Inside a sprawling former home decor emporium in Studio City, The Last Bookstore opened its newest outpost on Dec. 14.
The massive space features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in.
“We have a big warehouse in Northridge, and we were gonna try to make that shoppable, and it proved to be a Herculean task that I could not accomplish. So then we decided, OK, let’s move out of our warehouse and let’s open another store and put everything from the warehouse into the store because we have, you know, half a million books or more in our warehouses and they’re just sitting there,” he said, and then confirming that, yes, he said half a million. “We’re like, we need another store.”
This new outlet has its own style with exposed brick walls, a Zen-like soundscape of bells and birdsong and a supply of large home decor items left over from the previous occupants.
The Last Bookstore Studio City opened on Dec. 14, 2024. The massive space, photographed on Dec. 15, 2024, features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in. (Photo credit: Erik Pedersen / SCNG)
Josh Spencer, seen here, and wife Jenna are owners of The Last Bookstore Studio City, which opened Dec. 14, 2024. Photographed on the morning after the opening, the massive space features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in. (Photo credit: Erik Pedersen / SCNG)
The Last Bookstore Studio City opened on Dec. 14, 2024. The massive space, photographed on Dec. 15, 2024, features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in. (Photo credit: Erik Pedersen / SCNG)
The Last Bookstore Studio City opened on Dec. 14, 2024. The massive space, photographed on Dec. 15, 2024, features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in. (Photo credit: Erik Pedersen / SCNG)
The Last Bookstore Studio City opened on Dec. 14, 2024. The massive space, photographed on Dec. 15, 2024, features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in. (Photo credit: Erik Pedersen / SCNG)
The Last Bookstore Studio City opened on Dec. 14, 2024. The massive space, photographed on Dec. 15, 2024, features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in. (Photo credit: Erik Pedersen / SCNG)
Josh Spencer, seen here, and wife Jenna are owners of The Last Bookstore Studio City, which opened Dec. 14, 2024. Photographed on the morning after the opening, the massive space features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in. (Photo credit: Erik Pedersen / SCNG)
The Last Bookstore Studio City opened on Dec. 14, 2024. The massive space, photographed on Dec. 15, 2024, features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in. (Photo credit: Erik Pedersen / SCNG)
The Last Bookstore Studio City opened on Dec. 14, 2024. The massive space, photographed on Dec. 15, 2024, features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in. (Photo credit: Erik Pedersen / SCNG)
The Last Bookstore Studio City opened on Dec. 14, 2024. The massive space, photographed on Dec. 15, 2024, features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in. (Photo credit: Erik Pedersen / SCNG)
Josh Spencer, seen here, and wife Jenna are owners of The Last Bookstore Studio City, which opened Dec. 14, 2024. Photographed on the morning after the opening, the massive space features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in. (Photo credit: Erik Pedersen / SCNG)
The Last Bookstore Studio City opened on Dec. 14, 2024. The massive space, photographed on Dec. 15, 2024, features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in. (Photo credit: Erik Pedersen / SCNG)
The Last Bookstore Studio City opened on Dec. 14, 2024. The massive space, photographed on Dec. 15, 2024, features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in. (Photo credit: Erik Pedersen / SCNG)
The Last Bookstore Studio City opened on Dec. 14, 2024. The massive space, photographed on Dec. 15, 2024, features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in. (Photo credit: Erik Pedersen / SCNG)
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The Last Bookstore Studio City opened on Dec. 14, 2024. The massive space, photographed on Dec. 15, 2024, features 10,000 square feet of interconnected rooms of raw exposed brick and a 7,000 square foot parking lot, and the books are still streaming in. (Photo credit: Erik Pedersen / SCNG)
“It’s a new vibe for us. Some of it is borrowed from Designers Views; we’ve incorporated a lot of their pieces here as part of the design. So a lot of things here for sale on consignment. And so we continue with the sort of this wabi-sabi kind of Zen vibe, a lot of boulders, a lot of plants, a lot of large pieces of furniture.”
And a lot of enormous pyramid candles?
“A lot of pyramid candles. Yeah, they had those. We thought those were cool – $500 each if you want to buy them,” he said with a smile. “Everything is for sale, all the furniture and decor, except for the plants, we’re not allowed to sell plants because they still have their landscaping business. They sell plants across the street.”
Spencer outlined plans for the new space, including making use of the parking lot, which will function as a book processing area as well as a garden and event area.
“We plan to have regular events back there eventually. We plan to have flea-market type events, monthly book sales, conventions, things where we can have multiple vendors back there, and then we also have film screenings and concerts and literary readings, you know, the whole thing,” he said. “There’s a lot of space back there.”
Further plans include building a podcasting and webcasting studio, a sound booth and more.
“This is the kitchen sink of what we’ve learned with all our stores and what we like. So it’s a fusion of my wife and I, our style and our interests. She’s really into the plants, I’m really into the books,” he said. “We just wanted a place to relax, you know? So we made it a real, clean, open, sort of natural, organic vibe.”
For more: The Last Bookstore Studio City, 4437 Lankershim Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 91602; 310-910-8656
