I just got a nice note from the Community Bookstore about Terrace Books, their new venture. They took over Babbos Books, a used bookstore in Windsor Terrace and are located just a mile south of the Community Bookstore at 242 Prospect Park West near Dub Pies, Farrell’s, the Double Windsor, the Pavilion and Terrace Bagels.

They’ve been open a few weeks and things seem to be going well. I went in last week and the shop looked very nice. I especially liked the back wall which is painted with blackboard paint and chalked with the bookstore’s elaborate logo. Many books caught my eye including an old paperback of Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow and a couple of books by Nelson Algren. Here’s the note I received:

It was the softest of soft openings because we were a bit nervous about our novice venture into the used-book business, but things have gone just fine. We have lost count of the number of people who have come in to thank us for keeping a bookstore in Windsor Terrace (we took over the former Babbo’s Books), and who have told us they love the look of the new store. Customers seem delighted that they can order new books and pick them up at either of our stores. And we’ve discovered the particular joys that come with selling used books: covers we remember from our youth; gems that have gone out of print; early incarnations of such staples of our new-book business as the Penguin Classics or New York Review Books.