The last few years have wrought large changes internally at Bell’s, though the casual visitor might not be aware of them. Valeria Bell, who had owned the store since the demise of her husband Herbert Bell in 1992, retired and turned the store over to her daughter Faith in July of 2014. Faith has been working here since 1982, so we hope she knows the ropes by now. Faith’s husband, Christopher Storer, has retired from teaching philosophy at De Anza College, only to be roped into handling all the office work at Bell’s, and helping in busy times out front behind the cash register. Finally he understands all that late night shop talk! Come say hello to him if you are of a philosophical sort. He is deaccessioning his personal philosophy library, so there will be more in that field coming in.
We are also celebrating our first decade with our beloved staff member Tarna. Those of you who have seen her in action know that she has a very useful knowledge of language, literature, history, and current events. She’s accumulating her own secondary warehouse to fill any holes in the inventory at Bell’s. Her humor sees us through long days, and lightens the spirits of all around her. Thank you, indispensable Tarna! Tarna’s daughter Emma spent the summer getting us organized, (an unending task) and we look forward to having her join us again during her break from college in the holiday season.
Our short term staff member Matt landed a collection of two thousand boxes of books, so he has said farewell to us in order to join the full time world of online bookselling. All the best to you, Matt…We hope you find many gems in there!
This leaves us with need of part-time help. Let us know if you eat, sleep, and breathe books, and have bookstore/library/academic/retail experience, and want some hours here in Palo Alto’s finest bookstore!
