Bay Area Legend: Kepler's Bookstore preparing to reopen Saturday, 10/8/05

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

For once, some GREAT news in the George W. Bush economy.

Posted on Mon, Oct. 03, 2005

Bookstore preparing to reopen

KEPLER'S SAID TO HAVE NEW LEASE, NEW PLAN

By Patrick May, Mercury News

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/12804476.htm

Kepler's, the cherished Menlo Park institution that has been stuck on the shelf of America's endangered independent book shops since suddenly closing in August, has worked out a new lease with its landlord and is expected to reopen Saturday, according to a source close to negotiations.

``We've worked out a lease agreement that will allow Kepler's to stay open, in the same location, and reopen next Saturday; we're working right now on details for a big party,'' the person said, asking to remain anonymous. ``We've restructured the store in a way we can create long-term stability through a membership drive,'' said the insider. ``There's a real commitment of the community to not only reopen Kepler's but to sustain it for years to come.''

Pulling an independent bookstore back from the precipice of extinction is extraordinary. Yet so was the community response to news that Kepler's had become like so many other small shops driven out of business by changing readership trends and the proliferation of big-box book chains. There was a rally, fundraisers, and 20,000 hits to the savekeplers.com Web site.

News of Kepler's revival is sure to invigorate similar efforts around the country, the person said. ``It means a lot to show that Americans can put together a grass-roots effort like this at a time when movies and computer games are taking a bite out of everyone's time,'' the Kepler's insider said. ``And here's the bookstore, a staple of American education, coming back. This is huge.''