrenched in their communities and of manageable sizes. They are healthy, nimble, and here to stay."

Cody's closure puts an end to what has been several tumultuous years for the bookstore founded by Fred and Pat Cody in Berkeley in 1956 and acquired by Andy Ross in 1977. Ross opened a second Berkeley store in 1997 and a downtown San Francisco store in 2005, but in July 2006, Ross closed Cody's Telegraph Avenue location in Berkeley due to declining sales.

In September 2006, Yohan, Inc., a Tokyo-based bookseller, distributor, and publisher, led by its then-CEO Hiroshi Kagawa, purchased Cody's two stores, on Fourth Street in Berkeley and on Union Square in San Francisco. Six months later, Cody's Books on Union Square closed, and in December 2007 Ross resigned as the president of Cody's Books. Kagawa, who had formed a new company that bought Cody's when Yohan was acquired by a holding company, became president.

Melissa Mytinger, Cody's manager, told the Berkeley Daily Planet that staff was informed of the closing at an all-staff morning meeting on Friday, June 20. In an e-mail to friends and colleagues that accompanied the Cody's closing announcement, Mytinger wrote: "Cody's longtime and dramatic saga is over.... Those of us who have worked at Cody's throughout the past years of upheavals, and our newer colleagues, are heartbroken. We had been vigilant in watching our vendor debts paid down, and in repairing damaged relationships. Those efforts haven't been enough to trim the elephant in the room."

She continued, "My staff -- our staff -- is in shock; heartbroken is not too strong a word... I salute Fred and Pat Cody who had the passion so long ago, who transmitted it to us, and whose legacy we cannot now continue."

Cody's history and recent struggles, although not its final closure, are documented in Paperback Dreams, a new PBS documentary directed and produced by Alex Beckstead, which premiered as part of ABA's programming on Saturday at BookExpo America. The film also profiles Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, California, which has successfully come back from a very brief closing with the help of formalized community support, restructuring, and revitalized marketing efforts. The film is expected to air on PBS stations this fall.

The Paperback Dreams website features a poignant personal letter from Kagawa to Pat Cody about the store's closing.

Topics: News - Bookselling, About Bookstores,