Bookshop West Portal's Grand Opening

For Neal Sofman, former head of A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, his new venture, Bookshop West Portal, in the West Portal neighborhood of San Francisco, Calif., is "like going back 25 years." The first store he opened was a similar size to Bookshop West Portal's 2,300 square feet--although it soon expanded. "This store feels really comfortable, but at the same time, we're having events that average over 100 people," he told Shelf Awareness. Martina Navratilova drew the most people--220. (Most fixtures in the store are on wheels, making it easy to clear the space.)

After six weeks in business, Bookshop West Portal had its grand opening celebration on Saturday. The store offered entertainment and refreshments in the afternoon and gave a 20% discount on all books, cards and gifts. "We probably had about 1,000 people in the store," he said. "We opened at 10 and it didn't stop. There was someone at the register all day and usually a line. I left at 8 and it still hadn't stopped."

This warm reception continued a trend that started when Bookshop West Portal originally opened. "People coming into the store for the first time often say the same things," Sofman said. "They say, 'Welcome to the neighborhood.' They thank you for doing this, saying that the neighborhood really needed a good bookstore. Then the final thing they say is, 'Are you crazy?' " He laughed, adding happily, "I'm not used to being thanked for opening a store."

There are other things he's not used to but not minding at all. The neighborhood is "very affluent," Sofman said. "Only one person has talked about price, which is a very different experience for me. Some customers buy two or three hardcovers without blinking." There are many families with children in the neighborhood, so that the store is selling "more children's books than anything else"--about 20%-25% of unit sales. The store's backlist fiction section is also "very hot."

The customers are "hungry for books and to meet authors," Sofman continued. At the events, which are going "exceedingly well," the questions put to authors are "good, probing" ones. "It's a very literate community." That community also includes "scads of local authors," many of whom are published by small presses or self-published. "I assume I'll do a fair amount with them this fall," he said. Already more than 4,000 people have signed up for the store's e-mail list.

The bookstore's building, constructed as a Victorian toy store, is "the right location on the right block," Sofman commented. On that block are six restaurants, half of which are so popular people have to wait to be seated, which encourages browsing at the bookstore. There are also coffee shops nearby, and San Francisco State is a quarter of a mile away. "After school closed, a lot of students came in and said they could find things here that they couldn't elsewhere," Sofman said.

Bookshop West Portal has been building inventory steadily and is now up to about $200,000 at retail, aiming for about $300,000 in the fall. The store has done "a ton of business" with local schools, helping supply titles for summer reading lists.

The store also plans to do "lots of out-of-store events," although it's not ready for this yet. Sofman had emphasized in-store and off-site events at A Clean Well-Lighted Place, so "people know me and know I can do it. We just have to hire some people to assist on this." Currently the store has three full-time employees, including Sofman, and four part-timers.

His next immediate task, Sofman said, is to get on the phone with publicists in New York to book more author events. "I'm telling them that if they have a hot author with any extra time, we're the place!"

Bookshop West Portal is located at 80 West Portal Ave., San Francisco, Calif. 94127; 415-564-8080; www.bookshopwestportal.com.

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