The troubled New York City bookstore that was threatened with closure Wednesday, has received a brief reprieve. An impending execution auction, which was to have taken place yesterday and would have resulted in the store's loss of its entire inventory, has been postponed until February 17.
Owner Bob Contant told PW that he received a call from the New York City marshals’ office telling him that the date of the auction had been changed. “I don’t know why they didn’t come,” Contant said. “Our lawyer Jim [West] said as far as he could tell, they didn’t run an ad.”
Now, there is no guarantee that the auction will, in fact, take place.
If the auction does not happen, the store's future is far from secure. Contant owes money to a number of groups. He has been tussling with the New York City Housing Authority about his inability to keep current on his rent, and has been slapped with two separate claims from distributor Baker & Taylor, whose suit triggered the upcoming auction, and publisher W.W. Norton. B&T and Norton are both suing over nonpayment for book shipments. The store also owes sales tax.
Contant is hoping that St. Mark's will be taken over by investors and that the store will be turned into a non-profit.
