Cody’s Acquired by Japanese Company

Ending 50 years as a locally owned business, Berkeley-based Cody's Books will announce today that it has been purchased by a Japanese publishing and distribution company.

Yohan Inc., a Tokyo-based distributor of foreign publications and owner of 18 Japanese bookstores, has acquired the local two-store book chain, said Melissa Mytinger, Cody's marketing director.

The terms of the deal, including the amount Yohan will pay for the company, were not disclosed.

Cody's, renowned for its eclectic selection and known as a leading independent bookstore, will not change under Yohan, Mytinger said.

"There are certainly no arms across the ocean controlling what we do," she said. "We are still able to do things like give tons of money to local schools. We will still choose our own books."

Cody's locations on Fourth Street in Berkeley and on Stockton Street in San Francisco will remain open under the new ownership, and all current employees will be retained, she said.

Andy Ross, owner of Cody's since 1977, will remain president of the chain, while his wife, Leslie Berkler, will move from corporate sales manager to vice president, Mytinger said.

"It opens up so many possibilities for (Cody's)," she said. "Just in the stability and ability to grow here, it's great."

In July, the book chain closed its landmark Telegraph Avenue store, concluding a 43-year run that saw countless famous authors, including Nobel Prize winners and presidents, pass through its doors.

Ross, who could not be reached for comment, said in previous interviews that 15 years of declining profits forced him to close the store.

"Andy tried valiantly for years, hoping there would be a turnaround, but there wasn't," said Pat Cody, who owned Cody's for 21 years with her husband Fred Cody. "This is what he's done in order to keep Cody's alive, as it were."

Yohan, which is worth approximately $4.5 million, owns 18 bookstores in Japan, including Aoyama Book Center, Japan's largest independent book chain.

The company plans to stabilize Cody's finances before considering expansion, said Hiroshi Kagawa, Yohan's CEO, who first visited Cody's in 1983 while touring major independent bookstores in the U.S.

The purchase will allow Cody's to exchange knowledge and ideas with Yohan's Japanese stores, he said.

"It is an interesting and great cultural marriage," he said. Kagawa is currently in the Bay Area and will be at the press conference announcing the sale today at the store on Fourth Street.

In August 2005, Yohan also bought award-winning Berkeley-based Stone Bridge Press. The connection helped when Kagawa first expressed interest in Cody's five months ago, Mytinger said.

Under the new ownership, Mytinger anticipates the wide-ranging collections of Cody's two stores will grow further.

"Over a relatively short period of time you'll see some additional books that we haven't been able to carry before," she said. "Everything will just be more substantial."

Pat Cody, who owned the business when it consisted of a single storefront on Euclid Avenue, was equally optimistic about what lies ahead for the once beleaguered book chain.

"I think the future looks good," she said.

Tags: