A moment of silence, please.

[lagilman]

Today, the great, multi-level B&N at Lincoln Center (Manhattan, NY) is closing. It has been in that location for fifteen years, a landmark in an area of landmarks, a gathering place for readers, writers, and out-of-towners looking for a place to kill some time before or after a show. It had an amazing selection of anything you might be looking for, well-trained and helpful staff, and just the right amount of non-book and non-music products to keep the browsers enticed.

I was in the store on Saturday, watching as employees cleared shelves and moved tables. The mood was busy, somber...and around them, people were buying books and magazines, music and sundries. This store was not closing because it did not perform, but because the landlord had - in the middle of a real estate downturn even in Manhattan -- raised the rents beyond what B&N could justify.

What's going in? A discount clothing store. The deal was inked so fast, it's impossible not to believe that it was agreed-upon even before B&N was offered their new lease.

I knew we're supposed to be all in an uproar about independents, not chains, but this -was- my local. It had an amazing selection of genre, SF and mysteries and romance and horror -- and gave it prominent floor space. They carried backlist as well as frontlist, and if they didn't have it they'd get it for you from one of the other stores.

I will miss it, greatly. I hope everyone who worked there is offered jobs at other stores in the city.

Comments

[jslinder.livejournal.com]

I know that store - hit it for a reload of reading matter when I was in NYC longer than expected. That sucks...

[alicebentley]

Change in rent was the deciding factor in my closing my bookstore as well (in 2004). I'm guessing that B&N found, as I did, that the rise in retail storefront space was everywhere, and not just one suddenly greedy landlord.

I had thought there might be a change back downward with the implosion of the housing bubble, but I haven't seen any similar drop in commercial space prices.

[lagilman]

Alice - the evidence (including the landlord's own comments via the NYT coverage of negotiations) ) support hike out of range for area/economy. That a retailer was willing to pay it to secure that spot makes it no less greed.

[alicebentley]

What I found (in 2004) was that it couldn't be ONLY my landlord who had decided that the space was worth far more than it had been historically, because I couldn't find any other space to move to.

If I had the capital, that would have been the time to buy a building and at least know that my mortgage would have stayed the same. But since the property taxes for my first location had quintupled in the space of three years, just a mortgage alone wouldn't do it.

I don't have enough comparative data to know if the retail prices I was paying in the 1980's and 1990's were unusually low, or if what retail space costs now is the true norm. Either way, it's more than I could cover with the quantity of books I was selling.

[divanoir.livejournal.com]

No way! I love going to that branch of the B&N. I can hardly believe it's shutting down.

[lagilman]

Obviously I am not privy to B&N's P&L statements but this store was healthy, they had indicated a willingness to sign a new lease, and had they wanted to reduce their overhead there were other stores in Manhattan that seemed more likely targets.

However my post was to mark its passing, not get into a debate.

[nick-kaufmann.livejournal.com]

I'll miss it too. It had a great event space, and was the perfect meet-up point on the Upper West Side.

[alicebentley]

I also did not intend a debate, so I'm sorry that I took it in that direction.

I was glad to hear of the great place that it was for you and so many others, and sad for their passing. Thank you for posting.

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

I've known about that for a while. And it follows on other NYC B&N closings. I really hope the one further north on Broadway survives. At some point, a neighborhood has to think about what sort of character it wants, because if Manhattan rents keep forcing bookstores to close, we won't have any, giant chains or not.

[lagilman]

It's not a surprise, no - the NYT covered the lease negotiations a while ago, and every time I was in there I saw signs of its impending closure. But this was the day it closed so I thought it appropriate to post.

I've been to the one north of it, but never found it an enjoyable experience. Bad feng shui? I really wish the rumor of one opening above 125th street had been true. That would have rocked, hard. We -need- a bookstore up north.

[girasole.livejournal.com]

One of the things I used to love about hearing anything at Lincoln Center is that I could go to Tower Records and that B&N beforehand. Now they are both gone. Sigh.

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

The interesting thing is that there's more than one Spanish language bookstore up here.

[lagilman]

There are a number of specialty bookstores uptown. But a "larger community," genre-friendly store would be a good thing, too.

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

That absolutely sucks. Truly and absolutely.

Free market my ass.

[ladyn.livejournal.com]

I used to work in management in a couple B&N stores. :) That location was constantly in the top ten performers nationwide. In the few years since I've been gone I seriously doubt it would have changed that drastically.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

One more of the old places gone.

*sigh* At least Gryphon books is still around, even if it is West Side books now.