This Just Sucks: Black Oak Books on Irving St. is CLOSED...
There's no other way to say this - the unexpected news that Black Oak Books on Irving Street has suddenly closed just sucks. I got done with work early so I decided to take a long walk outside and make a few Irving and 9th stops before hiking up to Golden Gate Heights Park. Whilst talking to Alexis at Amazing Fantasy Comics, he told me that in fact, Black Oak Books at closed. I walked a few doors down and in fact, there was the notice on butcher paper.
What suprised me was that I was in there just two weeks ago (and in fact took this picture of some great old OZ books they had there, and was planning on coming back to buy one of those old RESearch books) and there was no indication things were not going so great for this store.
I'd been going in there every so often for years, as I found it was a great place to get Christmas gifts for folks, especially if they were interested in topics one does not always find at Barnes and Noble.
I don't know the specifics of why they had to close, but if I find out I'll post an update. For now, I'm going to finish this post, and go offline for a while and enjoy the rest of the afternoon, such as it is. But I really hope this isn't the first of a wave of local biz closings. That would really suck.
Comments
They've been talking about closing that store for as long as I've lived in the neighborhood. I'll miss going there.
Posted by: tangobaby | March 24, 2008 4:24 PM
Oh noes! I hadn't noticed that yet.
I know what you mean about the RESearch books. I have the J.G. Ballard one. Awesome!
Posted by: Joseph | March 24, 2008 6:26 PM
They have been for sale for at least a year, probably closer to two. We are really going to miss them.
Posted by: Doc | March 25, 2008 10:04 AM
I came home after 2 weeks of traveling for work and faced this sad sign in the door! They closed their North Beach location several years ago, and I have heard that the Irving store has been on the market for the last 2 years. It's too bad. They had a great cookbook selection.
Posted by: Karena | March 25, 2008 1:18 PM
I am not surprised that they are closing as their prices are very high compared to similar items on other bookstores. I never saw too many people in there and I'm sure that the rent is pretty high. I used to go in, find and price books and then, find the same book at Dog Eared Books or Aardvark or another local store for at least 1/3 rd less. Still, with Black Oaks closing, there aren't too many second hand book stores along the N Judah line left, are there?
Posted by: Nancy | March 25, 2008 10:05 PM
This has been going on for some time. My wife and I used to shop at Solar Light Books in Cow Hollow (we'd stay at the Coventry Inn on Lombard). They had a good selection of books and some friendly cats. One day we went by for a visit and there was nothing left but a phone on the floor. Same thing has happened to several bookstores we knew here in Southern Cal. At least Vroman's in Pasadena is still going strong. Record stores are disappearing, too. The Tower I used to frequent in Pasadena is now a drugstore. (and I still haven't bought an I-pod)
Bob Davis
San Gabriel CA
(San Franciscan in spirit)
Posted by: Bob Davis | March 28, 2008 3:43 PM