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| Neal Sofman (photo: Valerie Duarte) |
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Sad news from the Bay Area: Neal Sofman, co-owner of Bookshop West Portal in San Francisco, Calif., and former head of A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, died September 6 at age 75, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. After being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, he moved into an assisted living facility last year.
Sofman opened Bookshop West in 2006 with his wife, Anna Bullard. Speaking with Shelf Awareness six weeks after opening, Sofman said opening the new store was "like going back 25 years" to the beginnings of A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books. "People coming into the store for the first time often say the same things," Sofman continued. "They say, 'Welcome to the neighborhood.' They thank you for doing this, saying that the neighborhood really needed a good bookstore. Then the final thing they say is, 'Are you crazy?' I'm not used to being thanked for opening a store."
Sofman began his bookselling career working at the old Upstart Crow bookstore. In 1975, with two partners, he opened the first A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, in Cupertino. In 1978, they opened a branch in Larkspur. In 1982, they opened what became flagship store, in Opera Plaza, in San Francisco. (That location is now the site of a Books Inc. store.)
Until the last of the three stores closed in 2006, A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books was one of the best-regarded bookstores in the country. As recounted by the Chronicle, Sofman "became so respected in the industry that he was at the TED Conference when it started out in Monterey. Suddenly he had Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Bono browsing his shelves. He had a radio show about books and at various times served on the board of the Northern California Booksellers Association and the American Booksellers Association."
Wendy Sheanin, v-p, independent retail sales at Simon & Schuster, who worked for six years as the events scheduler at A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, told the Chronicle, "Neal was like an old master. When you think of the generation of people, nationwide, who have these great independent bookstores, Neal was right there with them."
She added that A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books hosted many major authors, including, during her time there, Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Alan Alda, Jane Fonda, Jimmy Carter, Colin Powell, and Tipper and Al Gore. For years, the store handled sales for City Arts & Lectures and Word for Word.
John Markoff, former technology writer at the New York Times, told the Chronicle, "What Neal was doing at his bookstores was an example of Google before Google, a place where you could find things out serendipitously. He was the equivalent of a librarian who could tell you what you should and shouldn't read and what you should and shouldn't know about books." Markoff added: "Neal was in many senses a classic entrepreneur."
We at Shelf Awareness remember Neal as a very nice person who was also a great bookseller. Our deepest condolences go to Anna.