The branch of DIESEL: a bookstore in Larkspur, Calif., which has been for sale since April, is closing. "Though the store is beautiful and widely praised with loyal and appreciative readers... we have been unable to find a buyer to steward it into the future," owners John Evans and Alison Reid said in an e-mail to customers last night.
When they put the store up for sale, Evans and Reid explained that after 15 years of regularly commuting 400 miles, they have decided to live in Southern California full-time and focus on their other store, in Brentwood.
Evans and Reid opened the 2,800-square-foot Larkspur store in 2013 in the Marin Country Market, a development that has had a bookstore in it--for much of the time before DIESEL it was a branch of A Clean Well-Lighted Place--since 1978. Developer James Rosenfield, who also owns the building in which DIESEL's Brentwood store is located, remodeled the development and is seeking another bookstore to take DIESEL's place, Evans said. The location has a lot of potential, several people have said: the shopping center is establishing itself, and the SMART train (Sonoma-Marin Area Rapid Transit) is arriving next year.
DIESEL in Larkspur is beginning a moving sale with a 25% discount. ("It's a moving sale, not a closing sale," Evans said. "Because we're moving on--moving down south.") The pair will keep the store for an indeterminate time, probably several months, to sell the stock. "All these books want a home," Evans commented. "Just faster than planned."
In the announcement last night, they wrote, in part: "We want to thank you for all of your support and appreciation for the particular ways in which we've served readers in Marin. The beauty of the store itself, the deep and rich selection of books, and the friendly and expert booksellers have been much commented upon and respected by book lovers."
Reid and Evans founded DIESEL in Oakland in 1989. They sold the original store to manager Brad Johnson last year.