A Look Inside the Space

By now many of you have seen the lovely exterior of the future Greenlight Bookstore, either in the photos here on the blog or in real life on the corner of Fulton and South Portland in Fort Greene. (Just to clarify for the record: while the entire building is located at 680 Fulton Street, our storefront alone is known as 686 Fulton Street for mailing purposes, so that's how we'll refer to it from here on.) Today, only on the Greenlight Bookstore blog, we're giving you a look inside!


This is the floor plan we originally received from the landlords at IBEC, so you can get a sense of the shape of the space. (The blank rectangle on the right is Marquet, the coffee shop next door.) This drawing shows the setup as it was when the space was occupied by Nationwide Insurance, so as we did, you'll have to imagine it without the conference tables, cubicles, and dividing walls. What can't be imagined away is the central air shaft -- yep, that's a real donut-hole sort of chunk in the middle of the space. Along with the irregular lefthand wall, this makes for something far removed from the usual rectangle of retail space. Minus the airshaft, the space is just over 2000 square feet.

The more Rebecca and I looked at this the more we loved it for its funky-ness. The nooks and crannies, the windows in the middle -- they're all a source of inspiration, and require us to think creatively about how to use this space. Along with our architects, we've been enjoying doing just that. The first step was getting rid of what we didn't need so we had a blank space to work with, and that's just about where we are right now.

We looked at this drawing in various forms for so long that when we finally did get to see the inside, sans cubicle walls, it was a little like deja vu -- it felt like we'd been here before, even though we hadn't.

Here's a panorama shot our architect Fred Tang created, looking out from the back of the space toward the street. It's a composite shot -- hence the ghostly half-figure, which I think is our superintendent, Esdri. You can click for a larger view, though this still doesn't entirely do justice to the feeling of standing in the space. But you can see how expansive the front of the store feels, and those truly amazing windows on Fulton Street. Sneak (imaginary) preview #1: over to the left in this picture is where we plan to place the cash desk.


And here's a similar composite panorama looking in at the shop from the front. (Again, click for a larger view.) You can see that funky airshaft in the middle/right. Sneak (imaginary) preview #2: that nook straight back as far back as you can see is where the kids section will be.

We'll be posting much more detail about our plans, with lots of pictures, in the days to come. Hope you enjoy the peek inside, and share our excitement in imagining -- and observing -- Greenlight Bookstore taking shape in this space!