Saturday, April 29 was Independent Bookstore Day. Despite a confusing economy and expected long-term trends (dwindling readership), local bookstores are thriving, some under new ownership. Books sell better than in 2021 and they sell in person. Meanwhile, the price of books is rising.
Olivia & Daisy in Carmel Valley has been around since 2021. Former owners Maria Roden and Jane Pakis named it after their two miniature donkeys. Roden had owned a bookstore before, in San Francisco, and Pakis owned a “lifestyle shop” in Chicago. Since then, the duo moved to Santa Barbara, taking Olivia and Daisy with them. That original name remains, even though the bookstore has a new owner, Carmel Valley resident Kelsey Boyte. She re-launched the business last month, in April 2023.
Lighthouse Books in Monterey has been around… “Oh God,” says new owner David Smoot, who moved here from the Bay Area six years ago to manage the place, then still known as BookBuyers Monterey. “In some form or another, there has been a bookstore here for the last 60 years.” That would take us back to the 1960s.
Lighthouse Books, at the corner of Lighthouse and Hoffman Avenues, has been known for carrying mostly used books, with some new titles. It’s a perfect place to find an old edition, a treasure lost in childhood or volume seventeen of some obscure fantasy series.
“Things changed a lot,” Smoot says about his experience since 2017. “The tourists disappeared for a couple of years [due to Covid]. It’s picking up. This year has been interesting. Tourism seems to be back, but not international tourism.”
Boyte, whose bookstore is located in Carmel Valley Village, doesn’t know what to expect yet but has a community behind her. A lover of memoir, particularly, she is hopeful about the business and it seems to suit her perfectly. Like Roden and Pakis, she cultivates a “book boutique” idea, insisting on small, curated batches and quality.
Smoot is a book lover, too. He reads mostly fiction, switching between genres. “Nobody is thinking big bucks,” he says about his decision, last year, to buy the bookstore. “I’m not going to be a millionaire. But it’s a good business and I’m hoping for a good summer.”
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