{"id":435817,"date":"2026-08-18T01:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T01:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/435817\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T01:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T01:58:11","slug":"anaheims-booktown-usa-bookstore-closes-its-doors-after-23-years-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/435817\/","title":{"rendered":"Anaheim\u2019s Booktown USA bookstore closes its doors after 23 years \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

There had been plenty of memorable moments as Booktown USA owner Thomas Pesce<\/a> prepared to close his store for the last time after nearly 23 years in business \u2014 such as reconnecting with long-lost customer Larry<\/a> to give him a book he\u2019d been holding for him.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s another sweet story that the bookseller was excited to share.<\/p>\n

Pesce says there used to be a doughnut shop nearby that he\u2019d frequent \u2014 perhaps too often, he jokes \u2014 that, like his own store, had been forced to close. It had been 7 or 8 years since he\u2019d last seen the shop owner.<\/p>\n

Until just recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe pulled in one day, parallel-parked by the hedges, and ran in with a box of doughnuts and said, \u2018Tom! For you, good luck!\u2019\u201d says Pesce with a laugh during a phone call on Sunday, Aug. 16, the store\u2019s last day open. \u201cI guess he\u2019d read the article.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up for our free newsletter about books, authors, reading and more<\/a><\/p>\n

An article<\/a> in this newspaper about the store, which came after a tip from a longtime customer, detailed how the bookseller had learned via certified mail on June 20 that he\u2019d need to be out in 60 days. To do so would require selling, donating or moving close to 30,000 books from his cramped store and storage area.<\/p>\n

Pesce said he\u2019d been discussing the story with his wife earlier that day. \u201cCarolyn had been mentioning that this morning, saying \u2018You know, if it wasn\u2019t for that article, you wouldn\u2019t have had all this business; you would have just faded away,’\u201d he says. \u201cI think that\u2019s true. No one would have known anything, and it would have just been a little statistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in the final weeks, he says people flocked to the store to shop or say thanks or goodbye or simply spend time there before it closed. He\u2019d been cutting prices to move as much inventory as possible before Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d actually had 75% off,\u201d he says about the final days of the sale and the store. \u201cPeople just keep coming in, and they\u2019re amazed when they are practically paying nothing for, like, 10-15 books.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, Pesce and his wife celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary by overseeing the donation of thousands of remaining books to the nonprofit AMVETS Department of California Service Foundation<\/a> in Garden Grove, which Pesce praised for being willing and able to clear out thousands of books in a day.<\/p>\n

Still, he says it\u2019s hard to see his bookstore without books in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should see the store; it\u2019s gutted. As far as books go, there\u2019s nothing here, nothing,\u201d he says, sounding a bit stunned. \u201cI was just walking around and, like, 23 years is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the bookseller says it\u2019s been a joy to see so many familiar faces in the last few weeks, including those of other small business owners from the nearby pizza parlor and fitness center who wished him well.<\/p>\n

\u201cOld customers have come by. There\u2019s a nice lady named Robin \u2026 and we\u2019ve been discussing our dogs through the years,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cA customer, Antonio, who\u2019s been coming here for years, came in and gave me a beautiful acoustic guitar for my retirement,\u201d says Pesce. \u201cI\u2019m overwhelmed, and naturally, I can\u2019t find all the guitar books I had.\u201d<\/p>\n

A pair of longtime customers \u2014 he calls them \u201ckids,\u201d before clarifying that they are in their 20s or 30s \u2014 stopped in, too. \u201cThey used to go to the school across the street and get books here through the years, and they came in to say goodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even first-timers are visiting, says Pesce. \u201cI had two brothers in from New York yesterday, and that was actually their first time,\u201d he says. \u201cOne of them is an artist and a clothing designer, and he was sorry to see me go, but he bought a bunch of books on fashion and art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Map: 100 Southern California independent bookstores to visit in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

When asked for any final thoughts, he says he\u2019s grateful for everything this place has given him \u2014 including connecting him with a distant cousin who\u2019d come in looking for books about Italy during World War II.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this little bookstore, a lot of great little things have happened,\u201d he says. \u201cThis has been a blessing, these past 23 years, for me. I really have no right to complain about anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t expect thanks, to be honest with you,\u201d he says, referring to the messages and kind words he\u2019s received. \u201cI was just doing something I liked. And I was happy to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, with a familiar note of urgency in his voice, he says it\u2019s time to sign off.<\/p>\n

\u201cOK, I have to go. I have customers waiting to be rung up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There had been plenty of memorable moments as Booktown USA owner Thomas Pesce prepared to close his store…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,647,72041,420],"class_list":["post-435817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-books","tag-the-book-pages","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}