{"id":14784,"date":"2026-05-05T18:41:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T22:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/?p=14784"},"modified":"2026-05-05T18:41:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T22:41:54","slug":"keplers-books-building-a-bookstore-around-its-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/2026\/05\/05\/keplers-books-building-a-bookstore-around-its-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Kepler\u2019s Books: Building a Bookstore Around Its People"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Scott Lambridis<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Kepler\u2019s Books<\/a> in Menlo Park has the reputation of an institution. Founded in the 1950s by peace activist Roy Kepler, it was once a gathering place for Beat thinkers, Stanford students, and even early performances by the Grateful Dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when I sat down with Community Engagement Officer (CEO) Praveen Madan last year, that history wasn\u2019t what stayed with me most. What stood out was a simple idea: Kepler\u2019s isn\u2019t trying to build the best bookstore around books. It\u2019s trying to build the best bookstore around its people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Praveen first became involved with Kepler\u2019s, he came from the corporate world and had never run a bookstore before. The store had faced closure before\u2014most dramatically in 2005, when news of the shutdown sparked protests and drew thousands into the plaza outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By the time Praveen arrived in late 2011, the situation was quieter but no less urgent. The board had again decided to close the store, this time before the news had spread publicly. What followed wasn\u2019t a public outcry, but months of behind-the-scenes work: restructuring debts, raising funds, and reimagining what the bookstore could be. The message, even then, was clear: this place mattered.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Soon Praveen found himself stepping into the vacuum of leadership. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t really an owner,\u201d he told me. \u201cThey just expected me to run it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What followed was less a rescue than a reinvention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Praveen believes the real competitive advantage of an independent bookstore isn\u2019t price, inventory size, or logistics. It\u2019s the staff. \u201cOur biggest asset is our people,\u201d he explained. The booksellers are the first line of curation\u2014the people who decide what appears on the shelves and what gets recommended to readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And at Kepler\u2019s, that curation shows. Though the store itself isn\u2019t enormous, almost every shelf intrigues: literature in translation, unusual small-press titles, books about nonviolence or sustainability, unexpected staff picks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Praveen described a constant gravitational pull in bookselling. If you\u2019re not careful, the catalogs of the biggest publishers can quietly take over your shelves. \u201cThey have the big sales teams, the big titles,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re not paying attention, the Big Five will consume your store.\u201d Kepler\u2019s fights that gravity intentionally, highlighting independent presses, diverse voices, and books that might otherwise be overlooked.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

One bookseller, Jasmine, described their approach this way: they feature \u201cnot the sparkly famous person book for kids, the beautiful one that you\u2019ll love in 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They pay attention to what people want, but also to what they believe people might need. A good bookstore finds the balance between both. Each year they even publish a holiday list of 80 staff recommendations, a customer favorite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But building a staff capable of that kind of curation requires something bookstores have historically struggled to offer: decent wages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Kepler\u2019s made an unusual decision. Instead of maximizing profit, they decided to maximize wages. The store aims to devote roughly 35% of its revenue to staff compensation, far higher than the industry norm.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

To make that work, they experimented with creative solutions: a voluntary living-wage surcharge, a membership program, and perhaps most significantly, a structural innovation. Kepler\u2019s spun off its extensive author-events program into a nonprofit\u2014the Kepler\u2019s Literary Foundation\u2014so the bookstore itself wouldn\u2019t have to subsidize those events with retail profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result is a hybrid model that has drawn attention from bookstores across the country, and the Reimagine Bookstores campaign, which Praveen helps lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standing in the store, watching customers browse shelves curated by booksellers who love what they do and feel well-supported, the logic seems obvious. If you want a great bookstore, you start by taking care of its people. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Scott<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Scott Lambridis is a novelist based in Bellingham, Washington. A former indie press founder, performance series organizer, olive farmer, and progressive rocker,\u00a0he studied neurobiology at the University of Virginia, earned an MFA from San Francisco State University, and read a book from every country in the world. His debut novel, St. Ulphia\u2019s Dead<\/em><\/a>, is forthcoming from Regal House Publishing on July 7, 2026. Learn more at scottlambridis.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Scott Lambridis Kepler\u2019s Books in Menlo Park has the reputation of an institution. Founded in the 1950s by peace activist Roy Kepler, it was once a gathering place for Beat thinkers, Stanford students, and even early performances by the Grateful Dead. But when I sat down with Community Engagement Officer (CEO) Praveen Madan last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":444,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[80],"tags":[283,472,471],"class_list":{"0":"post-14784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-book-bound","7":"tag-bookbound","8":"tag-keplers-books","9":"tag-scott-lambridis","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9DpGh-3Qs","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14820,"url":"https:\/\/regalhousepublishing.com\/2026\/05\/12\/fabulosa-books-the-castros-living-room\/","url_meta":{"origin":14784,"position":0},"title":"Fabulosa Books: The Castro\u2019s Living Room","author":"Scott Lambridis","date":"May 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Scott Lambridis A young man from Texas walked into Fabulosa Books, looked at the wall of queer titles, and started crying. \u201cIs this all gay stuff?\u201d he asked. 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