September 07, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Editorial: A ray of hope emerges for Kepler's

When Kepler's Bookstore failed to open as usual Wednesday morning, shock waves spread outward throughout the Palo Alto/Menlo Park area to the Bay Area, state and nation. Even the New York Times got onto the story.

Kepler's was more than a bookstore. It was a local institution, a cultural hub steeped in history that reflected -- and sometimes confronted -- a half century of political and social conditions in America.

Now a ray of hope has emerged that the venerable bookstore might be resurrected -- with the help of three potential investors who stepped forward Thursday morning.

"Miracles started happening," owner Clark Kepler said on Friday after three "qualified investors" contacted him. He told the Weekly Thursday night that there was some interest, and on Friday pulled back a farewell-and-thanks ad in the Weekly and its sister paper, the Almanac.

"Daily and hourly things are happening," Kepler said. "I think something is going to happen in the next few days or in the next week that will tell me what direction we're going in."

And there's still more good news for Kepler's fans:

The Tan Group, which owns the Menlo Center building complex where Kepler's has been located since 1989, issued a brief press release Friday stating that "we very much want to retain them and consequently met with Clark today to determine how we might work together to make this happen."

The release said the group "will continue our efforts to help the Kepler's legacy endure." It stated that "contrary to the impression given by the media, on several occasions in the past we have worked closely with Clark Kepler in successfully navigating financial challenges."

"We consider Kepler's a unique asset to, and irreplaceable part of Menlo Center," the release stated. It said the group was "stunned to hear yesterday that Kepler's Books had closed their doors."

This is highly encouraging news, and counters the impression of indifference that was left by a "no comment" stance conveyed by a Tan Group receptionist on Wednesday.

It had been distressing to learn from Menlo Park's economic development officer, David Johnson, that the Palo Alto-based Tan Group had recently declined to provide rent relief -- which the media reported widely. Some loyalists are trying to save, or resurrect, Kepler's, while many customers are vowing that if Kepler's can be resurrected they will never again shop for books on the Internet or anywhere else but Kepler's.

This is the kind of commitment of local residents and businesses that is needed if Kepler's and other locally owned, independent stores are to be kept alive in the long run.

The Kepler's legacy runs deep.

In its early years, the bookstore reflected the pacifist, Quaker-rooted politics of its founder, the late Roy Kepler. In the late 1960s, with emotions running high over the Vietnam War, both Roy and the bookstore became targets of a group of local, neo-Nazi terrorists. (A full history of Kepler's, by former Weekly staff writer Mike Doyle, is posted on the Weekly's community Web site, www.PaloAltoOnline.com.)

For the past two decades, Roy's son Clark Kepler has guided the bookstore into new quarters across El Camino Real in downtown Menlo Park from its original locations -- creating a kind of "Kepler's plaza" in conjunction with Café Borrone, which relocated from Redwood City to be adjacent to Kepler's.

The bookstore has maintained much of its social conscience, expanded its community activities and focused on surviving in an increasingly competitive world of large chain bookstores, discount Internet book sales, changing readership habits and high rents reflecting economic-boom years.

Clark Kepler also moved onto the Internet, with direct-ordering and same-day local deliveries -- Kepler's was one of the first local stores to utilize the Internet. But he couldn't compete with the trendy fame of Amazon.com, to which even some otherwise loyal customers succumbed.

Kepler's author's series attracted nationally prominent writers, and recently utilized the Menlo Park City Council chambers for big-name events -- such as the now-canceled appearance to actor/author Alan Alda in late September. The loss of Kepler's would leave a cultural void of the first magnitude.

Like so many others, we hold out hope that somehow Kepler's can reamin -- and even thrive -- as an important institution in our community.

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