Hoboken Indie Bookstore Expands To Second Location

HOBOKEN, NJ — Hoboken's independent bookstore on First Street, Little City Books, is doing well enough that it will open an uptown location approximately a mile north in January 2020, co-owner Donna Garban confirmed this week. To paraphrase Mark Twain, the death of print is greatly exaggerated.

The current indie store at the south end of Hoboken, five blocks from the train terminal and one block off the main drag of Washington Street, was opened on May 2, 2015 -- Independent Bookstore Day -- by Garban and Kate Jacobs. And in 2016, they expanded with a children's wing full of books and (educational) toys.

Recently, they announced in a newsletter that they will open a second location in the northwestern end of town, about a mile walk. And apparently, not only are indie bookstores doing well, indie coffee chains are too -- since the store will be reachable by entering through the upcoming new location of Hoboken's Bwe Kafe, a popular coffee shop with its original location at Tenth and Washington streets.

Those who want to visit the uptown Little City Books will enter Bwe at Fourteenth and Adams streets and head back through an archway to the Little City store, co-owner Garban said.

"A town has to want a bookstore in order to have a bookstore," said Garban. "Lots of our customers are from uptown, and they're excited about the new store."

Garban said the new location will be 350 square feet, and will have a mezzanine in back. While there will be no seating in the store, customers can sit in the coffee shop.

Garban did not have a date for the opening, but believes it will be some time in January. She is waiting for the new Bwe to open. She says she has an inventory of approximately 3,000 books to set up, and will do so quickly.

Garban noted that the formerly industrial northwest section of town, next to the 14th Street Viaduct to Union City and Jersey City, is becoming more popular, citing the Hoboken Biergarten, a movie theater, and several other businesses and new developments.

Garban is a former investment banker with Goldman Sachs. Jacobs is a singer-songwriter. Publishers Weekly profiled their store in 2015.

Hoboken also has another independent bookstore, Symposia at 510 Washington St., which sells mostly used books and hosts community events.

Bwe coffee is known for its South American blends and for giving some of its funds to educate Haitian youths.