Iconic SoCal bookstores Vroman's and Book Soup have found a new owner

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Set us as preferred Stalwart bookstores Vroman’s in Pasadena and Book Soup in West Hollywood announced new ownership on Thursday, after a two-year search for a buyer.Longtime owner Joel Sheldon, whose family has helmed Vroman’s for more than a century, announced his retirement in 2024.At the time, Sheldon said he was looking for “someone who shares our core values and who is committed to preserving Vroman’s as a community treasure.”Sheldon said he found that in the new owner, Robert Hoffman, who has worked on tech regulation and other public policy in Washington D.C., for several decades, but who grew up in Southern California with his family living in the area for generations.

“After talking with Robert and his family, I knew we had found the right stewards.They understand what makes this store special, and they’re committed to preserving that legacy while moving Vroman’s forward for our customers and the Pasadena community,” Sheldon said in a statement posted Thursday to the bookstore’s website.

Hoffman was born in Pasadena and has been visiting Vroman’s since his mother brought him in when he was five years old, according to the Thursday announcement.His mother, in turn, had been introduced to the store by her grandmother, Georgia Bullock, a decades-long Pasadena resident and the first woman to serve as a municipal and superior court judge in California.Hoffman was born in Pasadena and attended UCLA.

He currently heads government relations and regulatory affairs at semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices, according to his LinkedIn page.Book Soup, a Sunset Boulevard landmark, was founded in 1975 by Glenn Goldman, a UCLA graduate student who raised investments with his friends to establish the store.

Goldman died in 2009 at age 58, and Sheldon acquired the store from Goldman’s estate that year...