No Love for Book Store
April 5, 2008 by Jim Colgan
The small book store at the corner of S Oxford and Fulton is closing and the managers are stating a reason: lack of appreciation. Do they mean there was animosity from the neighbors, or is it just about poor sales? The space is owned by the tire shop next door and someone there told us that it fetches $2,200 a month. Wonder if the next business will feel appreciated.
General Nathaniel Greene, our namesake. Read more about him 
I honestly didn’t realize there was a book store until last weekend! I would have stopped in had I known it was there - maybe it was just a lack of advertising that made them feel like they weren’t appreciated.
….There was a bookstore in the neighborhood?
Not surprising. It was a “New Age” bookstore, which carried a lot of self-help titles. If the owner had just changed the place into a regular old bookstore, she would have been fine. In fact, maybe it’s not too late. I just don’t understand why business owners is this area are so clueless when it comes to what people want (or need) in Fort Greene.
Never knew it was there!
i appreciated the $2 box of naga champa.
never heard of it, and walked by that intersection many times. maybe it was more a lack of appreciation for the value of signage and advertising.
Oh it gets much better - there’s a new sign outside now that the store is closed, and this one is really hostile. Basically scolding FG’ers for not liking her store and its “holistic” offerings. Filled with terrible grammar and a lot of bitterness, it promises (threatens) to reopen in a neighborhood that can appreciate it. Then after a lot of bitter vitriol, signs off “Peace and Blessings” Makes me nutty.
I second the sentiment that there seems to be a segment of bus owners here that don’t feel their businesses need to meet residents needs or wants..you know, market demand. Sort of entitled somehow.
Give me a friggin’ break! If the owner had taken the time to do the slightest amount of research, she would have figured out that this whole New Age bookstore thing is about as trendy these days as the smooth stylings of Kenny G, and that the neighborhood is dying for a general-interest bookstore. I think she should read some of the self-help books she was carrying. Maybe they can help her get over her anger.
I went in the store once. Not only was the offering very limited and within a specific niche, but the lady working at the store was downright overbearing. When she finally came to the realization that I was just browsing and checking out a new business, she decided to go back behind the counter and ignore me completely. It was an odd experience to say the least. But hey I wish I’d known she was going out of business, maybe I could have gotten a deal on that Pan Flute Sonatas of the World disc I had my eye on the book of inspirational haikus written by kindergarteners. Oh well.