Go Here: Garcia Street Books

Posted by Sandra Schonenstein in Santa Fe

This semester, Jackalope staff member Sandra Schoenenstein will regularly profile interesting and accessible off-campus spots for students. This week’s pick is Garcia Street Books.

Located in downtown Santa Fe, Garcia Street Books attracts visitors to inspire themselves with art, literature and history. Owned by Rick Palmer and Adam Gates, Garcia Street Books is a place where customers can always find interesting and fresh books.

The bookstore has been in Santa Fe for 15 years but was bought by Gates and Palmer two years ago. Both had previously worked at the bookstore when the owners put the store up for sale, and they decided to buy it.

“After working here, we already knew what customers liked, and it seemed like a good idea,” Gates says

The store is located in a quiet area in Canyon Road, and stands besides a photography gallery and the Downtown Subscription cafe.

“This is a really cool area,” SFUAD photography alumni Helen Maringer, who has worked at Garcia Street Books for a year, says. “Close to downtown but far enough to be relaxed and chill.”

Co-owner Gates says the selection of books and the quality of the publications are marked by his love for reading. The books are chosen from the owners’ experience and knowledge. The books that sell the most are new paperback novels with good reviews, and ones that have won book awards like Phillip Meyer´s novel The Son. But there are also classic novels such as Catcher in the Rye and Lolita. The store also has a large selection of mystery books, art books and cookbooks.

But this is not the only reason why customers love this place. Usually in a bookstore, shoppers find the books they are interested in on the shelves, like the art section, the poetry section or the photography section. At Garcia Street Bookstore, one doesn’t really need to look for the interesting books because the selection that is displayed on the shelves is already interesting. Art, photography, fashion and classical literature are displayed in such a way that each corner of the shelves becomes a new place to explore, with books that are not hidden to be found, but to be taken and explored, as every book should be.

“We place the books in this way so the selection is direct,” Gates says. “It is easier to draw the attention of the customers, the covers draw you into them.”

The books sold here also have an excellent print quality that sets them apart from books found in other places. “Garcia Street Books is an independent bookstore, which means that it is not part of a dominating chain,” Gates explains, “So there is no way that you will find mass paperback books.”

There are times when students become too bounded to the life on campus, and often art students get their inspiration from Tumblr or other Internet sites. Garcia Street Books is the perfect place to get in touch with art in a different way. There is a different feeling in opening an art book, smelling it and letting the images inspire you. What better than taking an afternoon off from campus and going down to look through some books, carefully choosing some and then taking them next door to enjoy a great coup of coffee while you read what you just bought?

Just turn off your computer and take a day of from school, go to Garcia Street Books and enjoy a good reading.