17 Jul New owner of Garcia Street Books aims to offer what online sellers can’t: relationships
Sam Goldenberg & Associates shepherded Jean Devine into Santa Fe’s beloved Garcia Street Books.
By Justin Horwarth | The New Mexican
Jul 10, 2017
The new owner of Garcia Street Books is banking that an old formula, encouraging customers to browse, will help the independent bookstore survive in the age of Amazon’s Kindle and other online services that have eaten into the profit margins of brick-and-mortar booksellers across the nation.
Jean Devine, 63, said she wants the 15,000-square-foot building off Garcia Street and Acequia Madre to “open amazing places for the mind and spirit to go” while readers browse the eclectic selection at a store that’s managed to survive the introduction of chain-retailers such as Barnes & Noble in the 1990s and then the creative destruction the internet brought to the publishing industry.
Two weeks after purchasing the store from former co-owners Rick Palmer and Adam Gates, who had owned it since 2012, Devine said she has come to understand the loyal following Garcia Street Books has earned from customers over several decades. If the store does not have a certain book, regulars will eschew online ordering and keep her up to date about the books they want to purchase, she said.
“What keeps us alive are the people who live here, whether they’re full time or part time,” Devine said.
Read the full article at The New Mexican’s “New owner of Garcia Street Books aims to offer what online sellers can’t: relationships.”
