Copperfield's has operated in Sebastopol since 1981.
Copperfield’s Books flagship Sebastopol store sent out an SOS last week, announcing the potential sale of the building it leases at 138 N. Main St. could jeopardize its ability to operate at that location.
According to bookstore management, its current lease arrangement has allowed the independent bookstore to remain viable in a challenging environment for brick-and-mortar retail shops. The business absorbed a 10% rent increase this year and “a new building owner could dramatically compound this situation by either terminating the lease or raising the rent to a level that would not be sustainable.”
Copperfield’s was launched in Sebastopol by co-owners Paul Jaffe and Barney Brown in 1981.
Jaffe says a new building owner could line up a new tenant for the space or raise the rent to an unstainable level for the independent bookstore.
“We can’t subsist in doing business as usual, paying the kind of rent that market rates would demand,” Jaffe said in a statement.
Jaffe said his team is exploring such options as finding a nonprofit entity to purchase the building and preserve the bookstore’s presence downtown, or working with the city on designating the bookstore a “legacy” business, which may qualify for a grant, something Copperfield’s is currently exploring with the City of Petaluma for another of its stores.
Copperfield’s opened in 1981 a 750-square-foot storefront next door to its current location. The store moved within a few years to the vacant former space of the Analy Five & Dime and created the Copperfield’s Trading Company, a concept which housed other tenants, including such businesses as Rosemary’s Garden, Cutler’s Cutters, a café and a frame shop. Over the course of several years, the bookstore gradually expanded to occupy the entire building. Today Copperfield’s has nine locations throughout Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties. For more information, visit copperfieldsbooks.com.
