St. Mark's Bookshop Signs Lease on New Location

Shelf Awareness

photo: Google Street View

St. Mark's Bookshop has signed a lease on a space at 136 E. Third Street in Manhattan's East Village, near Avenue A, and expects to move in this fall. The New York Times reported that the new store "will be half the size of the current one, but the rent of $6,000 is barely one-quarter of the $23,500 charged by their landlord on Third Avenue, the Cooper Union.... The new landlord is the city. The owners are exploring a transition to nonprofit status."

"So we're still going to be one of few Manhattan independent bookstores, and the oldest with the original owners," said co-owner Bob Contant, "I don't have any retirement plans. This is my life. I feel pretty good about the fact that we're still alive." The Indiegogo campaign for St. Mark's Bookshop continues through tomorrow night. More than $42,000 has been raised thus far toward the $50,000 goal.