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| Bay Books will move a few doors away from its current location. | |
Describing it as "a storybook ending" CBS-8 reported that the Coronado, Calif., City Council recently gave the green light to a plan that will allow Bay Books to relocate just a few doors down from its current location, where the lease runs out at the end of the month, to 1007 Orange Ave. Mayor Richard Bailey called the council's decision "a win for Coronado."
In a December, the bookstore had announced it was seeking help finding a new space after the building's landlord offered a new lease with a three-fold rent increase.
Owner Angelica Muller had signed a letter of intent to occupy the new space, but the "bookstore's chances of survival increased substantially when Coronado changed its parking requirement policy. That change waives parking requirements for businesses that dedicate less than 250 square feet to food service, storage, seating and bathroom use," the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. "This helps Bay Books because it makes money from selling coffee and pastries outside. Without that extra income, the store would not survive."
"Having a bookstore is like being in charge of an endangered species," Muller told the city council. "You feel a tremendous obligation for the store to survive.... Having the coffee and food service for us is a most."
Muller "still needs to file plans with the city," the Union-Tribune wrote, adding that she "also needs to decide whether the bookstore will manage the coffee cart or if it will continue to work with its current operator. The coffee cart, Café Luis, is a separate business and pays part of the rent to Bay Books, she said. But for the first time in a long time, the future of the store is in their hands."
During the City Council meeting, 11 community members spoke on parking requirement issue, "with an overwhelming positive response for Bay Books," the Coronado Times reported.