In a few months, if I want to visit a Half Price Books, I won't have to board a bus. The company just signed a 10-year lease for a space within walking distance from four independent Capitol Hill book stores--Bailey/Coy, Beyond the Closet, Horizon Books, and Twice Sold Tales. A used-book store with a large selection in its own right, Twice Sold Tales probably stands to lose the most by the Texas corporation's expansion into the neighborhood. The two-story, 15,000-square-foot space at 115 Belmont Avenue East will be the largest Half Price Books in the region, offering nearly 200,000 products--books, CDs, DVDs, LPs, and software. The store will open in September, will close every night at 11:00 p.m., and create 30 new jobs. Anne Von Feldt, Half Price Books' West Coast regional manager, says, "We're not looking to take over the world, but we're always looking for new places to put book stores. I'm really excited about the energy and atmosphere on Capitol Hill."
Last week, as the news of the new store began to spread, Twice Sold Tales owner Jamie Lutton was putting her energy into making phone calls, including one to The Stranger. "It's going to be like having an elephant sit on the neighborhood," Lutton declared on one reporter's voice mail. "It's corporate... and I thought you'd like to know." (It should be said that Half Price Books, while corporate, was founded by hippies who opened their first store in a converted laundromat.) According to Von Feldt, Lutton also called the University District store--ostensibly to welcome them to the neighborhood, but the conversation ended in tears. "We have always tried to get along with Jamie," Von Feldt tells me, "but I think she has it in for us."
The Twice Sold Tales employee who took my call seemed unconcerned with the news. (Lutton, away on a road trip, couldn't be reached.) "I don't think any of us feel as strongly about it as she does," said the employee. Another employee said, "If it's actually happening, if Jamie can be believed"--as late as Sunday, May 4, people still thought it was a rumor--"I think it will be okay. I think people around here know us." Twice Sold Tales is home to countless titles and, famously, six cats. A friend of mine says Half Price Books will have the advantage over Twice Sold Tales because it "won't smell like cat shit."
Bailey/Coy owner Michael Wells uttered a four-letter expletive when he heard the news. "Of course I'm worried," he said. "But I'm also worried about the state of Broadway and corporate culture and the fact that too many books are published every year. This [will be] just another challenge, and there are always challenges when you're an independent bookseller."
When I broke the news to an employee at Horizon Books, the used-book store on 15th Avenue, he turned around and said, "Pull the knife out of my back." In contrast, a Beyond the Closet employee said confidently, "We have very loyal customers." (Beyond the Closet also sells merchandise Half Price Books never would. "You've got to have a little porn or else life gets boring," the employee said.)
On principle, I always shop at independents, but it will be hard to resist a store that offers such a staggering--and staggeringly discounted--selection: The two copies of Speedboat at Half Price Books were $3.98 and $4.48. I couldn't help myself. I bought both.
