Let's Save Vroman's Bookstore

 

Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, a cultural landmark in Los Angeles, is in trouble and needs help.  Founded 126 years ago, the bookstore remains the largest and oldest bookstore in southern California.  Sales during the pandemic have dropped forty percent, threatening the future of the enterprise.  Here is the message sent out today to customers:

Vroman’s has always had a truly special relationship with our customers. Today, we are asking for your help.

As you can imagine, the past few months have been the most difficult in our company’s 126-year history. Virtually every retailer—large and small—has struggled as never before. Our foot traffic and sales are improving, but still down almost 40%, which will not keep us in business. If Vroman’s is to survive, sales must increase significantly from now through the holidays.

We’re doing everything possible to provide the beautiful array of holiday merchandise you love and our holiday shop will soon be in place. We’re also working hard to expand our website and make more of our gift merchandise available for online purchasing and curbside pickup.

You, our valued customers, will make the difference as to whether we can continue in business.

In short, we’re asking our community to return to shopping at Vroman’s – whether online with delivery or curbside pick-up, or in-person safely in our stores.

• Shop online with curbside pickup or call us to place an order
• Return to shop in our stores with our new health and safety measures in place, understanding that capacity must be limited to ensure social distancing
• Shop in-store on weekday mornings, rather than busy weekends or afternoons 
• Shop early before the December holiday crowds – the stores will be far less crowded in October and November

We also need your help to get the word out. Please reach out to your friends and contacts to share the following messages:

• Vroman’s needs your support to stay in business
• Please shop now for books, gifts, and gift cards with Vroman’s and encourage your friends and associates to do the same
• Download these shareables and help spread the word! Use the hashtag #ShopVromans and post on your Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts. Don't forget to tag us! (Twitter: @vromans / Instagram: @vromansbookstore / Facebook: @vromansbookstore)

We first opened our doors in Pasadena in 1894, and we’re proud to play an important role in our community—as a place of gathering, culture, jobs, and, through our Vroman’s Gives Back program over the years have donated more than $750,000 to local charities. Our customers and community are at the heart of all we do.

There is no way we can adequately express to you our great appreciation for your loyalty and business. We are indebted to the many generations of customers who have made our 126-year legacy possible and we want to be here for you, for generations to come.

As we do all we can to ensure safety and convenience, we can’t wait to welcome you back. We truly appreciate your support during this critical time and always.

 

For a history of this great Los Angeles institution, here is an excerpt from their website:

Vroman’s Bookstore was founded in 1894 by Adam Clark Vroman. Born in 1856 in La Salle, Illinois, Mr. Vroman moved to Pasadena, California in the late 1800s hoping the weather would improve his wife Esther’s health. Sadly, Esther died two years later, and the brokenhearted Mr. Vroman sold his beloved book collection to raise the capital to open a bookstore.

Mr. Vroman loved books and loved giving back to his community. He helped to rescue some of the old Franciscan missions from decay, helped establish the Southwest Museum (now part of the Autry Museum), and he was a great supporter of the Pasadena Public Library. There’s even a story of him loaning money to a competitor, and helping him establish credit with vendors, so that the man could start his own bookstore.

Mr. Vroman was also a passionate photographer, specializing in scenes of the American West and his portraits of Native Americans, notable for the respect he showed the people. Ansel Adams called Mr. Vroman one of his influences, and Mr. Vroman’s work hangs in both the Huntington and the Southwest Museum.

When Mr. Vroman died in 1916, he left the bookstore to longtime employees, one of whom was the great grandfather of the current owner.

Vroman’s Bookstore holds an important place in Southern California’s history. For many years, Vroman’s was the largest bookstore west of the Mississippi, and it continues to be the oldest and largest independent bookstore in Southern California. During World War II, Vroman’s donated and delivered books to Japanese Americans interned at nearby camps, returning on several occasions despite being fired upon by camp guards.

Through the years, it has continued to be an independently owned family business, now consisting of two Vroman’s locations, two Vroman’s boutiques located at LAX airport, and an ecommerce site. In 2009, Vroman’s bought another beloved independent bookstore, Book Soup in West Hollywood, after its owner died and the store was in danger of closing.

Mr. Vroman's legacy of philanthropy continues into the present day. Throughout the years, the store has supported a variety of causes and institutions through food drives, holiday gift drives free hiv testing, bone marrow donor match drives, pet adoption days, mentoring and support for local girl scout troops, donations for charity raffles, school book fairs, and the Vroman's Gives Back program. Vroman's Gives Back is a charitable program that donates a portion of customers’ purchases to local nonprofits, including public radio stations, arts centers, family services, and programs supporting literacy, the homeless, and animal welfare. To date, Vroman's has donated over $765,513.59 on behalf of our customers.

