Bell's Books

Hello!

Due to the current Covid numbers, we have decided to adopt the model of curbside pick-up and/or service at the door. While we are not allowing extended browsing in the store at this time, you can still get your books here at Bell’s! Here are the two best ways:

1. Curbside pick-up: Give us a call at (650) 323-7822 between 11 am and 5 pm. We are happy to take a look through our shelves to find the one you’re looking for, or make suggestions for alternates. From there, we can process a card over the phone and have the book ready for pick up between the above hours of the same day! Or, we can offer a couple of options for you to peruse when you come by.
2. Service at the door: If you find yourself in the neighborhood between 11 am and 5 pm, you can come up to the door and ask us for a book. We are happy to look for anything you might have in mind, and we will have plenty of exciting titles in the windows for browsing.

And as always, check out our Instagram for inspiration! We will be posting lots of books and shelves on our Stories, and we have books for every interest.

We are assembling a presidential window display, to celebrate a new era: Check our Instagram account soon for pictures. We have a number of books signed by previous presidents, including Jimmy Carter, the subject of the recent PBS documentary.

Bell’s Books will be open 7 DAYS A WEEK

from Thanksgiving to Christmas from 11 – 5.

Please Note: Due to the new Covid-19 regulations, we must restrict in-store browsing to four customers at a time, and, if people are waiting, to a maximum time of fifteen minutes.

Appointments at other hours are also available.

Hope to see you soon!

Thanks to a recent acquisition, Bell’s Books now has hundreds of Big Little Books ranging from the early 1930s all the way up to the 1990s.

Big Little Books started through Whitman, a subsidiary of Dell publishing, in 1932. The format is a small, usually hardcover, boxy book with hundreds of pages, an illustration on one side, and text on the other. The subject matter was primarily inspired from radio programs, film, and newspaper comic strips of the time.

Around 1937 Big Little Books became known as “Better Little Books,” which remained in operation through the early 1950s. There was a minor revival of the Big Little format in the late 1960s to incorporate a whole new generation of television watchers, and these versions frequently included full-color illustrations throughout.

Due to the fragile nature of the pulp paper on which these books were printed, and the fact that most children felt an impulse to color or mark up the illustrations, Big Little Books have become rarer and rarer to acquire as time goes on. Our current collection includes well over 500 different titles (an extraordinary number to have in one place).

So, come in and experience the action-packed adventures of Tarzan, Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie, Blondie and Dagwood, Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Tailspin Tommy, among many others, and take a piece of history home with you.

Greetings, fellow book explorers!

Bell’s Books now has NEW HOURS as follows:

11 A.M. to 5 P.M. six days a week, Wednesday through Monday

Closed Tuesdays only

This means Sunday is now a shopping option for you weekend browsers.

Hope to see you soon!

Bell’s Books Store is temporarily closing its doors due to poor air quality from wildfires in the region. Since we currently keep our doors open during regular business hours, we feel it is better for everyone’s safety to avoid any excess exposure to these potentially harmful particles from the fires.

We will keep you updated as the situation develops.

Thank you for your patience in this matter.

Greetings, Avid Readers!

As of Wednesday, August 19th, Bell’s Books will be open 11 A.M. to 5 P.M. six days a week.

We will be closed on Tuesdays.

Hooray! After a long hiatus, Bell’s Books is ready to open its doors to the public again!

Well…it was clearly time to shake up our layout, so we took this opportunity to widen our aisles, clean those corners, and dig out hidden treasures to share with you. Come see the changes and say hello to old friends! In celebration of Bell’s Books turning 85, we welcome you back.

We will be open (with all Covid precautions in place) this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 7th through the 9th from 11 to 4.

Hello friends!

We are still working to get the store ready for you, and we are very, very close. We are cleaning up the last few sections, making sure we have signs posted and hand sanitizer by the door, and getting used to our new layout. We are so looking forward to welcome you all back in! Thank you for your patience during this time.

We will have health protocols in place when we reopen, just like any other business should. Here’s what to expect:

1. Face coverings will be required to enter the store. Your nose and mouth must be covered.
2. We will ask everyone to maintain six (6) feet of distance between each other while browsing. Our new layout will make it much easier for staff and customers alike to be physically distant.
3. Hand sanitizer will be provided at the door. Since we cannot clean 300,000 books at the end of everyday, your use of hand sanitizer will help us keep everyone healthy.

We thank you ahead of time for following these procedures to keep everyone healthy!

At this time we do not have a specific date for reopening. As soon as we know, we will announce it clearly here on our website as well as over on our Instagram.

See you soon!

A huge hello to all of the wonderful people out there! We hope you are all doing well, staying healthy, keeping informed. We are thinking of you, and we are grateful to all of you who have been thinking of us.

Staff have been in the store for about three weeks now doing a major overhaul of the layout of the main room. We want to make sure that our space will be safe for browsing in person (plus it was a good opportunity to make some long-wished-for changes). After 85 years, everyone could use a little TLC, and Bell’s is no different.

Therefore, we are still CLOSED, but only temporarily. We WILL be back soon! At this point, we are expecting to reopen in July with a fresh new look.