Paperbacks Plus, Lone Bookstore in the Bx

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.

Grand Avenue Undergoes Drastic Changes

Be sure to scroll over "Notes" at the bottom right corner of the slideshow for captions.

Dr. Donald Clarke’s home on Grand Avenue in the Bronx is a spacious three-story, seven-bedroom home enveloped by a wrap-around porch and sheltered from the sun’s glare by a large leafy tree out front. A short way down the street is a brick building in the midst of construction, flanked by uneven planks of wood in a graffitied make-shift fence. The structure is without windows or a roof and gives off a toothy grin. Finally, a few houses down on this block of transitions is a multi-family home with a series of bay-windows protruding from the front. There are cars parked in the driveways out front and little kids play outfront.

In recent years the Victorian homes in the Bronx have been slowly torn down and multi-family units are being built in their place. Clarke, who receives one or two offers a week to sell, knows first hand how much developers are salivating for the opportunity to transform these old homes into block units.

A chemistry professor at Fordham University, Clarke has lived in his Grand Ave. home since 1962 when he, his wife and seven kids moved from Queens because their attached house was getting to be a tight fit. Forty years ago, he said the whole block was filled with Victorian homes. Although the development frenzy started before 2000, he said a particularly drastic change occurred last year because many of his neighbors recently retired and developers jumped right in. The change has brought a new feel to the neighborhood, sometimes positive and other times negative.

“There were no children on the block,” Clarke said. “Now there’s much more life on the street.” Now, children play outside their homes and other bike by after school. It’s harder for Clarke to get to know his neighbors in the multi-family homes because of the age gap, but he admits the change is good.

More children in the area might liven up the block, but it has other effects as well. While building more homes in a city with a housing crunch helps alieve that stress, it also means overcrowding, pointed out Greg Lobo-Jost, deputy director of the University Neighborhood Housing Program.

“In some ways it’s great to have more places to live,” he said. “But the downside is over crowding of schools.”

Another quality of life issue Lobo-Jost worries about is more aesthetic. People are attracted to the idea of buying the three-family buildings and then renting out two of the units to make money on rent. However, Lobo-Jost said some buyers rent out all three units and live elsewhere, leaving the tasks of maintenance lingering.

“It’s like a mini apartment building without a super[intendent]. Who’s taking care of the property and upkeep?” said Lobo-Jost. “There’s already a lot of graffiti on some of the garages.”

The change from older architecture, single-family homes to utilitarian, three-family buildings is not unique to the Bronx, or to New York City, and there are many such trends occurring across the United States. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is an advocacy group that provides information on preserving historical homes, offers information about teardowns. The term “teardown” refers to buying a home on a lot, demolishing it and building a usually larger building in its place. In some cases the teardowns result in much larger single-family homes next to more modest, smaller ones, but in the Bronx the result is larger buildings that house multi-family structures.

It might be possible to turn these older homes into landmarks and people can collect information about a particular house and write up a nomination for the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. While the house is on the calendar waiting to be considered, all construction on the house must cease and the process can take years. However, this would stall the inevitable unless the house was actually named a landmark. In the Bronx, though, community members don’t seem to be taking up this option as a means to preserve the homes on Grand Avenue. Whatever the reason, development is continuing to occur rapidly.

One reason for this growth is the improving image of the Bronx over recent years. It is difficult to shake the borough’s history of the ‘70s, but developers have been working on projects outside residential ones, like stores and office buildings. There is even a discernible change in billboards on Fordham Road, the Bronx’s main outside shopping district, where there are more current ads going up.

Amidst borough-wide development, Victorian homes are becoming extinct in the Bronx because of their high cost. For people like Clarke who have long paid off the mortgage, the price of maintenance and repairs are not restrictive and he can afford to stay. Many others, though, are forced to either sell their homes or rent out rooms, which can result in unsafe living conditions if too many people are living in the same space. Clarke recognizes this dilemma but is in a good position to stay, and frustrate more eager developers. If the amount of development occurring on Grand Avenue is any indication, the trend will continue and the area, for better or for worse, will continue to change.