Book Culture's Evicted UWS Store Will Not Reopen, Owner Says

UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN — A beloved bookstore outpost that was suddenly evicted earlier this month will close permanently after trying for weeks to reopen, the owner announced Tuesday.

Book Culture at 450 Columbus Ave., one of four locations for the bookstore chain in Manhattan and Queens, was unable to reach a deal with its landlord to stay open as it pays more than $100,000 in back rent that forced its eviction in the New Year, owner Chris Doeblin said in a Facebook post.

The store was suddenly closed Jan. 7 even though Doeblin said he had an unofficial agreement that he could stay open and slowly pay off the four months of unpaid rent from a slow spate of business over the summer.

Doeblin had hoped that the landlord would return to the agreement or that his customers — who once helped him raise $600,000 to keep business afloat — would jump in to save the store, but neither came to fruition, he said.

"This is the saddest and most destructive outcome we had imagined," Doeblin wrote. "The community surrounding our stores provided a lifeline in lending to us these past six months. That lifeline now sits, wasted, behind the locked doors. 12 employees who absolutely lived paycheck to paycheck are now out of work."

The "lifeline" Doeblin mentioned is the $600,000 raised through a "community lending program" when the store first fell behind back in July.

Back then, ballooning healthcare costs, increased minimum wage, high rent costs and the struggles of competing with online book-selling giants like Amazon had driven Book Culture $750,000 in the hole across all four stores, he said.

He said Tuesday that he believes should the Columbus store been allowed to stay open while it repaid its debts, it could have survived.

Business had picked up over the holidays, but once the store was evicted he began to lose about $30,000 in sales a week, Doeblin had told Patch at a rally to help save the outpost.

As at the rally, Doeblin lamented Tuesday that the closure is a loss for the neighborhood both in its sales taxes, jobs and the community created by the beloved store.

"There are thousands of stories around the country like this where a small business is unnecessarily closed and the net loss runs exponentially through its community," he said. "It is too often the case that a worthwhile, viable and sustainable business closes for lack of access to investment at the right time."

Doeblin said he will still try to raise money and open again in the area.

"The core goals, values and vision of Book Culture are intact," he wrote. "Our talent, creativity and spirit are intact. Our capacity to work hard is greater than ever. Our mission for creating spaces that are beautiful and serve our community remains."