Beloved Atlantic Book Shop Forced Out Of Business, Can Markowitz Save It?

Sad news comes from Vanishing New York today, who reports that well-loved Cobble Hill bookstore Atlantic Books is going out of business. We spoke to store manager Jed Hershon about the news, which, distressingly, comes on the heels of several other indie bookstore closings in recent memory. People, put down your Kindles and learn to love the musty smell of old books!

The store has launched a "beginning of the end" sale, with everything on their already low-priced shelves (one Yelper reports snagging a rare collection of essays by Roland Barthes and Virginia Woolf for $2) going for 30% off. "We can't be like 5th Avenue diamond merchants, who operate permanently at 30% off," said Hershon, who's been with the store (which previously held two locations in Manhattan) for 15 years. "This is really the end of an era. The age of the open shop is dying out. Everyone shops online now, or reads online. We're just the little guys."

While the store has no set closing date, Hershon isn't optimistic: "We'll see how the sale goes, but I doubt we'll make it. I'm probably going to end up selling on the street with the record guy in front of Trader Joe's for a few weeks." Hershon's dream? To get Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz involved: "What I think he should do is take a city building here in Brooklyn and give it to us and four or five other small booksellers. Together we'd turn it into Brooklyn's book destination! I need to get over to Marty's office and talk to him," Hershon says. How about it, Marty?

Feeling melancholy over the decline of the printed page? Don't hang up your thick-rimmed glasses just yet—we took the time to find a handful of indie bookstores that are still around to service your lit-loving needs. Don't get all Septimus Smith on us, now!

UPDATE: Is there still hope? We just got word from Marty's office, who released the following statement: “It’s unfortunate any time Brooklyn—the literary epicenter of New York City and home to the renowned Brooklyn Book Festival—loses one of its indie book stores or any of its ‘mom and pop’ businesses. We welcome Mr. Hershon contacting our office to discuss his ideas and to see if we can assist in any way.”