By Gabriel Rom
Barnes & Noble’s two remaining locations in Queens will both be closing. The Forest Hills’ Barnes & Noble, located at 70-00 Austin St, will be replaced by a Target superstore set to open sometime in 2016, while its location in Bay Terrace does not yet have a specified closure date.
“Despite our best efforts to secure lease extensions at both our Forest Hills and Bayside Barnes & Noble locations, the respective property owners decided to lease to other tenants,” said David Deason, vice president of Barnes & Noble Development. “With Forest Hills we communicated that we were willing to increase the rent and had an initial agreement with the property owners, who in turn did not live up to that agreement.”
Target, the discount giant, will take up the entire two-level, 21,000-square-foot building in a 15-year lease, according to Muss Development, the landlord of the Forest Hills building.
“With Bayside, when our lease came back up for renewal, the property owner notified us that they chose a tenant who was willing to pay rents far in excess of what we were willing to pay,” Deason said.
The Bay Terrace Barnes & Noble is at 23-80 Bell Blvd.
The closure leaves Forest Hills without any remaining bookstores–independent or otherwise–and comes on the heels of three other Barnes& Noble closures in New York since 2011, reducing the city’s total from 16 to 12 over the period.
“I can’t do anything about this. This is a private entity and I’ve got no jurisdiction,” Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills) said. “But is it a shame? It’s an absolute shame. I like to hold books in my hand.”
Often seen as a corporate behemoth putting mom-and-pop stores out of business, Barnes & Noble has over the past year taken on the somewhat surprising role of community underdog in Forest Hills.
For over a year, the bookstore has been in a public struggle to reach an agreement on its lease with Muss. As a result, a grassroots campaign developed to save the store. An online petition addressed to Muss, New York elected officials, and Barnes & Noble itself garnered more than 5,000 signatures, calling the store a “community cornerstone.”
Michael Pearlman, a historian in the neighborhood and author of Legendary Locals of Forest Hills and Rego Park, even organized a “buy-in” in May where community members were encouraged to peruse the store and purchase as many books as possible in order to help its financial situation. The effort gained momentum garnering public support from Koslowitz and Borough President Melinda Katz.
“The Queens community is extremely important to us and as a result we are aggressively looking at new locations and expect to have a new store there in the future,” added Deason.
Reach reporter Gabriel Rom by e-mail at grom@
