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!

The Big Announcement: Greenlight Is Go!

It's the moment we've all been waiting for: the lease is finalized, the contractors are on their way, and we've got an opening date target for Fort Greene's own independent bookstore! At last we can reveal the mystery location:

On June 1, Greenlight Bookstore became the official tenant of 686 Fulton Street, at the corner of South Portland -- right in the heart of Fort Greene.


If you're not already familiar with this corner, we recommend checking it out in Street View on Google Maps to get a sense of the bookstore space in context (it's the former Nationwide Insurance space.) Across the intersection is Habana Outpost, one of the most exciting restaurants in Fort Greene and a neighborhood staple. Around the corner on South Portland is the C train, Lafayette Avenue stop, making us accessible from anywhere in the 5 boroughs. The G train is two blocks northwest on Fulton, and if you continue strolling in that direction for a few blocks more, you'll find yourself at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, one of Brooklyn's finest cultural institutions.

And just look at those beautiful windows!!

The space is about 2000 square feet -- just right for stocking a wide variety of books in many categories, and for hosting great author readings and other events, while still feeling cozy. The funky layout has both wide open spaces and nooks and crannies, perfect for a quiet browse, for reading a picture book with a child, or for chatting with friends and neighbors over a cup of coffee from Marquet, right next door.

We have great landlords who have been invested in the neighborhood for a long time: Samy and Hesky Brahimy of IBEC Building Corporation. We're also working with a local Brooklyn architect team, Jarrett Pelletier and Frederick Tang of deFT Projects, on a plan to make this a beautiful, welcoming space that incorporates the best traditions of bookstores and Brooklyn style, as well as the new energy and ideas that define our borough, and that we hope to bring to bookselling.

If all goes smoothly (and with construction projects being what they are, that's a fairly big if), we hope to be open in September. When we get a little bit closer, we'll start planing a grand opening party that will top even our amazing launch party last September at BAM. In the meantime, we'll be posting regular updates on the store's progress on our blog and Facebook page, and you can feel free to email us with your thoughts and comments.

Thank you for walking with us as we move toward our bookstore dream. We're looking forward to continuing to share this journey with you, and welcoming you into Greenlight Bookstore this fall.


P.S.: The Financials
Among our good news is the fact that we've just been approved for a business loan from the World Trade Center Small Business Recovery Fund, which means that we will definitely have the funding to make Greenlight Bookstore a reality. However, we're still accepting community lenders, since as we've been told by our mentors in bookselling, everything always costs more than you think it will. The additional funds we're able to collect, in increments of $1000 or more, will help to ensure that Greenlight Bookstore is able to stock a wide range of books, sustain a fully functional e-commerce website, and pay a living wage to its bookstore staff. And as a community lender, you'll be entitled to special discounts until your loan is paid off, and lender privileges throughout the life of the store. Details about becoming a community lender can be found here on our website, or you can feel free to email us with any questions. Thanks so much to the many lenders who have gotten on board already -- you are helping to make this happen!

Tidying Up

It feels like things getting kinda real lately, and it's high time to tidy up around here a bit. I've changed the name of our blog from A Bookstore In Brooklyn to Greenlight Bookstore Blog - this is the redirect for greenlightbookstore.com, which will eventually be our bookstore website, so I thought it made sense to make that clear. I've added an "About Us" to summarize our project up top. I changed the color scheme, as you might have noticed. And I updated all the press coverage we've gotten over the past year and a half, from the PowerUp competition to the Fort Greene Association relationship to the wonderful party in September. Click through there if you'd like to see some of the things journalists and bloggers have said about us.

And let me know if you have ideas for other stuff we should be including here or on our Facebook page. Rebecca and I think of these tools as the beginning of what we'll want to do once the store is open: ways of connecting to readers and customers. Hope you enjoy!

A Yellow Light for Greenlight

Two announcements today:

1) We're releasing the name of our future bookstore: Greenlight Bookstore! Much more about that name later on.

2) If you haven't heard from us on this blog for a while, it's because we've been wrestling with some tough decisions. The letter below is one we sent to some of our supporters, which we're now sharing publicly. In the next few days we'll be sharing some of the feedback we've gotten. Feel free to leave your own comments here -- we appreciate hearing from you.

Dear supporters of Greenlight Bookstore,

Back in mid-September, Jessica and Rebecca, along with the Fort Greene Indie Bookstore Initiative, threw a party that embodied our excitement about opening a new independent bookstore in Fort Greene. The response of the community showed us that our enthusiasm was shared by many. We set out with high hopes that we would secure a location and additional financing and open as quickly as possible. We have been looking for the right space since then, and contacting those who expressed interest about becoming investors in order to raise the remainder of our capital.

Between the party three months ago and today, some things have changed. There have been huge changes in the national economy, which we have seen manifested here in Brooklyn. Many who would have liked to invest in the bookstore have found themselves unable to do so. Consumer spending has fallen as everyone makes sacrifices – even on something as important as books. As with all retail sectors, independent bookstores have seen a significant drop in sales over the last two months. Our trusted mentors in the industry have advised us that it would be extremely risky to start our business now. The first year of a retail business is difficult enough; to make that beginning now, in this extremely uncertain climate, would be to give ourselves a handicap we might not recover from.

Some things have not changed, however. We still have every intention of opening a bookstore in Fort Greene that will benefit the community and showcase Brooklyn's vibrant literary culture. Our own capital is still secure: we didn't have any of our money in the stock market, so our financial situation is the same as it was in September (which is to say, better financed than most small businesses starting out). But after some soul-searching, we have decided that we must adjust our time frame. Rather than hoping to open the bookstore in early 2009, we will be looking at the later part of the year, or early 2010, depending on how the economy looks between now and then. Of course, if we were to find a wonderful location at a well-below market rent, we might consider opening earlier, but only if it were something truly out of the ordinary to offset the risks we would be taking. We feel this is the best strategy to ensure that the bookstore we create will be able to survive and thrive for years to come.

In light of this, we're asking those who have considered or committed to becoming community lenders to wait as well. As we monitor the economic situation and adjust our business plan accordingly, we will be in touch again when we are ready to move forward. We hope that by waiting we'll be able to give lenders the best value for their dollar, as well as saving the business from accruing debt before we are ready to begin work.

Thank you for your understanding of this difficult decision, and for your ongoing support of the bookstore's efforts. We will certainly keep you posted on our progress or any developments, primarily via our blog, which you can now find at www.greenlightbookstore.com. We wish each of you the best in the year to come, and look forward to partnering with you on creating the best bookstore possible when the time is right.

Best regards,

Jessica Stockton Bagnulo and Rebecca Fitting
Proprietors, Greenlight Bookstore LLC