Reorganization Underway at Cody's

On Monday, December 3, Andy Ross resigned as the president of California's Cody's Books. The announcement came a little more than year after Cody's was acquired by Yohan, Inc., a Tokyo-based bookseller, distributor, and publisher. Yohan had purchased Cody's two remaining stores -- on Fourth Street in Berkeley and on Stockton Street in the Union Square area of San Francisco -- in September 2006. This past April, the San Francisco store closed.

Since the Cody's purchase, Yohan was acquired by a holding company and its CEO, Hiroshi Kagawa, stepped down. According to Cody's spokesperson Melissa Mytinger, Kagawa has formed a new company that is in the process of buying Cody's, and he is now Cody's acting president.

"We'll continue to stay open with everything as is," Mytinger told BTW. "We're all really optimistic. All of these changes do not equate to a bad thing. Most of us are looking forward to the changes as a huge adventure at this point. And restructuring the store itself will help to meet its different needs."

Several months before the purchase by Yohan, Ross had closed Cody's flagship store on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley.

In January, Cody's will host a retirement party for Ross, who will remain involved in the business as a consultant.