Last month, I completely went on a lark. I flew to San Francisco with my favorite art history professor, Mara di Pasquale, to see the Maya Lin exhibit at the de Young Museum and then flew back home the same day. Every time I dash out of town, I try to find a few moments for a new bookstore. Booksmith was a short hop away from the museum, so after spending a few hours with Maya Lin’s creations, I chatted with Christin Evans, the newish owner of Booksmith.
Booksmith has existed since 1976, but Preveen Madan and Christin Evans purchased it in 2007 after spending years in the corporate world. Given the state of the bookstore world, my first question was why? After spending years consulting in the business world, they wanted to have their own business. Makes sense, but why the bookstore world? I hear all the time that Claire and I created a blog attached to a dying horse and we’re only writing about bookstores. Clearly, Christin has been asked this several times, probably daily. She answered that Booksmith is special, it’s woven into the community fabric.
Community was the strong sense I felt as soon as I walked into the store. There were two families who followed me and all of the kids raced to the children’s section as if they owned the place. An employee knew the families and seemed to continue a conversation started during the last visit. A local author was giving a reading during the week and the book was displayed so enticingly that I wanted to read it. It wasn’t just given a small stack by the register, but a whole front window and stacks in more than one location inside the store talking about the book and the author’s connection to the area. It struck me that for a general bookstore of a smaller size, there was an impressive and extensive music section, indicating that the store was responding to the interests of the area.
Christin talked about how the neighborhood (and really San Francisco, one of the biggest book buying cities in the nation) valued the store. In fact, later I learned that it won the “Treasure of the Neighborhood Award” from the local homeowner’s association. Booksmith is located in the Haight Ashbury section of San Francisco, an area with a well-deserved reputation for activism and involvement. They understand the value of neighborhood bookstore and stop by regularly. Christin mentioned that the Google bus stopped nearby, picking up and dropping off a bus load of readers several times a day.
Booksmith’s motto is “building the independent bookstore for the 21st century.” Christin is convinced that Booksmith will survive and thrive. I asked what they were currently doing to entice purchases during a recession. They’re tweaking their event schedule and stock to lean a bit more towards entertainment with a new emphasis on works such as graphic novels. As Claire recently noted, life can be hard enough so there are times when reading needs to be entertaining. Christin acknowledged that same need in the public and Booksmith will be working to answer it.
I asked what book customers wanted and learned that consistently one of its biggest sellers is A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, probably because of its portrayal of San Francisco. I purchased Say You’re One of Them by Uwen Akpan after hearing an employee discuss it (by the way, I witnessed twice in the few minutes I was there, employees walking customers through the store recommending book after book). Say You’re One of Them is a book of short stories written by a Nigerian Jesuit priest who obtained his MFA from the University of Michigan in 2006. The stories show how children cope with the hardships in Africa. My heart broke reading the inside flap of the cover. I’ll be reading it as part of my Short Story Challenge starting in May.
I found something truly fun on the Booksmith website, every time an author reads at the store, Booksmith prints an “author card” with the author’s picture on the front of the card and the details of the reading on the back. They’ve been doing it for years and at least one author has requested a reading just for the card. What a hoot!
1644 Haight St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
Tags: California, California bookstore, San Francisco, San Francisco bookstore
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Thank you Kim for such a wonderful review. Our staff has really rallied to improve customer service and I’m so thrilled that we passed “the secret shopper” test
Though we only had a few minutes to chat, it was a genuine pleasure meeting you and learning that we share a departure from the land of corporations! I’ve posted the blog review to our facebook page and will add it to our website shortly.
And, to all your readers, we look forward to meeting you at The Booksmith when you find yourself in the Haight-Ashbury!
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