Publishers Weekly reports today that Brooklyn's beloved and excellent bookstore BookCourt will be closing at the end of this month.
They've been open since 1981. In a public statement, the owners announced their retirement--and sent their regrets.
Author Emma Straub is working on a solution. She writes on her site:
"A neighborhood without an independent bookstore is a body without a heart. And so we’re building a new heart.
We’ve spent the last few months looking at spaces, getting our math together, and thinking about light fixtures. We have secured initial funding and crossed our fingers. And so, dear Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Columbia Waterfront, and beyond…you won’t be lonely for long. Books are magic, and we want to make sure that this neighborhood is positively coated in bookish fairydust for decades to come."
Fingers crossed. In the meantime, New York--you make me heartsick more and more every single day.
Goodnes...will the bleeding simply never stop? Ever?
ReplyDeleteMankind:
ReplyDeleteBecoming more soulless and clueless by the minute.
Wait a sec - are you saying that you're heartsick that two bookstore owners have decided to retire? Must small business owners work until they die?
ReplyDeleteOf note, the store owners own their building. I'm guessing they're ready to retire and recognize that if they sell the business, the new owner would only be able to pay a pittance of a rent compared to some other retail. Is that a shame? Yes. But do they have the right to earn a fair rent from their nest egg property? I'd say yes considering they likely have no savings after 30+ years of running a bookstore.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about this - expected it to go on w. the next generation.
ReplyDeleteIf you're in the area, I recommend a trip to Freebird, on Columbia Street. A comforting s/h bookstore, with a good collection of books on New York City. I love this place. It's only open on weekends. Right now it's the home for Books Through Bars, which distributes books to US prisons.
http://www.freebirdbooks.com/tagged/info