Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:22:56 -0700, Roy Lewallen
wrote:

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
. . .
I wish you hadn't done that. I just ordered a copy of Kraus (2nd
edition) for $25 and a 2nd copy of the ARRL Antenna Book for $19
(because it always seems to be out on loan). Sigh. I need to
practice resisting temptation. Internet shopping is far too easy.

Hah, be glad you don't live close to Powell's, which has a separate
technical bookstore. My wallet is always a lot thinner when I walk out
of there than when I walked in.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Many years ago, I used to make the pilgrimage to the Sunnyvale Fry's,
Ham Radio Outlet, various nearby surplus stores, and then Computer
Literacy Bookstore. After spending far too much money on books, I
started to avoid the bookstore. They solved the problem for me by
moving locations and finally closing in 2001.

WTF? That was one of my favorite stores to hang out and spend $$$ when I
lived down there. What happened? They always seemed to be thriving and
had books on other subjects. Fry's simply never had the books to compete.


A visit to San Francisco was not complete without dropping into
Stacey's bookstore on Market and Powell (after the one in Palo Alto
closed). However, the SF store closed earlier this year.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/07/BAFN154UV2.DTL

What's left are the big chains, online vendors, and some specialty
stores. I've never been to Portland, but if I find an excuse, I'll
certainly give Powell's a visit.

Is there anything in the Sacramento area or even the Silicon Valley area
anymore?

Bill Baka, heavy reader.

In article ,
Bill Baka wrote:

WTF? That was one of my favorite stores to hang out and spend $$$ when I
lived down there. What happened? They always seemed to be thriving and
had books on other subjects. Fry's simply never had the books to compete.

If I recall correctly, they were bought up by another company (or, at
least, changed names) and then finally closed.

I don't know what the economics of their close-down were. I suspect a
combination of factors: rising rents (things were getting a big crazy
during the dot-com bubble), competition from online book-sellers such
as Amazon, increasing cost of purchasing inventory, and increasing
cost of maintaining stock (business taxes on unsold inventory).

Is there anything in the Sacramento area or even the Silicon Valley area
anymore?

There's another technical bookstore called Digital Guru, located in
the next strip-mall section northwards from where Computer Literacy
used to be. They don't carry as broad a stock as CL did, but they
aren't bad.

These days, I tend to look on-line first.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Dave Platt wrote:
In article ,
Bill Baka wrote:

WTF? That was one of my favorite stores to hang out and spend $$$ when I
lived down there. What happened? They always seemed to be thriving and
had books on other subjects. Fry's simply never had the books to compete.

If I recall correctly, they were bought up by another company (or, at
least, changed names) and then finally closed.

Damn. That was the best technical book store I have ever been in. The
last time was 1998 when I was working down there and they seemed healthy.

I don't know what the economics of their close-down were. I suspect a
combination of factors: rising rents (things were getting a big crazy
during the dot-com bubble), competition from online book-sellers such
as Amazon, increasing cost of purchasing inventory, and increasing
cost of maintaining stock (business taxes on unsold inventory).

Rents I believe. Even in this depression people are trying to raise the
rents. I know from experience owning a TV/electronics repair shop. At
exactly 1 year the girl representing the landlord told me that since we
were a success and made it a full year they were going to raise my rent.
My answer, "Sorry, greed doesn't get it, I'm closing.".
That was easy because business sucked except for the truckers and my CB
tuning skills at 5:00 A.M.

Is there anything in the Sacramento area or even the Silicon Valley area
anymore?

There's another technical bookstore called Digital Guru, located in
the next strip-mall section northwards from where Computer Literacy
used to be. They don't carry as broad a stock as CL did, but they
aren't bad.

Maybe, just maybe.

These days, I tend to look on-line first.

Me too.
sigh
Bill Baka

On Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:11:53 -0800, Bill Baka
wrote:

Many years ago, I used to make the pilgrimage to the Sunnyvale Fry's,
Ham Radio Outlet, various nearby surplus stores, and then Computer
Literacy Bookstore. After spending far too much money on books, I
started to avoid the bookstore. They solved the problem for me by
moving locations and finally closing in 2001.

WTF? That was one of my favorite stores to hang out and spend $$$ when I
lived down there. What happened? They always seemed to be thriving and
had books on other subjects. Fry's simply never had the books to compete.

I found out the hard way. I prepared an expedition to Computer
Literacy and discovered they were closed. I was seriously bummed as
Stacy's in SF was too far away to drive.

I don't know exactly why they failed, but I think online shopping for
books might have killed them off.

This may help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Literacy_Bookstore

Is there anything in the Sacramento area or even the Silicon Valley area
anymore?

Dunno. I've been doing most of my book shopping via Alibris and
Amazon.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:11:53 -0800, Bill Baka
wrote:

Many years ago, I used to make the pilgrimage to the Sunnyvale Fry's,
Ham Radio Outlet, various nearby surplus stores, and then Computer
Literacy Bookstore. After spending far too much money on books, I
started to avoid the bookstore. They solved the problem for me by
moving locations and finally closing in 2001.
WTF? That was one of my favorite stores to hang out and spend $$$ when I
lived down there. What happened? They always seemed to be thriving and
had books on other subjects. Fry's simply never had the books to compete.

I found out the hard way. I prepared an expedition to Computer
Literacy and discovered they were closed. I was seriously bummed as
Stacy's in SF was too far away to drive.

I don't know exactly why they failed, but I think online shopping for
books might have killed them off.

This may help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Literacy_Bookstore

Is there anything in the Sacramento area or even the Silicon Valley area
anymore?

Dunno. I've been doing most of my book shopping via Alibris and
Amazon.

Total bummer, since I used to be able to flip through a $110 book and
see if it was what I needed. Buying it, shipping it, finding out it was
the wrong one or written like a student paper, and then having to return
it are all a bit too much bother. I used to buy books on sight, having
never even knew the book existed and it was a hot topic to me.

The kinds of super specialized books I buy are in the $200 range and are
out of date sometimes before I get them. Science books mainly.

Bill Baka