Alvin Orloff, manager at the Dog Eared Books location at 489 Castro St. in San Francisco, Calif., has purchased the store from previous owner Kate Razo and will reopen the bookstore as Fabulosa Books on September 15.
Orloff will rearrange and reorganize things a bit, but will keep the current staff and will maintain "the same eclectic mix of LGBTQ+ and general interest books" that the store has been known for since its opening in 2016. Orloff added that he and his staff are "very mindful of the fact we're occupying the same space as A Different Light Books, which served queer San Francisco during the difficult years of the 1980s, '90s and early 2000s."
"The store almost went under during the pandemic," Orloff said. "But we were determined to survive because a neighborhood without a bookstore is like a day without sunshine. Thanks to the generosity of GoFundMe donors, PPP loans and some extra hard work from the staff, we pulled through and now business is lurching back to normal."
Fabulosa Books will continue to sell new, used and remaindered titles along with nonbook items like stickers, buttons, posters, cards, notebooks and magazines. The store will still buy used books over the counter and will honor gift certificates and trade slips from the previous version of the store.
With the current surge in Delta variant cases, Fabulosa Books is holding off from resuming in-store events and the opening party "will have to be postponed indefinitely." Orloff and his staff, however, plan to make "every day at Fabulosa feel like a party," at least the "kitchen of a party where all the bookworms congregate."