Riverside’s Cellar Door Books starts new chapter in its new location

The short version is that Cellar Door Books in Riverside is open again. But would you like the unabridged version?

After losing its lease in the Canyon Crest shopping center, and then finding a new location, the bookstore closed May 6. Its move was expected to be almost seamless.

The staff would pack up thousands of books, movers would haul everything off, the new space in the Mission Village center (473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B) would be prepped and the store would reopen May 22.

“If we’re lucky,” owner Linda Sherman-Nurick had told me in March, “it’s a week or two of downtime.”

They weren’t lucky.

A week or two became three months. The store finally opened Aug. 17.

As with any page turner, before the happy ending came drama, suspense and obstacles.

“It got to be almost funny,” Sherman-Nurick told me Monday inside her new digs. “Everything that could possibly happen has happened.”

The last time I spoke with her, shortly before the closing, she was already antsy that her new space, which was supposed to be ready for move-in, hadn’t been touched. And when work did start, the pace was leisurely.

“Middle of June and it looked like nothing was happening,” Sherman-Nurick recalled Monday.

At one point a city inspector was due to visit between 10 a.m. and noon. Instead, he showed up at 9:15, left because no one was present, and couldn’t return for a week.

By late June, the expected opening date was pushed to Aug. 1.

Sherman-Nurick had a heart-to-heart with the landlord’s contractor. He hadn’t realized there was a rush. (Perhaps he doesn’t read the newspaper?) She set him straight on what it was like owning a small business with money going out and no money coming in.

“My business is dying,” she told him. “Two months without anything.”

He got the message. From that point, she recalled, “he was all over it,” calling contractors to come in early or late and making sure he could meet with city inspectors whenever they arrived.

And that’s good, because troubles kept mounting.

“Electricity was a problem. Internet was a problem. Phone was a problem,” Sherman-Nurick said.

UPS announced that it was ready to strike. Publishers asked Sherman-Nurick if she could place all her orders in advance through September, just in case. More money going out.

She already had dozens of boxes of books in storage. And some shipments had inadvertently been returned to the publishers because the bookstore’s new address, since it wasn’t active, couldn’t accept deliveries.

Meanwhile, an event with author Steven Banks that had been booked weeks in advance for July 22 had to be postponed because the store wasn’t close to ready. And even the Aug. 1 date proved somewhat optimistic.

“It was a comedy of errors,” Sherman-Nurick said. “We got to the point where we had to laugh.”

At least the floor was ready, allowing books to be stored inside. On Aug. 1, the movers brought everything over in three truckloads amounting to 100 boxes of books, plus bookcases and other essentials.

The new opening date was Aug. 11. That too had to be pushed back, in part because the store had no working internet. On social media, Sherman-Nurick called the storefront “this strange little island of no connectivity in the middle of a suburban shopping center.” A computing professional hooked them up.

Finally, on Aug. 17, the city made its final inspection and the store was cleared to begin selling books shortly after noon. The staff turned around the “closed” sign to read “open.” Two customers entered immediately.

“They were waiting,” Sherman-Nurick said. “It was wonderful.”

The first told her: “I’ve been coming in since I was a little kid. Tomorrow I’m going away to college. I’m so glad I got to come in.”

The large “Cellar Door Bookstore” sign was installed above the entrance on Saturday. That was just in time for the bookstore’s first event, later that day, when two authors of middle-grade children’s books — Stephanie Burgis and Greg Van Eekhout — would make a joint appearance.

Except that due to the impending storm, and with the authors driving in from Beaumont and San Diego, the event was canceled.

Cellar Door had cupcakes on hand but no event. So every customer got a cupcake.

When I visited Monday, four days after the first day, the store still had no phone line. That was expected Tuesday or Wednesday.

Customers were finding the store anyway.

Kellie and Mike Jones were on their way out with three items: a Star Wars novel, a mystery and an Oracle card deck.

“We follow them on social media and we like their politics and we love independent bookstores,” Kellie told me. “We followed them on their journey, and now that they’re here, we’re here to support them.”

The store’s mask policy, an irritant to some, is gone. Bookstore fixture Nya remains. She is Sherman-Nurick’s white-furred mix dog, big and quiet.

Siela Butler saw Nya lying on the floor on Monday and bent down to pet her. Nya wasn’t entirely in the mood and rose to her feet. But Siela and friend Adam Taleb managed to stroke her back.

“I was so excited. My friend told me there was a bookstore with a dog,” said Butler, who had visited Sunday as well. “I’m glad they moved here, five minutes from my place. Barnes and Noble,” she added, “doesn’t have a dog.”

Taleb said he likes the store and hopes it’s doing well. (He was trying to help me but wasn’t sure what to say.)

“This place feels friendly and comfortable,” Butler said confidently. “It’s like a bookstore from a small town.”

Struck by her way with words, Taleb told her: “This is why you’re an English major.”

Cellar Door is now open seven days a week. And the grand opening will probably take place in October, which will coincide with the store’s 11th anniversary. (The Oracle deck predicts more cupcakes.)

Patience Armienta and her daughter, Emma, were browsing. The two avid readers had been regulars at Canyon Crest.

“The other location had more charm,” Patience said, surveying the surroundings, “but I’m sure it’ll grow on me. It’s a bookstore, after all.”

It is. And it’s open.

David Allen writes Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and reads daily. Email [email protected], phone 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on Twitter.

Get the latest news delivered daily!