By Heidi Benson
San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, July 23, 2006
As independent bookstores scramble to compete with chain stores and online retailers, one small Marin County bookseller found a way to survive. He got rid of the books.
"The space was so small that people sitting in the cafe were practically on top of the bookshelves," said Gary Kleinman, who founded BookBeat in Fairfax in 1999. "You couldn't get to the books."
So, last fall, Kleiman jettisoned seven bookcases from the center of the cozy, wood-paneled shop--keeping those just along the walls--and gave most of the store's 4,000 books to charity.\
For the full story, see http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/23/MNGC0K45G61.DTL