Poll

If an independent bookstore opened up in Jackson Heights, which type would you most likely frequent?

New books only
8 (18.6%)
Used books only
1 (2.3%)
New & used books
30 (69.8%)
I would not shop at an independent bookstore
4 (9.3%)

Total Members Voted: 40

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Author Topic: A bookstore, please!  (Read 34064 times)

Offline FoxyWiles

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Re: Jackson Heights bookstore
« Reply #105 on: October 30, 2010, 07:02:35 PM »
Here's a Daily News article from earlier this year about the lack of bookstore in Queens:

"Queens may offer some of the best shopping in the city - and is home to the most profitable mall in the nation - but it could be the worst borough to find a good read.

With only five chain bookstores boroughwide and one notable independent retailer, most residents must trek to Manhattan or Long Island to find the latest best-seller, or buy it online."


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2010/04/06/2010-04-06_pining_for_a_novel_idea_dearth_of_local_bookstores_forces_many_to_trek_to_manhat.html
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Offline Dudley

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Re: Jackson Heights bookstore
« Reply #106 on: October 31, 2010, 09:53:42 AM »
There's a very nice bookstore on 80th St, just south of Roosevelt. It's called Barco de Papel, they have books in Spanish and English.
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Offline dssjh

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Re: Jackson Heights bookstore
« Reply #107 on: October 31, 2010, 01:38:23 PM »
thanks for the tip, i am rarely down there, but i'll gladly make a trip down to ceck it out.
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Offline taggie

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Re: Jackson Heights bookstore
« Reply #108 on: October 31, 2010, 03:17:20 PM »
  I think a good bookstore would do really well here. I don't think it needs to be all things to all people either. Owners
would pick books that they liked and wanted to introduce to this audience and see if it was a fit. Kind of like a smaller
boutique type store where you find the unexpected. My kid's school does a Book Fair each year here in JH and we do
well even in a few days. Friends have a book store a few hours away in the Catskills that is now open 5 years and
thriving in a smaller, mixed income neighborhood by doing lot's of readings and community outreach. Customers
make a point to support them buying all the books they need from this store even if they are delivered elsewhere.
Two studies came out this year to say if you could do one thing to help a student learn, it would be to buy children
a book they like. This one small thing has proven to have a significant impact in changing a child's experience in
education - one book - to have them reading. Think of the consultants we could do away with!
  Please, please come to Jackson Heights anyone even remotely thinking of opening a book store. You would be
so welcome! We would be there with bells on..
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Offline Lilybell

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Re: Jackson Heights bookstore
« Reply #109 on: November 01, 2010, 01:43:19 PM »
taggie,  take a look at commercial rent prices for JH and then see if you still think a bookstore could make it here.  It's just not a feasible business for this neighborhood, unfortunately.  It's not an issue that people don't want to read - it's just that there's too much competition from online vendors and e-readers.  There are too many people that are going to buy from Amazon instead of their neighborhood bookstore. 

Your school might do well at your book fair, but did you have to pay $10,000 to rent the space from which you sold books?  No big chains are willing to come here because they have done their research and they know that JH is not a viable option for them.

However, I have to wonder about a bookstore/coffee shop hybrid. Kind of like Espresso 77 with books. That might actually have a chance if it was done right.  My dream store would sell books and good cheese!  And would have some puppies running around...(hey, it's a dream store, I can have puppies!)
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Offline taggie

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Re: Jackson Heights bookstore
« Reply #110 on: November 01, 2010, 03:29:33 PM »
I agree Lilybell. Rents are too damn high here in Jackson Heights! I have been over in Astoria alot lately and they still have many
small stores that cannot possibly be making huge amounts. But still they are in business and some of them employ a lot of people
and have really quality businesses. Maybe some real estate people are listening here or perhaps some owners who will lower
rents for certain businesses that would contribute so much to this community, like a fine bookstore/cafe/puppy hangout.
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Offline Lilybell

