BookSmart, BookBuyers offer customers a more personal experience
Published in the November 9 – 22, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Photo by Marty Cheek
Cinda Meister and Brad Jones in their new BookSmart. The popular downtown store was forced to move to make room for a new development.
Independent bookstores in America have seen a rebound in the past five years as they’ve adjusted to a changing publishing industry by providing stronger community ties compared with online and big-box stores. And the South Valley has two such bookstores — BookSmart in Morgan Hill and BookBuyers in downtown Gilroy — which are benefiting from the public’s growing support.
BookSmart is owned by Brad Jones and Cinda Meister who started their store more than two decades ago in downtown Morgan Hill. Earlier this year when the store’s site at the corner of Second and Depot streets was sold to a developer, the couple moved BookSmart across town to the former Concept Cyclery shop in a shopping center at 1295 E Dunne Ave. The store will hold its grand opening Saturday Nov. 12 with a special celebration thanking residents for their continued support since the recent move.
“We’re proud of the bookstore. We think it’s beautiful,” Jones said of the new shop. “We’re getting a lot of feedback from the neighborhood people in that they like us being a lot closer to us than before. I do have to say that there is a piece of my heart that’s sad we’re not downtown. For a long time we felt like we were making a difference downtown. We put a lot of time and effort into the store there.”
The new shop is smaller than the previous location, so Jones and Meister need to be more selective in what they stock. They’ll continue to offer educational toys, gifts and a wide selection of greeting cards. And they’ll be able to order books when customers call up or come in looking for specific titles. Residents can also order books and other items through the store’s website. For the hungry, BookSmart will continue to offer Miller hot dogs, Treat ice cream, Santa Cruz Roasting Company coffee and other culinary delights at its in-store cafe.
BookSmart will also continue to be a gathering spot for locals to meet for business or nonprofit meetings, Jones promised.
Photo by Marty Cheek
Hotranatha Ajaya and Punita Ajaya who opened their BookBuyers store Sept. 28 after moving it to Gilroy from Mountain View
“Our community of Morgan Hill has supported us for 22 years in ways that have never happened in other communities,” he said. “We’ve had a long-enduring support from people in the community and if we hadn’t we wouldn’t have been able to do what we’ve done.”
Groups come into the store on a regular basis such as women’s groups and writing groups, Meister said.
“People are gravitating to us right now for that. After school we have groups of 20 people come in — pre-school groups come in to have ice cream and hang out,” she said. “People are realizing that the store is open and they’re coming in.”
Why is there a need for independent bookstores in a modern age when many people can find books at discounts from online retailers or big box stores? Meister said stores such as BookSmart and BookBuyers offer a more personal experience which customers love.
“We need independent bookstores because they will showcase new and fresh authors. They are for people who are passionate about books,” she said. “We can match a book for a child. We just had someone call today and say, ‘I’m going to a birthday party for a 5-year-old girl. Can you pick some stuff and I’ll be right in.’ An independent bookseller is going to have a good idea about what to select.”
Another option independent bookstores can offer is more community-focused programming. BookSmart plans to offer more local authors opportunities to meet residents and also provide writing workshops with local people. It will also have more children’s programming. One way to achieve this is through the BookSmart Community Advantage program, a nonprofit run by a board of directors that will launch by the end of the year to promote literacy and the arts in Morgan Hill and the South Valley, Jones said.
“We’re creating a hybrid business model. We have the retail store but we also have the nonprofit organization to do more in the way of literature and arts and crafts programs,” he said. “In the past, the store has always funded the things that we do. We were just getting to the point that margins were so narrow that it was difficult to do the things we did. And there were other bookstores in California that have created this hybrid model that worked very well for them, so we’re now following in their footsteps.”
In downtown Gilroy, the new BookBuyers is run by Hotranatha Ajaya and Punita Ajaya who opened the store Sept. 28 after moving it from downtown Mountain View where the store had been located on Castro Street for 23 years. The couple decided to make the switch because the rent was more affordable here. The store specializes in used books, vinyl records, CDs and DVDs as well as comic books, manga and greeting cards. The couple estimate they will eventually stock about 300,000 books in the store in various categories.
“We were looking for a new place, and we found this place in downtown Gilroy and we thought it was the best place that we found anywhere where we could afford to have the store,” Hotranatha said. “This is a wonderful town. We really like the people. And this space that we’re in is really wonderful.”
Despite e-reader electronic devices, many people still prefer the more human feel of a book in their hands, one reason traditional bookstores will continue, Punita said
“People still like to read books and still like to hold a book in their hands,” she said. “Just touching them is very nice.”
Like BookSmart, BookBuyers is planning on creating a nonprofit organization to develop locally-focused programs. There’s also the possibility of having live music nights where people can come in and sample local wines while listening to local performers.
The Ajayas were impressed that when they moved into their store, more than 30 friendly Gilroyans stopped to help in the process of stocking the items, showing a genuine support local residents have for a downtown-based bookstore.
“People came by and said, ‘You need some help.’ They came and helped and here we are,” Hotranatha said. “It’s a real sense of community that we experienced.”
