It is very painful that Bookpeople, one of the best independent book distributors, has gone out of business. For Blowfish, it is particularly personal, as they were one of our first vendors, way back when. Some of my fondest memories of the early days of Blowfish were driving over to the Bookpeople warehouse near Oakland airport to scope out the latest arrivals and pick up what we needed.
I’m still in a bit of denial about them really being gone; just as when you lose a long-time friend, it seems as though they are still there. I still almost ask our book buyer, “Hey, does Bookpeople carry that title?“ . . . and then I remember.
Over the years, Bookpeople also provided many friends of mine with jobs when they needed them, and they were the kind of jobs that are getting scarcer and scarcer: Full-time jobs that paid a living wage, with health insurance.
We’ll miss them. Buy something from an independent bookstore, in their memory.
posted 18:11