Rizzoli to Reopen in Manhattan Next Spring

Shelf Awareness

The Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City is returning. 
The Wall Street Journal reported that the bookstore, which had to leave its elegant space on W. 57th Street in April, will re-open next spring at 1133 Broadway, between 25th and 26th Streets, on the ground floor of the St. James Building, an 1896 Beaux-Arts building.

The new store will be about the same size as the Midtown store--5,000 square feet--all on one level. The ceilings are 18 feet high and the space will feature many of the beautiful fixtures from the old store, including bookshelves, chandeliers, sconces and furniture.

"Rizzoli executives looked at more than 150 locations, including Brooklyn, whittled the list down to six, and then to two before choosing the space in the Nomad neighborhood," the paper wrote. "They also used focus groups to identify the best location for a high-end destination bookstore in the city."

The area had been seedy for many decades but has been having something of a renaissance. It's near Madison Square Park, several boutique hotels, galleries and Eataly, the very popular Italian food emporium.

New French Bookstore Ready to Open in NYC

The bookstore planned for the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the U.S. building, announced last October, will open on Saturday, September 27. Called Albertine: Books in French and English, the bookstore and reading room is devoted to works in French and in translation and will stock more than 14,000 contemporary and classic titles from over 30 French-speaking countries around the world.

The space will also be "a permanent venue for free events and debates" and is located at 972 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10075. The French Consulate is at 934 Fifth Ave.