Closed for Business; Last Bookstore in Queens to Close Leaves Traditional Readers Researching New Stores

Bayside, NY -- The Barnes & Noble store in the Bay Terrace shopping center will close at year’s end, leaving the neighborhood without a traditional bookstore to browse and purchase hardcover and paperback books, magazines and newspapers.

This closing is another reminder of the new technological era that is forcing consumers to adapt to the times. Some routines are slowly being broken while others are being forced to face change with a segment that has provided an escape for some people from technology and new media. Reading is an oasis for avid readers who delve into a book or newspaper for enjoyment of the peaceful activity.

“That cracking open a book somewhere is a thing I remember doing when I was a little kid,” said Alex Solivan, a 14-year-old from Bellerose, who was browsing non-fiction books. “I remember coming here at like 5 or 6 and running around picking out books,” added Solivan who began going to the Barnes & Noble in Bayside after Borders a competing bookstore chain, closed its doors on Long Island.

“I personally like the big, open shelves here that I can just look and look at the covers physically and read the blurbs. I guess I could change and go to Amazon, but it’s a little bit different,” Solivan said.

There are still some traditional, smaller bookstores in quaint neighborhoods on Long Island, specifically in shopping centers in Greenvale and Manhasset, but starting on New Year’s Day, there won’t be a local bookstore for Queens residents to spend time on a chilly Friday picking out a 2016 calendar.

“Truthfully, I have mixed feelings about it because there used to be small bookstores everywhere in the country,” said Denise Matis of Sunnyside, who was “surprised” to learn of the store’s closing, especially since she just started going to the Bayside location when the two-story Barnes & Noble in Forest Hills closed.

There is an online petition on change.org with more than 1,000 signatures aimed to keep the bookstore open. The bookstore has been in its Bayside location for 15 years. Through the petition, frustrated customers are pleading with the property owner, Cord Meyer Development, to make an exception for educational centers like Barnes & Noble despite its inability to pay its rent.

“It’s unfortunate, but on the other hand, I understand that with all the fixed costs involved in a physical bookstore, it’s difficult for them to stay in business,” remarked Stanley Tam, who just moved to Bayside, New York from Atlanta, Georgia.

In its latest fiscal quarter, which ended August 1, Barnes & Noble reported that revenue at its retail stores and website fell 1.7 percent, to $939 million, compared with the period the previous year. The company posted a net loss of $34.9 million, or 68 cents a share, compared with losses of $28.4 million, or 56 cents a share, the previous year. Barnes & Noble’s stock has fell nearly five dollars a share in the past three months. The company just hired a new chief executive, Ronald Boire in August; he’s facing a difficult task of competing with online retailers and marketing the company’s tablet Nook, which has seen sales plummet the past quarter. Barnes & Noble’s biggest competition has been the online retailer Amazon, which accounts for approximately 40 percent of the book market, according to the Codex Group, a company that collects data on book publishing.

Barnes & Noble would not comment for this article, but the Bayside store manager did state that the company is “actively looking for other Queens locations” to open shop after it closes on December 31, 2015.