A Short History of Beers Books

Many people often ask how old our shop is and wonder how we got our unusual name. In some form or another, Beers has been selling new and used books in Sacramento since about 1936. Through four different owners the store has moved to several locations before it evolved into its present incarnation at 915 “S” Street. The history of Beers Books began around 1936-37 when our namesake, Mrs. Nellie Beer, worked as a clerk for L.H. Mytinger Books at 1125 8th Street in Sacramento. Her name appears as one of the charter members of the Sacramento Book Collectors Club in 1939. At some point this store on 8th Street changed its name to "Beers Book Store", for we have a circular advertising books-for-sale under this name at this location. Around 1941 she and her husband Neville were also involved with a radio shop on 2710 D Street. In 1941 Frank Azevedo assumed ownership of the bookstore at 1125 8th Street. Azevedo’s shop moved in 1949 to 810 I Street, then in 1952 to 1406 J Street. Beers was at this 1406 J Street location for approximately 30 years and it is the location at which many of our current long-time shoppers first patronized the bookstore. Frank Azevedo owned the store until 1967, when he retired and sold the store to Harvey Shank, a former Aerojet engineer. Harvey expanded the store’s metaphysical department, then greatly expanded the used book department by leasing an adjoining space that fronted 14th Street. The store remained under Harvey’s ownership until he retired and sold the store in 1985 to the current owner, Jim Naify. Around 1990 the City of Sacramento decided to expand the community center, taking by eminent domain the property occupied by Beers. At this point Jim leased some unoccupied buildings at the corner of 15th and L Streets and remodeled them to accommodate Beers, and sub-leased to Esoteric Records, Capitol Garage Coffee and Preferred Seating. Around this time, as the large chains Barnes and Noble and Borders began aggressively expanding into the new book business, Beers started focusing more on used books, actively increasing their purchases and sales of used material. Beers had a good run of about 14 years at this location, but when a developer bought the property in 2004 we were again forced to move. Finding a place nearby to relocate was difficult, as developers had purchased most of the available property downtown. Fortunately, Jim was able to secure the building at our current location and we moved into our nicely remodeled building in September of 2004. Our current product mix is now about 90% used books and movies, with about 10% in new books. We are active every day in the buying and selling of used material and hope you can come by soon and visit our shop!

Store Hours

Monday - Wednesday ---- 10-6
Thursday - Saturday ---- 10-8
Sunday ---- 11-5