I received this email from a reader....
To Whom It May Concern:
As a fifteen year resident of Forest Hills and the father of two children, I feel this is important to post on your website. It is my hope that, through your site and others, enough awareness can be brought to this important cause.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1844468864/lets- bring-a-bookshop-back-to- queens-ny?ref=card
http://qns.com/story/2016/04/21/former-barnes-noble- employees-look-to-open-queens- bookshop-after-remaining- chains-were-shuttered/
I wish you luck with this project! I agree, FoHi needs a bookstore. ANY bookstore.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see someone taking initiative about this.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on this, but I'm afraid the book and printed medium is going down the same path as records, cassettes and CD's.
ReplyDeleteWhat I don't get is why there's suddenly all this crying about bookstores, when we had a B&N... but not enough people bothered to shop there when it was open. Only when it was closing did the melodramatic chest beating start. If more people had bought things there instead of just hanging out, browsing the magazines and books for free and using the wi-fi, it might still be here. I never waited in line more than a minute there, because no one was ever buying. They were just using the place as a hangout. That was also the situation at Borders. I love books, but I'm also realistic enough to know that to stay open, a store needs PAYING customers... not just freeloaders, which is what B&N had.
DeleteNot true. I work for a publishing house. Sales of ebooks and physical books have basically evened out. People are still buying books and love bookstores.
DeleteThe simple facts are there we're enough sales, mainly books, to support continued operation of that store no matter what your research says.
Deletewe have two libraries - there is no need for a new bookstore. this new potential store would be out of business within a year. demand from paying customers just isn't there.
ReplyDeleteB&N and Borders never should have put sofas and recliners in their stores!
ReplyDeleteI sincerely hope this works!
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the condition and quality of our community libraries? Need I say more.
ReplyDeleteThe Forest Hills library on 71st is like Target on a Saturday. Kids running around screaming, adults screaming, groups of people hanging out and talking loudly, sitting/standing in front of the shelves charging or talking on their devices... it's always pandemonium in there, and the few times I can steel myself to go in, I am in and out as fast as possible because I can't take the noise and the crowds--which are mostly non-patrons. Like bookstores, they're only there to use the free wi-fi and electricity to charge up. The staff does nothing about it. Last week I went in there and a man with three bratty kids just stood there yelling at the top of his lungs the whole time, as if he were in the street. Nothing was said to him, either about his own yelling or the obnoxious behavior of his kids. Finally I had to remind him that he was in a LIBRARY, while the zombie behind the counter just stood there.
DeleteBecause of this, I have now started borrowing e-books instead, and only go in there when a book is unavailable on Kindle, or when the machine outside is broken (which it usually is) and I have to return a book inside. It's a horrible place, and I refuse to keep donating money if the conditions never improve. That starts with the staff, who are right up there with the listless, surly bunch at the main post office.
To keep a bookstore open, maybe the owners should institute a cover charge, like $5 (refundable as credit if you buy something), for people just browsing and not buying anything.
ReplyDeleteAnd not have free wi-fi. That would cut down on the freeloaders just using the place as a hangout. Can't tell you how many times I went to B&N with the full intention of buying something, but was unable to browse or even walk properly because it was to hard to navigate the piles of bodies spread out, blocking the shelves and aisles, either using their devices, chatting, or reading the books for free. I walked out in frustration many times.
DeleteAny new bookstore should function as just that--A BOOKSTORE. Not a coffee house, not a hangout... just a store with books on shelves and tables, and cash registers. No sofas, no chairs, no wi-fi, no stretching out on the floor reading the books instead of buying them.
Happy to report that the Kickstarter reached its goal this morning with just hours to spare! The ladies behind it all are hosting a event/celebration tonight at Red Pipe if anyone can make it. http://kck.st/28Ou5vV
ReplyDelete