The Barnes & Noble bookstore in San Jose’s Almaden Plaza was a shell of its former self Thursday morning. The store won’t be officially closed until Sunday, but you’d be forgiven for thinking the end already had come.
A few shoppers were around hunting for bargains — books at 75% off! — among what little remained on the shelves. You had a chance of scoring a deal if you liked graphic novels, manga, romance and cookbooks; there were even some bestsellers still around. The cafe in the back was “permanently closed,” cleared out of coffee and baked goods, and the section devoted to children’s books was empty and blocked off.
Now, there are plenty of people out there, including book lovers — maybe especially book lovers — who won’t shed a tear at the end of a Barnes & Noble, even one that had been a mainstay in that area for 26 years. The big box store was hoisted on its own petard, some would say, with a bigger box, Sports Basement, taking over its location.
But not me. I’ll mourn the loss of a place dedicated to selling books, magazines, music, movies, puzzles and games, if for no other reason than there’s really nowhere else to go in the area. Sure, people can still buy their physical media online — and I’m guessing most do — but the Barnes & Noble cafe was a hangout, too. The industrious types flexed their fingertips on their laptops or their smartphones, while the more leisurely set enjoyed a good read or a conversation with an old friend to go with their lattes and scones.
Signs in the store say another neighborhood location is being sought. I hope that happens, but this closure was announced in August, so I’m not holding my breath.
The San Jose area is not entirely book deprived, of course. There’s another Barnes & Noble on Stevens Creek Boulevard near San Tomas Expressway. Books Inc. seems to be doing good business at the Pruneyard in Campbell. Recycle Bookstore, with locations in Campbell and on The Alameda in San Jose, sells both used and new books. Hicklebee’s on Lincoln Avenue in Willow Glen is still the go-to spot for kid lit, but it has a healthy selection of grown-up titles, too.
Keep heading up the El Camino and you’ll run into Leigh’s Favorite Books in Sunnyvale, Bell’s Books in Palo Alto and so on. But if you’re south of Curtner Avenue in San Jose, tough luck.
Maybe we’ll run into each other at Sports Basement one day. I’ll be the guy looking around for a Mysteries & Thrillers section hidden behind the backpacks.
NEW YEAR, NEW JOB: It wasn’t a long vacation for Dev Davis, who termed off the San Jose City Council in December after representing District 6 for eight years. Women-driven lobbying firm Canyon Snow announced Wednesday that Davis has joined the company as its new vice president of government affairs.
Davis said she’s pumped about the major events coming to Santa Clara County in 2026, including the Super Bowl and World Cup games, and expects to be working with Canyon Snow clients on some issues — like artificial turf fields — at least tangentially related to those events. “I’m looking forward to bringing my knowledge and my relationships with county supervisors and others to the group so we can really bring forward good policy across the region, not just in San Jose,” Davis said.
Canyon Snow founders Leslee Guardino and Jennifer Johnson said they enjoyed working with Davis during her time on the council, with Johnson saying they appreciated that she displayed “sharp focus on others and real intelligence to back it up.”
San Jose’s “revolving door” policy restricts former councilmembers from lobbying their erstwhile colleagues at City Hall for a year, but Johnson said they plan for Davis to be working with clients that aren’t in San Jose and don’t plan to seek an exemption for her.
STAGE GAMES: City Lights Theater Company may attract a different audience with its new show, “In Love and Warcraft,” which opens Saturday night at the downtown San Jose theater. The play was written by Madhuri Shekar, who lived in San Jose until she was 6 and who had another show, “Queen,” about scientists and bee colony collapse, at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley last March.
“In Love and Warcraft” is described as a “delightfully raunchy rom-com” and it might pique the interest of valley gamers. But the theater advises that the content is R-rated, so it may be wise to let any young gaming fans sit this one out. Ticket information is available at www.cltc.org.
FURRIES CROSSING: If you’re out and about in downtown San Jose this weekend, you’ll probably notice that the Furries are back in town. Further Confusion, the annual gathering of people who make and wear anthropomorphic animal costumes, is at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center through the holiday weekend. It’s always a traffic-stopper to see someone in a colorful, painstakingly made fur suit walking down the street, so stay alert on the road.