Book shop chapter ends

The Apollo Book Shop on Westminster Avenue is one of Dave Snowden’s favorite hangouts.

Over the past 20 years, the former Costa Mesa police chief has bought many used books on American West history from the shop, the oldest of its kind in Orange County.

On Monday, Snowden, the chief of the Beverly Hills Police Department, learned the used-book store will be closing after 44 years in the community.

He had this advice for book lovers: “I would recommend anyone, if they truly like books, to pay [the owners] a visit before this wonderful landmark is gone.”

Snowden, an avid collector of history books, said the small store is a “treasure chest.”

Mary-Alice Currie and husband Lin Currie agree that their store is a place where you can look through stacks and stacks, and find used one-of-a-kind books.

But since the Internet boom, they have been losing business and cannot afford to stay open. They are not alone. Many independent book stores are closing because of competition from the Internet and book-seller giants like Borders.

Mary-Alice Currie said from 1990 business has declined between 60% and 75%.

“The Internet has really killed us, frankly,” she said.

“We have to understand, it’s just a different time. We’ve gotten old and the technology has gotten new. We have to adapt, or that’s it. But we can’t adapt enough to pay the rent.”

Currie said that customers who used to order used books from her shop now find it more convenient to search for the books on their own from the Internet. She and her husband specialized in searching for used or out-of-print books. Now people can search for the books on the Web.

She said when customers ordered books from her, they would pick them up at the store, browse, and leave with more than one book.

“The impulse buyers are gone. There’s nothing to draw them in,” she said.

The book store is in a 1950s modular building behind a shopping strip at 17th Street and Westminster Avenue. When customers walk in, they see shelves and stacks of books, and hear classical music in the background. A large sign outside the bungalow-like structure reads “Books,” letting customers know they have found the store, which is hard to find.

The business moved from 18th Street to the current location at 1670 Westminster in 1990.

Their last day of business is undetermined, Currie said. The couple is trying to sell as many books from their 15,000-book collection as they can before they close their doors.

Currie said she and her husband plans to sell their books on the Web.

“We’ll probably be joining the enemy on the Internet,” she said.

In the meantime, she will thank the customers who have become friends over the past four decades.

“I would like all of our customers to know that we have appreciated their business and their friendship,” she said. “That is the kind of business this is; you make many, many friends over the years.”