Garcia Street Books was founded in 1991. Edward and Eva Borins, who owned Edwards Books & Art, of one of Canada's largest independent bookstore chains in the Toronto area, moved to Santa Fe in 1997 and purchased the shop in May of 2000, adding twenty-five years of bookselling experience. They changed the focus of the shop to include a strong sections on art, architecture, lifestyle and design, and maintained the strong emphasis on quality literature, poetry, and the Southwest.
They also continued the store's association with the Lannan Foundation, by selling books at all Lannnan events. Edward Borins introduced a unique feature, exhibitions and sales of museum quality artists' books in association with Ursus Rare Books, in New York. The shop also gives exhibitions of handmade books done by the Santa Fe Book Arts Group. This has led to the development a strong section on books and bookmaking techniques.
The Edwards Books & Art tradition of hosting major booksigning events, both local and national has been kept. Some of the authors Edwards Books hosted were Sophia Loren, Sting, Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Margaret Atwood, Gloria Steinem, Mordechai Richler, and Nobel Laureate I.B.Singer. In Santa Fe, visitors have included Maureen Dowd, Bud Collins, Sherman Alexis, Jorge Ramos, Stuart Woods, Jeffrey Deaver, Dr. Leonard Shlain, Wen Ho Lee, Wendell Berry, and Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney. Many of the Santa Fe community's prominent local authors launched their books here, including the late Ambassador Frank Ortiz, the Santa Fe newspaper columnist Denise Kusel, artists Bill Barrett and Forrest Moses, anthropologist Dr. Barbara Tedlock, Anne and John Marion Professor of Photographic Arts at the College of Santa Fe, Rabbi Malka Drucker, and John Pen La Farge.
