Three-hundred boxes of books carted to a temporary location on
E. Third Street
Morgan Hill – It’s easy to tell who your friends are on moving day.
Such was the case Saturday morning, when a gang of BookSmart fans – fueled by coffee and pastries – helped the popular store box up its inventory of 65,000 books.
“I love reading, I love books, and I like to support the independent book stores,” said local teacher Carol Ferri, taking a break from loading armfuls of books into a cardboard box.
The effort allowed the popular store – a downtown fixture for 11 years at Monterey and Second streets – to kick-start its move to a temporary location at 95 E. Third Street.
Owners Brad Jones and Cinda Meister hope to move the business into a more spacious and permanent spot – which is now being gutted and remodeled – on Second Street in time for the holiday buying season. When the remodeled store opens, it will include the Love Bug card shop and recently closed-down Thinker Toys.
At the moment, the bookstore is open in its makeshift spot, even though it lacked cash registers Monday.
Those on hand for Saturday’s moving party – approximately 40 showed up throughout the day – were happy to lend a hand. Ferri said she gets a 20 percent educator’s discount, a perk that’s made the shop a tremendous resource for her over the years.
“They help me find anything I need. I just think it’s fabulous,” she beamed. “Consequently, I’m a frequent buyer.”
Morgan Hill resident Mary Barber, a librarian at St. Leo the Great School in San Jose, said she typically special orders $1,000 worth of hard-to-find books per year. She said she owes Meister “big time” for locating the right distributors.
“I’ve already packed up about a dozen boxes,” Barber said enthusiastically. “I’m using T-L-C, because I knew they need to sell these books and they don’t want them damaged.”
Twenty-year-old Martin Bernal, one of Ferri’s former fifth grade students, said there was nothing else he’d rather be doing that morning.
“It’s important to me,” Bernal said. “I like to see small businesses grow.”
The outpouring of affection was much appreciated by the husband-wife ownership team of Jones and Meister.
Since they announced earlier this summer they would be moving BookSmart to Second Street to take advantage of a larger commercial space, they’ve received all sorts of help from the community.
“Our customers value our bookstore enough to not only patronize us, but they are willing to come together and help us move,” Jones said, conveying a tone of gratitude. “We’ve had a lot of outreach with different aspects of this move, people who have volunteered equipment, labor, energy, expertise, all kinds of things.”
In addition to packing more than 300 boxes of books, volunteers helped move shelving units and clean the old store.
“It’s like a family,” said employee Michael Sanchez. “The bosses are right there. You don’t get that in a Barnes and Noble.”
When the store reopens in its new permanent location, it will have the advantage of 5,000 square feet to offer a wider selection of wares and operate a larger cafe.
But the new location won’t be ready for a couple of months. The cavernous space – the former home of Bargain Hunters Outlet, before the discount store moved to W. Main Avenue – still needs new heating ducts, flooring, lighting and outdoor landscaping.
The heating ducts alone, Jones said, will cost $30,000.
To help pay for all the remodeling costs, he and Meister have applied for a $100,000 loan through the Morgan Hill Redevelopment Agency’s commercial rehabilitation program. The application is the first one the city has received, Jones said, and it’s still under review.
In the meantime, BookSmart will operate temporarily from the former site of Badillo & Sons construction company on East Third Street. The warehouse has been almost entirely retrofitted to accommodate a small business, with freshly painted walls, new ceiling panels, overhead lights and a laminated cement floor. A front door has been installed in front of the existing overhead garage door.
Meister said she’ll harbor fond memories of BookSmart’s original location at Second and Monterey streets, but she’s also looking forward to the future.
“It’s one of those bittersweet things,” she said.
Women’s clothing store Violet Boutique is expected to open in BookSmart’s old downtown location this fall.
BOOKSMART FACTS:
Old location: 17415 Monterey Road.
Temporary location: 95 E. Third Street.
Hours: 10am-6pm Monday-Saturday,
10am-6pm Sunday
Future location: 80 E. Second Street.
Future book collection: 100,000 titles
Current book collection: 65,000 titles
Tony Burchyns Covers Morgan Hill for The Times. Reach him at (408) 779-4106 ext. 201 or tb*******@mo*************.com.
