Rockville Centre Bookstore Turns to Community to Stay Open

Turn of the Corkscrew, a year-old bookstore in downtown Rockville Centre, has turned to the community and crowdfunding in order to keep its doors open.

The owners, Carol Hoenig and Peggy Zieran, have turned to Go Fund Me, hoping to raise $75,000 to keep the store going. They need to order merchandise, pay bills and other business costs.

"We lost so much money in the last five months," Zieran said. "Instead of our sales building, they were declining."

The problem started back in May, Zieran said, when the Village of Rockville Centre began extensive repair work on North Park Avenue, one of the downtown's main streets and where the bookstore is located. The work, which still hasn't been completed, involved tearing up the street and sidewalks to replace pipes and other materials underground.

Because of the construction, Zieran said, customers had trouble getting down the road to get to the store or finding places to park. For one week, there was no sidewalk, and Zieran said that customers were hesitant to walk across the wood planking that was put down to get to the store.

According to the village, work should be completed in six weeks. The reason it has taken so long, said village spokeswoman Julie Grilli, is because of the extent of the work that is being done.

"This is new gas lines, new water lines, new electrical conduits, new lighting and curbing, and partial bricking of the sidewalks," Grilli said.

The village also posted a brief message on its website: "Due to the road work in the Village, please remember to patronize our local businesses."

Hoenig and Zieran are seeking $75,000 to keep the store open, and are only at a fraction of that total. Since it opened last year, Turn of the Corkscrew has become a popular spot in Rockville Centre with the many events that are hosted there, including author readings and signings, paint nights, writing workshops and more.

"We're determined," said Zieran. "We're going to make it work. We put our houses on the line for this."

To donate to the campaign to keep Turn of the Corkscrew open, click here.

Photo: Carol Hoenig.