By Kevin Zimmerman
When the Austin Street Barnes & Noble location shut its doors last New Year’s Eve, former employees organized an on-the-fly reunion so they could be together among the stacks one last time.
During the laughs, hugs and tears, Queens resident Vina Castillo hatched a plan to bring a new independent book shop to Forest Hills and was looking for others to join her quest.
Natalie Noboa and Holly Nikodem did not hesitate to offer their services.
“She originally spoke to a about a dozen of us,” Nikodem said. “Natalie and I said we would put in the time.”
So between working their full-time jobs, the trio has logged plenty of hours hitting the pavement in the search for a storefront in Forest Hills or Kew Gardens.
They also started a Kickstarter campaign—www.kck.st/1pudsww—in an effort to raise the $70,000 needed to get their project off the ground. With just over two weeks left of fund-raising, the young women have received nearly $28,000 from 411 donors.
And because Kickstarter only pays out if the goal is met, the trio have plenty of back-up plans in play.
“If the Kickstarter doesn’t work, we will look at small business loans,” Nikodem said.
Other possibilities include a traveling, pop-up bookshop at various locations around the borough.
They have already signed on to take part in the LIC Flea, where the three will set up a booth to talk about their plans and to take Kickstarter donations.
That is where they also plan to lure readers in with their “Blind Date With a Book” program.
A book will be wrapped in plain paper with a few descriptive words about the story written on the wrapper—it is the ultimate you cannot-judge-a-book-by-its-cover experiment.
For Nikodem and her partners, bringing a brick-and-mortar bookstore back to the Forest Hills area remains a top priority, despite the ubiquitous presence of the e-reader.
“E-readers can be limiting,” Nikodem said. “They need to be charged. You need to update the software. You can’t look at it in direct sunlight. But a physical book is there for you no matter what.”
Nikodem also sees a real need for another bookstore, and has the numbers to back up her claim.
For more than a year prior to its closing, Barnes & Noble had tried to reach an agreement on its lease with the landlord of the Forest Hills building. As a result, a grassroots campaign developed to save the store. An online petition addressed to the building’s owner, New York elected officials and Barnes & Noble itself garnered more than 6,000 signatures, calling the store a “community cornerstone.”
After Barnes & Nobles announced its departure from Queens, Johanne Civil, executive director of the Queens Book Festival called on communities across the borough to help support local entrepreneurs to open new shops.
Benjamin Friedman, co-owner of the Topos Bookstore Cafe, a small gem of a used book-store nestled on a quiet corner in rowhouse Ridgewood, might be just what she had in mind.
Topos only traffics in used books, but its selection features out-of-print books and rare editions of the classics.
Lexi Beach, who opened The Astoria Bookshop in 2013, sees an unmet demand in Queens not only for places to buy books but for places for book lovers to congregate.
“The fact that I’m one of only a few independent bookstores in Queens is preposterous,” Beach said. “I’ve got people coming into this bookstore from all around the borough. I’ve had a number of friends ask me if I’m planning to expand, and the answer is no, but I certainly hope that somebody else will. Come on, join the club.”
To donate to the Queens Bookshop Initiative, visit its Kickstarter site at https://www.kck.st/1pudsww.
Gabriel Rom contributed to this report.
