Brooklyn-based Melville House has begun a collaboration with the Brooklyn-based store run owned by British music company Rough Trade that will see the indie publisher receive a branded book space for its frontlist and backlist titles, a monthly book club, and other book-related events.
The indie press’ books are displayed in a big wooden shipping container at one end of the book section, which is in the mezzanine. A dedicated interactive space for the U.K. media company The Guardian, is at the other end. Rough Trade NYC is also stocking exclusive Melville House-branded merchandise: tote bags, t-shirts, and mugs.
“We’ve been setting this up since mid-winter,” Melville House cofounder Dennis Johnson told PW. “I was excited as hell. This is a store from my era, the punk generation. We think about the retail space a lot. I like these guys; I like the brand.”
Rough Trade’s U.K. stores have long done well with Melville House titles, so the new relationship was a natural progression. “They capture the spirit of independence with bold brilliance, something we’re extremely proud to support,” said Rough Trade co-owner Stephen Godfrey. “Amplifying their voice across Williamsburg and beyond is precisely the kind of initiative we opened Rough Trade NYC for—a place that celebrates creative self-expression, whatever the format.”
Next up as part of the partnership, Rough Trade NYC will host a book group on July 13 for Jamie Bartlett’s The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld.
