Rare Book Monthly
Articles - December - 2004 Issue
Got a Revolution, Got to Revolution
It says it all right here.
Fifteen years ago Doris, Moe and Barbara's daughter, joined the business. She started in the stacks and worked her way down. Seven years ago Moe passed away. It became Barbara's hope and wish that Doris would take the business over and she lived to see it. She died in 2001.
In the business, as reorganized now under Doris' direction, the new and used book business co-exists with the valuable art & antiquarian department which resides on the top floor, perhaps to be a bit closer to Moe in his transfigured state. On most days Gene Barone, John Wong and Ken Eastman can be found buying and selling old and rare books there. Art books are, as they had been in the past, a principal component of the collectible material.
The business formula, unchanged over the decades, is straightforward if hard to duplicate. Buy books at fair prices and sell them at fair prices. This keeps the margins narrow but also keeps the material flowing. For those with books to sell it is the chance to get a decent offer for what you are ready to part with. For buyers it is the promise of a constantly fresh inventory and the possibility of finding interesting and unusual material at reasonable prices. It makes sense but it is the exception rather than the rule in the book business today.
For book buyers and book sellers both the shop and the neighborhood are attractive destinations. There are ten book stores in a four block area. Besides Moe's there are Cody's, Shakespeare's, Cartesian, University Press Books, Revolution, Book Zoo and Friends of the Berkeley Library selling between them a complete range of material. There are also two textbook sellers: Ned's, and ASUC. Taken together, they represent a full day and more of book browsing. The first three floors of Moe's are open 7 days a week. The fourth floor is open every day from noon until 6:00 pm.
