Downtown Glendale’s last remaining used bookstore reaches its final chapter
Customers shop at Bookfellows on the 200 block of N. Brand Blvd., on Thursday, June 9, 2016.
A long line of devout readers, each carrying a dozen or more used books, waited on Tuesday to make what could be their last buy at Bookfellows on Brand Boulevard.
After 17 years in business, downtown Glendale’s last remaining used bookstore is closing its doors and taking with it the experience of scouring through thousands of second-hand copies of books ranging from literary classics to sci-fi and mystery titles.
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Shortly after opening on April Fool’s Day in 1999, co-owner Malcolm Bell recalled a news profile was published about his shop at the time.
“[Bookfellows] used to be a computer store and the article said, ‘computers are out and books are back,’” he said.
A veteran bookseller for more than 40 years, Bell has helmed several stores throughout Los Angeles and Glendale, but the one on Brand —which he runs with his wife, Christine — is the last one.
Tens of thousands of titles fill the shelves, some which need to be accessed using a ladder. Finding a book in mind may seem daunting, but everything is organized by genre, including a dense collection of fantasy and mystery novels.
The goal was to have enough stock to keep up with the hot genre at the moment, Bell said.
A steady flow of customers enter the Bookfellows bookstore on the 200 block of N. Brand Blvd., on Thursday, June 9, 2016.
Nearly everything in the collection is used. It’s a shame, he said, that the chance to physically comb through stacks of second-hand books is shrinking for younger generations.
“It’s fine to surf the Net and look for books and everything, but if you come into a bookstore like this, you’re going to find things you never would have thought of,” he said.
Bookfellows carries titles from fiction staples such as Kurt Vonnegut, H.P. Lovecraft and Agatha Christie, but fans of the shop always knew they could also find hidden gems.
Nena Jover Kelty, 93, has shopped at Bookfellows for years and has even sold some of her own work at the shop. The Bells have welcomed books by local authors on the store’s shelves.
Kelty said she bases her book-buying decisions on reading the first few sentences of a title and it’s led to many surprisingly good reads.
“It’s much more interesting, fascinating if you see a writer you haven’t heard of,” she said.
John King, who described himself as a loyal customer since the beginning, shared similar sentiments.
Lee Forney of Redondo Beach selects some books at Bookfellows on the 200 block of N. Brand Blvd., on Thursday, June 9, 2016.
“The big bookstore chains are so sterile … [Bookfellows] has a huge inventory so you can come here and find really obscure stuff,” he said.
Many other bookstores came and went in downtown Glendale such as Crown Books and Borders. Barnes & Noble is currently the biggest one in Glendale in the Americana at Brand, but Malcolm Bell said he never really viewed them as competition. Customers at other stores who couldn’t find the title they wanted were often referred to Bookfellows.
The impending closing of the business follows the departure of another trading post for avid readers — Brand Bookshop, which closed in 2014.
That store’s owner, Jerome Joseph, died last year at age 87.
But the two neighboring bookstores were never rivals. In fact, their proximity was good for business.
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“Jerome talked me into coming into this location,” Bell said. “He dealt in nonfiction, and we dealt in fiction. We would send customers back and forth. I would help him, he would help me. It was a very symbiotic relationship between us.”
Malcolm and Christine Bell have a strong presence in the world of online commerce and plan to continue selling on the Web.
The first decade or so was kind to Bookfellows, Malcolm Bell said. The store even used to have a large staff, but the Internet gradually chipped away at the business.
“We’re now doing 75 to 80% of our business online, so it doesn’t make sense to have a brick-and-mortar store,” he said. “It was a tough decision to do it.”
The Bells will continue making book fair appearances, too.
Bookfellows bookstore owners Christine and Malcolm Bell at their bookstore on the 200 block of N. Brand Blvd., on Thursday, June 9, 2016.
Bookfellows has also been host to many signings with well-known authors including more than 20 appearances by “Fahrenheit 451” author, the late Ray Bradbury, who even celebrated his birthday at the shop on occasion.
In the back of the store, along the wall of a stairwell, are signatures of writers who’ve stopped by, including Bradbury. The only author he said he regrets not being able to book: Stephen King.
“We never had Stephen King. We always wanted him, but he doesn’t travel,” he said.
Ending the chance for more author events down the road makes Bell feel like he’ll be leaving a cultural void in downtown Glendale.
But at least a lot of his longtime customers are popping in to pick up a few more books as the store prepares to close.
“I’ve been seeing people here that were here the first day that we opened,” Bell said.
Bookfellows is having a going-out-of-business sale through its last day, which has not yet been set, but is expected to be toward the end of July. Almost everything in the store is 70% off.
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Arin Mikailian, arin.mikailian@latimes.com
Twitter: @ArinMikailian