 

Vroman’s is also famous for its world class author signings and events. The store hosts over 400 free community events a year including children’s storytimes, trivia nights, craft classes, bake-offs, and special launch parties, and has hosted such authors as President Bill Clinton, President Jimmy Carter, Irving Stone, Upton Sinclair, Ray Bradbury, David Sedaris, Salman Rushdie, Walter Mosely, Joan Didion, Barbara Walters, Anne Rice, Neil Gaiman, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

In 2008, Vroman's was honored with the Publishers Weekly Bookseller of the Year award. The annual award is chosen by a panel of industry professionals, and honors the very best bookstores in the country. Criteria for the award include clarity in mission and vision, expertise in buying for its target markets, innovation, successful events, and business efficiency. Vroman's has also been recognized throughout the years for our excellent customer service, our extraordinary staff, our extensive book inventory, and our wide range of gifts, ranging from stationery, cards, and fine writing instruments to jewelry, handmade gifts, fair trade merchandise, candles, purses, scarves, and much more!

Vroman’s is a Pasadena institution, a literary landmark, a community center, and a wonderful tradition. We hope you visit us soon!

 

Nicotine

 

Vroman’s Books in Pasadena, the oldest and largest independent bookstore in Los Angeles, hosted a discussion last Thursday night of The Nicotine Chronicles (Akashic Books, 2020), edited by Lee Child and featuring new work by David L. Ulin and Joyce Carol Oates.  All three writers were on hand for the discussion.  The book is part of a five-book set from Akashic Books on addictions.  Titles include The Cocaine Chronicles (2011), The Speed Chronicles (2011), The Heroin Chronicles (2013), and The Marijuana Chronicles (2013).

In his introduction to the book, Child writes that nicotine can be found in potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, but one would need to eat an enormous amount of produce to reap the benefits of the drug.  The only delivery system that guarantees maximum bang for the buck is to inhale the smoke from burning tobacco leaves.  Do it that way, and the drug is flowing through the highways and byways of the body in ten seconds.  Nicotine improves fine motor skills, attention span, cognitive abilities, long and short-term memory, lessens depression, delays, or even prevents Alzheimer’s, and decreases the risk of developing Parkinson’s.

Child said he moves through his day in a cloud of marijuana and tobacco smoke and said Thursday night that he could not function without them.  For that reason, he wanted to edit this anthology.  The project excited him because he could draft an all-star team of writers to contribute.  David L. Ulin, who has edited several anthologies, said he liked editing anthologies because one did not have to come up with an entire book of original material.  It is a true group project.  Joyce Carol Oates talked about researching vaping and chose to write about the subculture of that controversial activity.  She has never inhaled a cigarette and is a confirmed running and fast-walking addict.  But she was fascinated by the subject nonetheless.

This series of five books is all about addictions.  Alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex, shopping, behaving recklessly—all are part of the human condition.  Child made that clear Thursday evening—“Marijuana is one of my necessary food groups,” he joked, and he was seconded by Ulin, who said Child was a “man after my own heart.”  For emphasis, Child stated that nicotine is ferociously addictive, and for him, to get the benefits, he had to accept the delivery system as part of the bargain.

Oates addressed her addiction to running and fast-walking.  Her day would not be complete without this exercise in her schedule.  Ulin is also a confirmed walker, usually in the mornings.  He bemoaned the recent fires around Los Angeles and the poor air quality, which prevented him from taking his morning stroll.  He has felt grumpy and out-of-sorts over the last few weeks as the fires raged out of control and the air was filled with chunks of ash.

Ulin told a story of going to a party when he and his wife first moved to Los Angeles.  Almost immediately, they realized they were not in the same “pay grade” as their fellow partiers.  His wife, a so-called “social smoker,” went to bum a cigarette from two women standing off by the pool smoking.  When she came back, Ulin noticed a look on her face.  When he asked what was up, she said the two women were Faye Dunaway and Jacqueline Bisset.  Child added that he has met many famous people when smoking, and he counts that as one of the perks.  Ulin went on to say that as a small child, he thought four things made a boy into a man, as he observed from his father:  shaving, driving, smoking, and reading.  He is no longer a smoker, but his life involves all of the other activities.

As for Child, his lesser vice includes coffee—in fact, he has two machines on his kitchen counter.  Without coffee, nicotine, and pot, he would not be able to function.  This has always been the case for him.  He started writing when he was out-of-work and needed to put food on the table.  He took matters into his own hands, sat down, and created the Jack Reacher series of novels, and from there, his career took off.  He attributes his success, in part, to his vices, and to paraphrase those philosophers, the Doobie Brothers, what were vices are now habits, deeply ingrained in how he works and moves through the day.

The trio discussed writing the stories in the collection, and the art of writing in general.  Ulin says he often focuses on a single scene.  He feels that is his métier, although he mainly writes nonfiction.  Oates sees the short story as a single moment in time.  They both hold up Hemingway as the model short story writer.  Sometimes an entire world can be illustrated in three pages; that is what Hemingway was good at, and what all other short fiction writers aspire to.  Oates said she recently taught Hemingway’s short story, “Indian Camp,” and thought it was the best of his short works.