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Re: Jackson Heights bookstore
« Reply #111 on: November 02, 2010, 09:29:30 AM »
I wonder if the rents in Astoria are comparable to JH.  I have no clue, but I assume they are.  Very different demographics though, so I guess it's a bit like comparing apples and oranges? 
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Offline flt

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Re: Jackson Heights bookstore
« Reply #112 on: November 02, 2010, 11:20:17 AM »
You can't judge the demand for a bookstore by what people are reading on the subway. I read lots of books; it's just easier to carry magazines on the subway because I tend to buy hard-covers.
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Offline FoxyWiles

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Re: Jackson Heights bookstore
« Reply #113 on: November 02, 2010, 11:48:38 AM »
Quote from: flt on November 02, 2010, 11:20:17 AM
You can't judge the demand for a bookstore by what people are reading on the subway. I read lots of books; it's just easier to carry magazines on the subway because I tend to buy hard-covers.

True. But neither can you judge demand by what's written on this message board. I don't think it's a fair representation of Jackson Heights.
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Offline flt

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Re: Jackson Heights bookstore
« Reply #114 on: November 02, 2010, 12:09:14 PM »
I wasn't suggesting either was an accurate way to gauge the market.
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Offline Really4rob

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Re: Jackson Heights bookstore
« Reply #115 on: November 08, 2010, 10:56:25 PM »
I actually have a picture of Discount Books (well the dog Max who sat there) from the early-mid 1980s, when we junior high comic book fans bought up at Discount Books.

That place was legend.
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Offline dssjh

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Re: Jackson Heights bookstore
« Reply #116 on: November 09, 2010, 08:06:17 PM »
i was a late-teenager in greenpoint at the time, and i remember going there (we lived far enough up towards the pulaski bridge that it was quicker to walk over the bridge to the 7 than to the G). cool place!
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Offline NYCWriter

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Re: Jackson Heights bookstore
« Reply #117 on: November 14, 2010, 08:56:47 PM »
I think people are right when they say that a bookstore would have to be a hybrid to succeed in the area. There's an interesting restaurant called Travel Books & Food off the highway on the way to Boston. It's basically a diner-type restaurant but what makes it special is that with any food order, you're allowed to take 2 books home with you. The restaurant is just full of shelves of old books that they obtain from libraries, donations etc. I picked up a Carl Sagan book and a hard-to-find sequel to a children's series that I loved when I was younger.  Could you imagine a place like that in the neighborhood? It would become a destination space if it made an effort to gather up all the random-language books in other bookstores/thrift stores that no one knew what to do with.
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Offline taggie

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Re: Jackson Heights bookstore
« Reply #118 on: November 15, 2010, 09:00:55 PM »
I have to update my previous post on this topic as just last week my friends upstate with their bookstore
have decided to close it in a few months. Sad for the area. They said it was first the economy but a
surprise to me was that their really great customers who had kept them going through the downturn
had fairly quickly gone to e-books. So this was the last straw. Friggin e-books! But the hybrid idea
sounds really great. I notice now that a number of the stores like Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters and
Yellow Rat Bastard all carry a selection of books. Maybe this is the answer? I want to say too that
the NY Art Book Fair two weeks ago here in Queens at PS1 was PACKED! It had a big selection of
homemade books, international titles, first editions and even art projects made for the Kindle. They
had big sponsorship too. What can that lead to? Something in Jackson Heights maybe?
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Offline jadasie

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Re: Jackson Heights bookstore
« Reply #119 on: November 16, 2010, 02:21:01 PM »
Queens, unlike Manhattan and Brooklyn, doesn't seem to enjoy a recognizable literary community of writers, essayists, and general enthusiasts. I don't mean to suggest that intellectuals and literary types don't exist in Queens, only that they aren't pouring their creative energies into the sort of small magazines and writers' workshops and reading groups that you'll find in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Before anybody might be willing to take a chance on a neighborhood bookstore, perhaps they'd first like to find built-in community interest. To that end maybe we're in need of a Queens Bookforum or Jackson Heights Review, or some other online cultural and literary initiative (hopefully with a more original name). This might be a worthwhile project in and of itself.
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