Three Questions For...
anne shapiro
PrintColumbia students’ relationship with neighborhood businesses has been tumultuous to say the least: We had a noncommittal Empanada Joe’s experiment, and don’t get us started on our messy Tomo break-up. Fortunately, Book Culture, with its recent expansion to 115th and Broadway, promises a little stability the others just couldn’t give us. How has the place succeeded where others have not? Excellent management? Prime location? That warm, Columbia feeling of students who would feel more at home in a textbook store than in a restaurant or bar? I met up with Annie Shapiro, the executive manager of Book Culture, to talk more about the store’s plans.
Why was one Book Culture just not enough?
We’ve been wanting to expand, and we’ve been looking for an opportunity for a while. We’re really excited about the closeness of this location—we’re right in the thick of things.
What is the relationship with the old location? How will this one be distinct?
It’s the same store. Same owners and everything, just an additional selling space and more selection. I like to call this one more of a “fun store.” While the other location will continue to focus on academic books, we’ll have more general interest, the latest Jonathan Lethem, what you read about in Time Out last week. We’ll have a health and body section, crafts and knitting—stuff the other location doesn’t carry.
Some students I talked to were disappointed in the bookstore that was at this location before. Are you planning on making improvements to that selection?
All the books we carry will be new; we didn’t buy any of his stock. The point of this store is to be more cutting-edge. It is a small store, though, so we’re trying for a careful selection of the best. We want people to tell us what they want, and we’d be happy to carry it.
12 November 2009
vol. 7, issue 9
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