It was so cool having two bookstores right around the corner. Seventh Avenue Books and Park Slope Books both added so much to the intellectual landscape of Seventh Avenue between 3rd and 2nd Street.
First Seventh Avenue left. Now Park Slope Books.
I feel like a spurned book lover.
A few
month’s ago Henry’s tutor asked if there was a Bible in the house and
we couldn’t find one. Omigod there’s no bible in the house That explains a lot.
A few days later I went into Park Slope Books and bought a beautiful edition of the Torah and New Testament.
Park Slope Books was great for those kind of impulse purchases. And I’m so glad to have those religious tomes around.
Every inter-faith household needs a Torah, a New Testament…
What will we do when we need a quick Torah, an anthology of international poetry, a copy of some book by an author we discussed at dinner.
Sadly, Park Slope Books is nearly done moving all of their books out of the store. The packing went fairly quickly. Now it’s just bookcases in there.
The store has an outpost in Brooklyn Heights called Brooklyn Heights Books. The owner is a friend of my father. I’ll have to find out why they decided to close the shop.
My guess: high rents and low revenues. But maybe it’s something else. You never know. Tom, the owner of Seventh Avenue Books claimed that sales were pretty good in his shop. But then again he was trying to sell the shop.
Truth is, Tome sold for personal reasons and maybe Park Slope Books reasons are personal, too.
You never know.
in the meantime, we can all go to Unnameable Books (new & used) – right by the bergen 2/3 stop between flatbush and 5th ave – http://www.unnameablebooks.net/
How many of ya’ll remember Last Exit Books on 6th just below 9th? Fact is, Park Slope, like most “upscaling” areas is increasingly post-literate– it doesn’t matter how many writers or supposed editors live there: they are not THAT many & certainly not enough to support retail on 7th. I do not say this with ANY joy mind you, just sad, stark reality. While neither shop was among my very favorites, nearly all used book stores are good by definition & for those of us who do not live in Park Slope, it’s one less reason to even think of stopping on 7th Avenue, Music Matters aside.
I hope I’m wrong & new booklovers/booksellers emerge– “surely” a & of 4th Avenue condomaniacs will be bibliophiles, right?– but am not optimistic.
Regards,
Beadel Debevoise
Fiction Editor
Who Walk In Brooklyn