And so continues the slow, sad death of Manhattan's bookstores: Shakespeare & Company's three-decade old Broadway space is now up for rent. Burn the Kindles. Burn them now.
A tipster told EV Grieve on Monday that the store had lost its lease, and today an employee confirmed that the longstanding space was up for rent. A rental posting for the 716 Broadway address, located near Waverly Place, is now online, and listing agent Brendan Gotch told the Observer it's up for rent at $50,000 a month.
According to Gotch, Shakespeare & Co.'s lease has already expired, and the bookseller will move out as soon a new tenant has been found. "That part of Broadway has changed," he blithely told the Observer. "The fact of the matter is that along with many bookstores, they are having trouble paying rents that were affordable 10 years ago when they signed these leases." Though there is some hope—EV Grieve's tipster noted some local residents may try to get the store back on its feet via a fundraiser, a la the St. Mark's Bookshop.
If the NoHo store is gone for good, it'll join the dearly departed Upper West Side and Gramercy Shakespeare & Co. locations, not to mention fellow Manhattan shop Rizzoli Bookstore, which is slated to close this week. Shakespeare & Co. still maintains two New York stores, one on the Upper East Side near Hunter College and one in Brooklyn.
