Along with many indie bookstores across the country, A Great Good Place for Books in Oakland, Calif., celebrated Small Business Saturday, a day that this year was especially poignant for owner Kathleen Caldwell. Saturday marked the 10th anniversary of her stepping into the role of proprietor after the sudden Thanksgiving weekend death of Debi Echlin, the perpetually smiling, raven-haired woman who thought so much of Caldwell's efforts to make the store a community cornerstone that she bequeathed the store to Caldwell.
"Debi left me the greatest gift I never knew I wanted," said Caldwell. And by leaving the 1,800-square-foot store to Caldwell, Echlin hoped to endow the Montclair Village section of Oakland with a vital community anchor. It has not always been easy for Caldwell--who rose from bookseller to owner overnight--but she decided to celebrate the decade of the store's success with the people who made it work--her staff and the community--with a daylong party in the store this past Saturday.
All day, Bay Area book folk dropped by to celebrate and shop in what is now one of the most active independent bookstores in Northern California. Oakland city councilwoman Anne Campbell Washington visited with her husband, Glynn Washington, host of Snap Judgment on National Public Radio, and their children.
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| Kathleen Caldwell (far left) with staff and family members. | |
"She's a very unique bookseller," observed Ron Shoop, a rep for Penguin Random House. "Kathleen spends more time at the register than any owner I know." Being on-hand, Shoop explained, means that Caldwell is constantly interacting with everyone who comes into her shop. "She knows their children and their pets."
Simon & Schuster rep Cheri Hickman recalled a meeting with Caldwell in the back of the store, when she observed teens handselling to each other. "It made sense, because that is what Kathleen does here, and so the kids were emulating that."
"People seem devoted to her," said Deirdre Green, owner of local indie press Roaring Forties, on her first visit to a shop she had heard so much about. As if on cue, a customer told Caldwell that her family had changed their travel plans so that they could be at their favorite bookstore to celebrate the milestone.
"It's the biggest little bookstore in California," said Shoop. It's a sentiment shared by those of us who watched Debi Echlin enlist the talents of Kathleen Caldwell to transform the small used bookstore into a frontlist leader. As for Echlin's legacy, 10 years of success is the best way Caldwell could honor her dear friend. --Bridget Kinsella