In 1997, when we left Toronto to move to Santa Fe, my partner, Eva Borins, and I had grown Edwards Books & Art into Canada's fourth largest chain. We owned five large stores in the Toronto area, as well as a warehouse, and a wholesale division.
But bookselling in Canada was no longer any fun, nor was it profitable.
After our operation closed, we decided to try Santa Fe. We got into our car in September of 1997, leisurely drove across the country, arrived on a beautiful autumn day, and never returned to Canada.
The City Different had seduced us. We bought a house across the road from Garcia Street Books, and in May, 2000, we purchased what had become, like most independent bookstores in Canada and the U.S., a struggling operation. Our friends and family were shocked that we would invest in a dying business.
But bookselling in Santa Fe is different. Against all odds, Garcia Street Books has thrived and grown.
This is the only city in North America where we would want to be independent booksellers. Why? What is it like to be a bookseller in Santa Fe? Why has our business continued to flourish?
Being a bookseller in Santa Fe is very similar to the way it was when we started our first store in Toronto in 1979. It was a very personalized business. There were neither big box stores nor the Internet. Our customers chose us the way they would select their doctor or dentist. They would visit the store, which became a meeting place, chat, and ask for our reading suggestions. Of course we now have the competition that technology and commerce have created. But technology has also assisted us by enabling us to track our inventory, place orders that are shipped within days, and fill special orders more efficiently than on-line suppliers or large stores.
Our customers are loyal, extremely intelligent, and discerning, whether they be Santa Feans or repeat tourists, whose most frequent comment is, “What a pleasure to find a real bookstore'”. Santa Fe is a city with a disproportionate number of readers. When we first visited in 1990, there were more bookstores per capita than any city in the U.S. except Ann Arbor. Sadly, the number of bookstores has diminished, but the passion for reading has not.
It is a pleasure to operate a bookstore whose clientele is more interested in the quality of books sold and the service we give, rather than the price. Our customers are far more interested in knowledgeable staff and good service than deep discounts. Although, many still avail themselves to our frequent buyer loyalty program and our special sale books that have been described as “the fullest selection of remaindered titles west of the Strand in New York City”, Joan Juliet Buck, “Where to shop in Santa Fe”, Travel and Leisure, July, 2007.
The two most exciting aspects of bookselling in Santa Fe for me, which have enabled us to flourish by constantly bringing new customers into the store, are the book related exhibitions, and the events we sponsor.
Some of our exhibitions have included the works of two local but internationally known artists, James Havard and Elias Rivera, who have shown original works of art in conjunction with the publication of their trade and deluxe limited editions. We have exhibited the work of Pulitzer prize winner, Pat Oliphant, the dean of today's editorial cartoonists, to celebrate the publication of his newest book. We have featured Taller Lenateros, a collective of Mayan women, based in San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas in the exhibition, “Artists' Books from Spain and Latin America.” We receive repeat visits each summer for our annual artists' books exhibition, when we collaborate with Ursus Rare Books of New York in showing publications of museum quality.
Our events have brought as many as 500 people to the store. When the weather is good we take over the front parking lot, install seating, and set up a sound system. Some of the authors have included Maureen Dowd, Sherman Alexie, Michael McGarrity, Eve Ensler, and Jane Fonda. We host smaller events and readings, often for prominent local authors including John Pen La Farge, the late Ambassador Frank Ortiz, artists Bill Barrett and Forrest Moses, and Rabbi Malka Drucker. Sometimes the crowds of people who attend make it impossible to stage a reading, in which case we do just a signing. Our Governor Bill Richardson and Shirley MacLaine fall into this category.
Most recently, I have been concentrating my efforts in arranging off site benefit events, where we donate the ticket sale proceeds to a cause. In June we presented a reading of Eve Ensler's latest book, A MEMORY, A MONLOGUE, A RANT, AND A PRAYER, with participants Jane Fonda, Ali MacGraw, Val Kilmer, Valerie Plame Wilson, and Joe Wilson. In November a standing room only crowd filled the Lensic Center for Performing Arts for Valerie Plame Wilson's presentation of her book, FAIR GAME.
Although Santa Fe's population is just 70,000 people, the abundance of talent, both local, national, and international that Garcia Street Books has attracted has made it a pleasure to be a bookseller here.
