When Cody’s on Berkeley’s Telegraph Avenue closes for good on July 10, local Jewish book buyers may be sad, but they may still find enough East Bay Judaica retailers to shop ’til they drop.
For years the East Bay Jewish community patronized Cody’s for its large Judaica section, especially its extensive collection of Passover haggadahs. Now, Judaica stores, synagogue gift shops and online retailers will pick up the slack.
Two other Cody’s stores — one on Fourth Street in Berkeley, the other on Sutter in San Francisco — will remain open. Cody’s owner Andy Ross says those stores are “doing fine.”
While reducing competition might seem like an opportunity for other local bookstores, no one is celebrating the closing of the Telegraph Avenue store.
That includes Jerry Derblich, owner of Berkeley Judaica shop Afikomen.
“There’s a ripple effect when a store like that closes,” he says. “As you try to keep your business going, it’s scary, because [Cody’s] is an institution, and they couldn’t make it. One reason is clearly the competition, and we face it, too.”
As for Cody’s Haggadah supply, much of the inventory was sold to Afikomen a few years back. “Cody’s had an amazing Haggadah collection,” says Derblich, “but I went over there and bought a lot of them about four years ago.”
Adds Ross: “We were overstocked. Some we’d had for 10 years. But we’re still selling Passover books at the other stores, and we are keeping a good Judaica section [at the other stores].”
Declining sales and competition from the Internet contributed to unsustainable losses for Cody’s flagship store over the last few years.
“This is breaking my heart,” says Ross, who bought the store from founder Fred Cody in 1977. “This is a store I loved. It was the kind of store I always wanted.”
The closure announcement came days before Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates outlined a plan to revitalize Telegraph Avenue, which has fallen on hard times in recent years.
It was a case of “too little, too late” for Ross. “They should have done it a long time ago,” he says, “and treated Telegraph as an economic opportunity zone, and not a crime zone.”
Ross will feel the loss of his Telegraph store for a long time to come. “It’s like losing a child,” he says. “But there is some consolation in that so many people have told us how much Cody’s has enriched their lives. I had the opportunity for 29 years to surround myself with great ideas in the most exciting intellectual community in the world. What more can I ask for?”