Building off the success of their bookstore in Palm Springs, Calif., Paul Carr and Sarah Lacy are opening a new bookstore in San Francisco, Calif., called the Best Bookstore in Union Square, the San Francisco Standard reported.
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| The Best Bookstore in Palm Springs | |
Lacy and Carr launched their Palm Springs store, the Best Bookstore in Palm Springs, in 2022. The business has proved a success and been more lucrative than the couple expected, inspiring them to open a store in San Francisco, where they lived prior to relocating to Palm Springs in 2019.
"Every time somebody sees a bookstore, they're pleasantly surprised it exists," Carr told the Standard. "But the reality is that print books are selling in huge, huge numbers, there are more bookstores opening than closing... and book publishing is doing better than it's ever done before."
As the name suggests, the bookstore will be located in downtown San Francisco's Union Square, which saw in recent years an exodus of major retailers. Thanks in part to a city program called Vacant to Vibrant, however, businesses are coming back; Carr and Lacy utilized the program to find their storefront and get a lease.
Lacy noted that many of the businesses opening up are smaller, and as a result Union Square feels much more local. "When we turned around and looked around, it wasn't just Gucci and Nordstrom and Nintendo and designer stores," she said.
There is still a lot of work to do, and the owners are aiming to be open on Black Friday regardless.
"All we can say is there will be books, and piles of wood, and it will appear to be what it is: an independent bookstore," Lacy said. "Hopefully people are gentle with us, because we're doing this whether we're ready or not."