Story to end next month for Costa Mesa’s Books on Broadway
After nearly 30 years of selling books, notably romance novels, Books on Broadway in Costa Mesa will close next month.
The used bookstore at 143 Broadway, about two blocks from The Triangle, plans a closing party for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 11 before shuttering a few days later.
The store asks party guests to bring food to share and a bag or box to collect unsold books, which will be donated to charities.
Until then, the store is having a liquidation sale. Nearly all titles are $1.
Books on Broadway started in 1987 as New and Recycled Romances. Founder Toni Bruner was a self-proclaimed romance novel addict, so she opened the store using her own inventory and quickly gained a loyal following. A 1993 Los Angeles Times profile reported that customers were like a gossiping sorority, discussing their latest reads off the shelves.
In 2012, Bruner sold the store to Sharon Patch, a Costa Mesa resident, and Flora Schoonover of Santa Ana.
On Tuesday, Costa Mesa resident Bob Williams stood outside Books on Broadway having a smoke break.
A year ago, Williams was the store’s savior. To prevent it from closing, he came in with a check and a commitment to join the ownership team.
“I want this community asset to stay here,” Williams said at the time. “This is a resource that just needs to stay.”
But the trio’s plan to revive the store hasn’t quite worked out. Despite consolidating the space from 960 square feet to 480, sales haven’t been strong enough to keep the business going.
Williams said there are still customers who want “real” books – the printed word over the electronic one.
But, he lamented, they apparently “just don’t read fast enough” to keep Books on Broadway in business.
“We’ve just decided that it’s time go let it go,” Patch said while standing among the store’s estimated 25,000 books, stacked floor to ceiling.
About 80% of the inventory consists of fiction titles. Of those, about half are romance novels.
Patch said about 5,000 titles are being sold to The Ripped Bodice, a romance bookstore in Culver City that opened this year.
Newport Beach resident Debbie Sterner has been a Books on Broadway regular for about a decade. On Tuesday, she sat in a corner of the romance novel section, gathering titles and placing them in a yellow plastic shopping basket.
A few feet away, a quotation from Thomas Jefferson was on the bathroom door: “I cannot live without books.”
Sterner would agree.
“I want a book to hold in my hand,” she said before grabbing one off a cart. She then set it back. “I guess I’m just so old.”
She lamented her lack of local used bookstore options once Books on Broadway closes.
“I might just get stuck going on Amazon,” she said. “But I hate doing that.”
“Amazon owns the world,” Patch chimed in from behind the cash register.
“Unfortunately,” Williams added from across the room.
