When Barnes and Noble decided to open up shop in the Bronx ten years ago, there were two independent general bookstores in the borough. Now, there’s only one.
Life in general is getting more and more difficult for books – and those who sell them – with the ease of browsing and buying books online growing more and more popular. If you can read the first few pages of a novel on Amazon.com, or get inexpensive texts on Half.com, what’s the point of walking into a store? Ok, of course there’s a point. I am one of those people who will walk into a bookstore, collect as many books as I can, and find a corner to sit down in. I have no shame when it comes to this. But do I ever buy one of those books I pulled off the shelf? Well, sometimes. That happens even less often now that I discovered that interlibrary loans make practically any book available in the same amount of time it takes for shipping and handling to get it to me. And it’s free.
I’m basically killing the industry right here.
Offering lower prices and the perks of internet sales is the dilemma for independent bookstores. For these smaller stores who cater to a regular crowd, going online means less personal interaction, and a large portion of these stores’ business comes from strong community relationships.
For that one independent bookstore left in the Bronx, Paperbacks Plus at 3718 Riverdale Avenue, these relationships are what the store thrives on. Joe Pilla, store manager, describes the shop as a storefront that “can fit in one corner of the biggest Barnes and Noble” (where I would be sitting with my stack). However, Pilla is concerned that the store has not started selling books online. He thinks it would be a smart step to move online for the sake of keeping up with the changes of the times, but the store is very community oriented and the majority of its patrons are long-time regulars who couldn’t imagine the neighborhood without it. In thinking ahead, though, Pilla would like to draw more teens and young people to the store who will grow up and bring their kids in.
This problem is common for non-specialty, independent bookstores in general, but the Bronx has another obstacle in attracting more bookstores, and that is its rough and tumble reputation. There is no doubt that improvements have been made since the time Paperbacks Plus opened in the 1970s, but progress is slow, especially when it comes to people’s mentalities and corporate retailers need to view the Bronx as desirable in order to dig their roots here.
Former assemblyman Stephen Kauffman who advocated for Barnes and Noble to move north ten years ago, said that the presence of bookstores shows that people have the economic stability to buy books. That’s true, but perhaps other developments need to occur before Bronx communities will see bookstores sprouting up, though that doesn’t mean community members and local politicians shouldn’t keep trying.
Book Review Bronx Noir, a collection of stories edited by S.J. Rozan
Akashic Books, 2007
“I could have found it in my sleep, I could have made my way by touch, or even sense, through the turnstiles, to the trains, to the seat, my seat, the one at the middle, the one that let me out closest to the Fordham Road exit,” begins Robert J. Hughes’s short story, “A Visit to St. Nick’s.” This piece is one of 19 in the anthology Bronx Noir, a collection of narratives published last year. Each story takes place in a different neighborhood or location of the Bronx, including areas worn by the passing of Fordham students. There’s a story of mafia activity on Arthur Avenue with an unexpected ending, a piece about a hunter tracking his prey in the Bronx Zoo and a one-night stand tale in Riverdale.
The book is part of the Akashic Noir Series, which includes Wall Street Noir, Dublin Noir and Delhi Noir, all edited by different people. You can find the Bronx version, at Paperbacks Plus, which is about a half hour bus ride away depending on traffic. Just take the Bx9 to 231st and Broadway and transfer to the Bx7 and get off at W 236th.
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