Valet Reader

In attempts to continue with the theme of reviewing non-traditional book stores, this week I paid a visit to Chronicle Books on Second Street in San Francisco. The Second Street location is their corporate headquarters where they also have a beautiful store. There are also stores in the Metreon as well as on Union Street which both have a larger selection of Chronicle published books, the store on Union having the largest selection.

Chronicle Books (2nd Street)

I’ve visited all three stores but for the review I thought the HQ store would be the most fun, although I did stop by the Metreon store on my way back to work just cause I could.

If you don’t already know about Chronicle they “are an independent publisher of distinctive books and gifts.” Their titles range from Art & Design, Cooking, Literature, Pop Culture and Travel to be pretty broad about it. They also have an impressive selection of children’s books and gifts. You may have at one time received a book titled The Worst Case Scenario… yeah, those are published by Chronicle just to give you an idea of their books.

Currently their website lists books like Pictorial Webster’s (which I had a look at in the store, and it’s awesome), Embroidered Effects and The Book of Beer Pong as among their bestsellers. Although I’m a little surprised to learn that What’s Your Poo Telling You and Poo Log: A Record Keeper are not on that list. Correction, Poo Log is on that list, it’s just buried a few pages back! Phew, I almost thought humanity had no interest in keeping track of their bowel moments.

What's Your Poo... & Poo Log

Pictorial Websters

Whenever I find myself in one of their stores though I am usually automatically drawn to the pictorial books on pets. Who could resist picking up a book called Glamour Dogs, Stuff on My Mutt or Wet Cats?

Wet Cats

Ok, onto the store itself. The building that houses the Second Street location is amazing. It’s pretty much what I would expect to find in Soma. As I mentioned this location is also their headquarters and although I didn’t really get to see the office space in full, what I could peek at looked really nice. The store itself is laid out simply and it’s slightly limited in what they stock. Currently they have a large Moleskin display in the center of the store and although I didn’t examine it too much it looks they’re currently having a contest of some sort. The Metreon location is, what I would call, more of an open floor plan with books on tables and brightly colored shelves. It’s a been awhile since I’ve been to the Union street store but it’s got the largest selection of all the stores (as best I could tell). If you can’t make it to one of the stores their website is awesome and you can pretty much find anything you want there and have it shipped.

The staff at both shops were very friendly so if you find yourself near one of there stores be sure to stop in and say “hi” have a browse and buy some interesting and fun books.

Chronicle Books (2nd Street)

Chronicle Books (2nd Street)

Chronicle Books (Metreon)

Chronicle Books (Metreo)