The initial donation to help Tsunami Books buy its building is taped to the glass over the counter, right below a commemorative note from the Merry Prankster legend who threw it in: “First Dollar toward Purchase of Building Donated by Ken Babbs 3 – 4 – 26.”
The independent bookstore, which after three decades of renting its signature mural-covered south Eugene building is making a fundraising push to buy its longtime home outright, still had $999,999 to go.
It’s a lofty goal for a store that prides itself on being collective-owned — not to mention one reporting less than $100,000 in cash reserves. But Tsunami Books screams Eugene. Business meetings take place under a fig tree, books fill robust niche sections amid decades of knick-knack build-up, the wooden stage hosts bluegrass concerts and Beatles sing-a-longs, and its workers are dedicated to an insistently paper-and-pen modus operandi behind the counter.
Yet it’s more than a charming community institution. It’s prime real estate: a 4,600-square foot building on Willamette Street with a real market value that’s gone up by more than a quarter of a million dollars since 2016…