Copperfield's is searching for a new home for its used bookstore in Sebastopol after its landlord sought to increase the rent, the second time in three months it has been forced to uproot a longtime store.
Copperfield's Used and Rare bookstore has occupied nearly 2,800 square feet of retail space on North Main Street for 17 years. But to renew the lease would cost more than the store could afford, said co-owner Paul Jaffe. Signs advertising the store's availability for lease were placed in the bookstore's display window earlier this week.
"We've been here for so many years, and we have such loyal customers," Jaffe said. "There are no spaces that really are available right now in Sebastopol that meet our needs, so it does put us in a vulnerable situation."
Jaffe said the landlord wanted to raise Copperfield's rent by about 30 percent when its lease expires on Jan. 31. Efforts to reach the owner of the space were unsuccessful Thursday.
"We've had a pretty reasonable deal for many years, and what he wants for the space is something that we just can't afford," Jaffe said.
Founded in 1981, Copperfield's operates eight bookstores in Sonoma and Napa counties. In July, the company announced that its store in Santa Rosa's Montgomery Village would be moving to a much smaller location a few blocks away.
Sebastopol store buys and sells used books, and stocks rarities like a weathered, leather-bound astrology tome from 1784 with copper plate engravings and an asking price of $1,500.
The company's original store, located a few doors down Sebastopol's Main Street, will remain open. That space has about 4,200 square feet of usable retail space, but Jaffe said there isn't enough room to move the inventory of used books to that location, which focuses on new books.
The Used and Rare store will remain open until Jan. 31 while Copperfield's searches for a new space.
"It's hard to leave here, because we have a wonderful store, and we've been here a long time," said store manager Brandy Mow. "We have a huge customer base who know us and are attached to us."
Kwazi Nkrumah, 57, is one of them. The former Sebastopol resident now lives in Los Angeles, but drops in at the bookstore every time he visits his children, who grew up reading books from the store's shelves.
"Copperfield's is such a resource here," Nkrumah said. "I just hope that they find luck finding a new space."
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