The Bronx gets closer to having a winning store; customers petition to keep a bookstore landmark in D.C.; stores open in New Jersey and Arkansas; and more.
The Lit Bar Is a Finalist for NYPL Business Plan Competition:Noëlle Jen-ai Santos, who is planning to open a bookstore/bar in the Bronx, got one step closer toward her goal with potential funding from the New York Public Library.
Black Dog Books Holds Grand Opening: Retired nurse Catherine Cassidy had a life-long dream of opening her own bookstore. Last month it came true with the soft opening of her bookstore in Newton, N.J. The store, which is named for her dog who was brought back by military personnel from the Middle East, celebrated last weekend.
Grand Opening for Books on Main Street: On Saturday, the Harrison, Ark., bookstore will celebrate its new location with six book signings.
World Bank to Close Beloved InfoShop Bookstore: The 16-year-old nonprofit, which carries discounted titles, from spy novels to tales of life in the Third World, will close in mid-October. An online petition to save the store has gathered close to 1,300 signatures. The bank has closed a half-dozen other InfoShops around the world.
New Owner Keep Caveat Emptor’s Doors Open: The 45-year-old used book and music store in Bloomington, Ind., planned closed this month. But online retailer Eric Brown bought the store when owner Janis Starcs announced last March that she couldn’t continue to keep it open. He first shopped at Caveat Emptor when he was an Indiana University student.
St. Louis’s Webster Groves Bookstore to Close: Ann Foy, who turns 80 on August 11, is closing the 51-year-old bookstore at the end of the month for health reasons. The landlord has potential tenants for the space, and Foy doesn’t feel up to moving the business. She began working at the bookshop in 1985 and bought the store with her late husband in 1999.
Used Bookstore in Glendale to Close: Bookfellows/Mystery & Imagination is the latest used bookstore in Southern California to falter because of rising rent and decreased foot traffic. Co-owner Christine Bell announced that the store will close at the end of August, and she will sell any remaining inventory online. Richard West is shutting Battery Books and Music in South Pasadena at the end of the month while he scouts for a new location. He got his start selling books online.
