Despite community support, the St. Mark’s Bookshop is not getting any breaks on its rent. Not, yet anyway.
The Daily News has the story: “Owners Bob Contant and Terry McCoy found out their bid for a $5,000 rent cut was nixed by landlord Cooper Union in a meeting with T.C. Westcott, a vice president for finance and administration at the arts and engineering school.
‘They don’t feel they can do anything in terms of the rent,’ McCoy said. ‘She started out by telling us that Cooper is really losing a lot of money.’”
Ever since the indie bookstore owners asked their landlord Cooper Union for “a significant rent concession” last month, thousands of readers have united to sign a petition to save the St. Mark’s Bookshop. The bookstore owners have not given up yet. They will meet with the president of Cooper Union tomorrow to continue to plead their case. Don’t forget, as Don Linn pointed out: “You want to save St Marks Bookstore, go over there and buys some books from time to time.”
The movement even attracted the likes of filmmaker Michael Moore who visited the NYC landmark store in support of their cause.
Here’s more about the petition: “The St. Mark’s Bookshop has a long tradition in the Lower East Side and serves an admirable and increasingly rare function. St. Mark’s is struggling to pay the market rent that Cooper Union is charging them at 31 3rd Ave. A significant rent concession by Cooper Union could save this irreplaceable neighborhood institution.”