Long SLO bookstore closing

Leon’s moving off shelves and online

Owners are selling the building, which needs retrofitting, and concentrating on Internet sales

By Tonya Strickland

The owners of Leon’s Book Store in downtown San Luis Obispo — one of the county’s oldest and biggest booksellers —are closing the shop, citing online competition and seismic retrofit costs.

Rick and Catherine Wiegers recently sold their building at 659 Higuera St., which they’ve owned since 1985, to a Santa Maria buyer. Rick Wiegers declined to name the price or the buyer.

The real estate transaction is still in escrow, according to Stafford-McCarty Commercial Real Estate in San Luis Obispo.

In August, the unreinforced masonry building had an asking price of $1.75 million on www.loopnet.com , a commercial real estate Web site. The Wiegerses expect to close in mid-May.

They plan to continue the company, which advertises a stock of 150,000-plus used books, online at www.leonsbookstore.com , a site they started three years ago.

Online commerce is the future of the used book industry, said Bruce Miller, owner of downtown’s other used bookstore, Phoenix Books at 990 Monterey St.

About 40 percent of his business was lost to competition from Internet retailers such as Amazon.com, he said.

“The Internet is killing the used book (store) business all over California,” he said.

“But it’s also the future because people like me who have to hustle up a quarter of million dollars just to open the doors can sell books (online) with very low overhead.”

Miller said national retailers downtown are not hurting his business. Stores such as Barnes & Noble operate in a different market—new books.

And oftentimes, the retailers act as suppliers when patrons buy books from their shelves, read them and then sell the goods to his shop, Miller added.

Still, Miller said, it is unfortunate that so-called brick-and-mortar locations are not surviving. Some customers at Leon’s on Friday agreed.

About a dozen patrons browsed Leon’s sturdy, wooden shelves, carefully stacked with hardcover and paperback books.

The 3,800-square-foot space has a calming and charismatic atmosphere, many said, and they’re sad to see it go.

“It’s a shame to see the independently run businesses fall to conglomerates…with limited, closed-minded selections,” said Brian Cassidy of San Luis Obispo.

The art of leisurely roaming the aisles and thumbing through titles many never knew existed can’t be replaced with a click of a mouse, Miller said.

“It’s about the surprises,” Cassidy said. “I like being able to find something I didn’t know I couldn’t live without.”

Others said they’ll be sad not to be able to support a local business.

“It’s just too bad,” said Katie Stockwell of Paso Robles. “I really love a good bookstore and believe in shopping local. Local, funky shops are part of downtown’s atmosphere.”

The bookstore was founded by Leon Dyer in 1969.