That is very cheerful (if totally unverified) news!

I am happy for them! That being said, I haven't been there since they moved, since it's really out of my way. But I am glad other people have.

Avoiding Pioneer Square, which has no real transit connections for most people, has been very good for them.

Besides, their current location is near a college, a university, and an active book-consuming consumer base.

And it's within the magic Two Block Radius—don't discount that.

I know you (or Peter Aaron) didn't mean to say exactly that chain booksellers didn't exist before 1995, but it is surprising how far back the "mall" chains actually go. Waldenbooks was founded in 1933 (!) and grew from 53 retail outlets in 1969 to 830 nationwide by 1983, and an apparent high-water mark in 1991 with 1300 stores.

I bought at least $80 worth of books from EBB in December and about $120 since the move. I basically stopped buying books before they moved up to Cap Hill. It's just so convenient, though.

That's great news. I was glad to have the chance to visit the shop at its former location about a year ago when I visited, and was concerned how moving to the driving/parking hellhole known as Capitol Hill would work out, especially since Baily/Coy couldn't make it work anymore. So I'm really happy to hear that they did that well.

I'm glad that they had a good year in their great new Capitol Hill location, but I'm not really sure that this really means that "they haven't sold this many books in 15 years".

This is somehow Amazon's fault.

And what about the other local, independent bookstores? Maybe they all had record years as well. EBB's move could be completely irrelevant (although I'm sure it helped). Not a very scientific analysis, just sayin...

"The plural of anecdote is data." So in that spirit...I stopped going to Pioneer Square outside of special trips to buy sake at Sake Nomi or to go to Sounders Games. I do however occasionally swing through Capitol Hill to check out shops and grab a bite to eat and EBB is a part of that. I've been making more impulse purchases there as a result of their move.
re: Bailey Coy was a nice little bookstore, but it was a LITTLE bookstore. I guess to compete these days you do need to be something more, either a niche seller or big enough to be a good destination and worth the trip. EBB is both so I enjoy going there.

I sure do miss their basement.

@5: there was only 1 chain store in Downtown around 1995, and it was a now-defunct chain that I can't remember; it was small and tucked into the back of Westlake Mall. Borders moved in first, around 1995-6 (not sure), and EBB saw sales decline steadily (I worked there through the 90s), when the B&N moved in 2 blocks from the Borders, the stores effectively closed off the north end of downtown book shoppers and parts of lower capitol hill. And the fact that they had access to parking (cue: Parking Troll Guy) made those stores more appealing.

@9: I sat in an employee meeting in 1997 and told my bosses to stop worrying about the chains and start worrying about Amazon... yes, Amazon can be blamed (cue: Amazon Apologists).

@10: It seemed to be a strong end of year for other indies (I work at another, we had a great December), but what's significant is the December sales for EBB compared to 15 years ago is A LOT of money, a shit-load. The kind that encourages a business to spend the next year innovating like crazy with the profits...

This is phenomenal news, but not surprising to me personally. Having been familiar with the numbers of shoppers in the store down in Pioneer Square at any given time, day or night, I was astounded to see the new store constantly packed with browsers. That 3-4 block region is a Magic Retail Zone that has survived the recession.

@12 me too. Bygones.

@13 - That 3-4 block zone is key. Dozens of stores, bars, restaurants, snack shops, services in walking distance of each other that local people want to visit over and over again? no chains or tourist tat or $5000 rugs? without having to check if a major sporting event is going to make it a nightmare? who'd guess?

Bailey Coy was really hurt by the tired crap around it on Broadway the years before it closed down.

@13 re: @5, the creation of suburban malls 1960-1990 and the inclusion of chain bookstores therein did, of course, have significant effects on downtown big-city booksellers even though they retained their downtown clientele (residents and lunch-hour shoppers). But I remember as a kid making special trips into San Francisco from Marin in the 1970's to visit Stacey's, Newbegin's, Brentano's before they were bought out, (and maybe Dutton's?) although the much closer malls by that time had Waldon's, B. Dalton, Little Professor, etc.

I've always been a bit indifferent to Elliot Bay. For me, Pioneer Square was inconvenient by bus and a pain in the ass to park if driving. And it was never the destination bookstore that Powell's in Portland is. So although I thought of it fondly, I rarely ever went in there.

I've been in the new Capitol Hill location more times since they moved than I had been in the last 5 years in Pioneer Square. I bought 4 books as gifts there last month.

I was skeptical of the move at first, but now have to count it as a success.

@17 a friend of mine just went to SF and did exactly what you describe.

You can have a tourist destination bookstore.

@17, that's San Francisco. When was the last large general-purpose new bookstore in downtown Seattle? The downtown core, I mean, not Pioneer Square. I honestly can't remember. I remember when Shorey's was down there, in a variety of spots -- I still desperately miss their amazing top-floor location, accessible from a largely hidden office elevator, with the 20-foot ceilings and the ladders to the tops of the stacks, and then the warren of little rooms behind. Such a magnificent store. But that was used books.

I also remember when Frederick & Nelson had a respectable book selection (and records too). Also not the same thing. Did Seattle ever have a Brentano's, or equivalent?

@19, did WHAT as @17 describes? Visited a large independent downtown bookstore? Which one? There are none. There are excellent bookstores in San Francisco, but the ones like he describes are all closed. That is indeed the major point of his post, which you have missed as always.

If your friend went all that way to go to Borders, well, that's just sad.

I'm guessing, though, that he was going to a place like Green Apple, which is great, but not downtown. Or one of the ultra-specialty shops like Goldwasser's, but I can't imagine a serious book collector like that being a friend of yours.

But what about the PARKING nightmare?!?!
And, the TRAFFIC nightmare?!?!?!
What about the CHILDREN?!??!

Oh,yeah...none of it happened.

In your face, dumbass Parking Freak.

The old EBBC in the Square meant something. You felt like you were going someplace with a history. The new store is like a Barnes and Noble with wood floors.
Farnf,
There was a Brentano's at Westlake before Pacific Place opened.

@Vlad and @20, the chain bookstore at Westlake (pre B&N) was a pretty nice Brentano's but they never had enough staff IMHO to have any kind of customer service. And you're right, Shorey's was awesome.

I'll be up in Seattle from Portland this week and I FINALLY get to go visit the new EBBCo!

@23, oh yeah, I remember that. I meant earlier, as in "before Westlake Mall existed". A mall store is a mall store, even if it's "downtown".