It was an interesting and lively discussion, convenient because there was no traffic to fight to get there on time.  The event was recorded and can be accessed in replay.  Ultimately, this series of books centers on the fact that we all have addictions that get us through the day.  Rather than taking up smoking, one audience member suggested in the chat that maybe nicotine would go well in brownies.  Child responded that he would weigh 400 pounds if that were possible.

Nicotine’s delivery system is an unfortunate problem.  Until there is a quicker way to get it—an injection?—we will have to make do with eating more vegetables instead of burning tobacco leaves, unless we throw caution to the wind and give in to our addictions.

 

"Confessions of a Bookseller" by Shaun Bythell

The funniest line in Shaun Bythell’s latest installment of a year in the life of a Scottish bookseller is a dig at a competitor, the Amazon Kindle.  He makes a short video to post on the internet describing how to upgrade one’s Kindle to a Kindle Fire.  It involves, he tells us, “half a gallon of petrol and a box of matches.”

Confessions of a Bookseller (David R. Godine, Publisher, 2020) picks up where Bythell’s previous book, The Diary of a Bookseller (Profile Books, 2018) left off.  In a year of diary entries, Bythell takes us through the day-to-day business of running a bookshop in Wigtown, known as the official National Book Town of Scotland since 1998.  The Bookshop is the largest secondhand bookshop in the country.

His daily entries are full of quirky and eccentric characters who make up the staff, customers, and townspeople.  Bythell, himself, purchases stock, mans the front counter, answers the often inane questions from customers, and does the odd DIY projects to keep the store running.  He lives on the premises where he also offers space for meetings and seminars throughout the year.  He is generous and accommodating with a wry sense of humor that comes through in his writing.  His staff includes Nicky, his messy and difficult long-time employee.  There is the Italian student who volunteers to work in the shop one summer for room and board, and who earns the nickname Granny because of her various ailments, aches and pains.  Despite her condition, she has a voracious appetite that amazes Bythell.  There is the shop cat, an overweight feline named Captain.  Bythell relates their antics and lets the reader wonder how the shop survives the comedy of errors involving these strange characters.

The Bookshop lives and dies by sales, like any other business.  In every entry, Bythell records the number of online orders, the sales receipts for the day, and the number of customers who come into the store to shop.  Some of the funniest moments come in his recording of interactions with people.  He is confronted, quite often, with customers demanding a discount, or ones that think he is hiding books “in the back” and not putting them out.  Many come through and stay browsing for hours yet do not make a purchase.  One customer asks the staff to make copies of specific pages of a book on the shelf but refuses to buy it.  Customers also ask a lot of stupid questions.  One could draw the conclusion that shopping in a book shop is no indication of common sense or mental acuity.

Bythell incorporates the history of the region and the antiquarian book business.  He goes on several trips to stately homes and estate sales to restock his shelves.  Sometimes, he finds hidden gems; other times, the sellers, often relatives liquidating a family member’s books gathered over a lifetime, are deeply disappointed that the books will not fetch a huge sum.  Every person’s library is unique, and through Bythell’s account, we get a little of the departed collector’s interests and eccentricities.  Many times, Bythell drives hours to find nothing of saleable quality on the dusty shelves.  He tells us that there are titles he feels he must stock simply because that is what is expected of a bookshop.  However, he also points out that a secondhand bookshop has no control over stock; owners must take what is available unlike a new book store that can order more titles when stock gets low.

Bythell has an online presence utilizing Amazon, Abe Books, and eBay.  Amazon cuts the profit margin so thin as to be nonexistence, yet they are an important part of the secondhand book trade.  Bythell describes how the digital ordering system often goes down and the requests are delayed.  He is constantly working to keep the catalogue system up and running.  The important thing to note here is that he sells online, in the shop, and on bidding sites to stay afloat, and all are necessary just to keep money coming in.  The sale of antiquarian books is not a lucrative business.

Even though he is forced to make repairs to the shop to keep his business going, he maintains his balance throughout.  He is a patient man who confesses to moments of depression, especially in the fall when the annual Book Festival ends and the summer tourists go home.  He also alludes to his failed relationship with Anna, and thinks about how his life has turned out in comparison to his parents, family, and friends.  His writing is poetic, spare, and to the point throughout, especially when he describes the natural beauty around Wigtown.  His anecdotes are interesting, like his tale of how the now infamous “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster was rediscovered in an old box of books an owner of a bookshop purchased at auction.  He also includes a good explanation of what makes a book antiquarian and how books are bound.

In this quaint volume of character and life, Shaun Bythell gives us a world to inhabit.  “The smell, the atmosphere and the human interaction will remain the exclusive preserve of bricks-and-mortar bookshops,” he writes.  “Perhaps, like vinyl and 35mm film, there might be a small revival, enough to keep a few of us afloat for a bit longer.”  That is the joy of this book.  He reminds us not only of the importance of the written word, but of community, fellowship, grace, and commerce.  In the digital age, there are still wonders to find in a small town in Scotland, in old books and the people who live with them.