TOMORROW, Sat. Jan 6, is the last day of COLISEUM BOOKS in NYC

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I don't know about anybody else, but I actually felt a lot worse about this than when olde-Coliseum closed, although I'm not sure why. Four year delayed reaction, maybe.

The Redd And The Blecch (Ken L), Monday, 8 January 2007 16:46 (nineteen years ago)

Those bags are great. I got a new one just before Christmas! (bought friend's kid Peanuts Fantagraphics)

Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 8 January 2007 16:50 (nineteen years ago)

four months pass...

RIP Gotham Book Mart. The Wise Men Sleeps With The Fishes.

James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 23 May 2007 13:11 (nineteen years ago)

And while I'm at it, the clerk told me that Evergreen Video is closing at the end of June ;__;

James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 23 May 2007 13:13 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

RIP Strand Bookstore Fulton Street Annex

James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 7 July 2008 19:51 (seventeen years ago)

never get down there...

Dr Morbius, Monday, 7 July 2008 20:41 (seventeen years ago)

they are less popular than the main store, and that was great cause you could find books that the main one sold out already

Zeno, Monday, 7 July 2008 20:44 (seventeen years ago)

Yes, exactly.

James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 7 July 2008 20:45 (seventeen years ago)

It was also a thousand times more comfortable for browsing than the main one.

C0L1N B..., Monday, 7 July 2008 21:00 (seventeen years ago)

too bad

velko, Monday, 7 July 2008 22:52 (seventeen years ago)

one month passes...

Open until the end of the month and still plenty of good stuff.

James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 3 September 2008 00:09 (seventeen years ago)

five years pass...

Didn't realize Barnes and Noble had recently closed the flagship textbook store.

I Forgot More Than You'll Ever POLL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 16 March 2014 23:30 (twelve years ago)

http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2014/01/barnes-noble-flagship.html?m=1

I Forgot More Than You'll Ever POLL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 16 March 2014 23:39 (twelve years ago)

yeah that's a pity

images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 16 March 2014 23:43 (twelve years ago)

one month passes...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/nyregion/its-leaving-57th-street-but-rizzoli-bookstore-vows-sequel.html

Run Through The Jungle Groove (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 3 May 2014 15:23 (twelve years ago)

Which you probably already knew about, maybe from the J&R thread.

Run Through The Jungle Groove (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 3 May 2014 15:25 (twelve years ago)

six months pass...

Came to this thread because I found an old receipt from


COLISEUM BOOKS
1771 Broadway, NY NY 10019 212-757-8381

For a 2/22/98 purchase of Evan S. Connell's Points for a Compass Rose 1 @ 2.98 less a %10 discount of .29.

Pub Overstock (Yellow Label) 10% OFF
THANK YOU !!!

Seems like those kind of cash register receipts were once made of some high quality paper that would last forever and then at some point everybody switched over to a much less durable format, that only lasts a few months or so.

Meanwhile noticed that Rizzoli Bookstore will be reopening at new location: https://rizzolibookstore.com/events/
and will remark that The newish Macnally Robinson on Prince st is still going strong under its more recent name, McNally Jackson: http://mcnallyjackson.com/

ILB Traven (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 30 November 2014 02:40 (eleven years ago)

three weeks pass...

Posman Books in Grand Central packin' the customers in (final days)

http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2014/12/posman-books.html

things lose meaning over time (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 December 2014 18:39 (eleven years ago)

one year passes...

Are there any Posman's left, the one at NYU seems to be gone for a while. Oh I see one in Chelsea (75 9th Avenue) and one at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

And in Chelsea, is Paula Cooper's bookstore still there? Ah yes, 192 Books,192 Tenth Avenue at 21st Street.

New Rizzoli bookstore location is at 1133 Broadway (26th Street). Haven't been, just read about by clicking through to website.

Seems like Book Culture opened a new store at 450 Columbus Avenue, between 81st and 82nd, which is where Endicott Booksellers used to be.

Polyphemos Def (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 15:40 (nine years ago)

End of Endicott mentioned here

Bookstores whose continued existence I confirmed by non-internet means:
Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street
Book Court, 163 Court Street (Cobble Hill)
Community Bookstore, 212 Court Street, is also still there, sort of, having its going out of business sale.

McNally Jackson, 52 Prince St, which has a new branch scheduled to open up at the South Street Seaport

Polyphemos Def (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 15:52 (nine years ago)

Haven't been in a while, but Kinokuniya still seems to still be there at 1073 Avenue of the Americas, between 40th and 41st Streets, across from Bryant Park.

Polyphemos Def (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 15:57 (nine years ago)

See signs for this place on lampposts all over town offering language lessons, Spanish or French but looks like they have others, only ever stepped foot in their Cobble Hill location at 249 Warren Street once and never in the Manhattan location which has now apparently moved to 170 7th Avenue South, at the corner of Perry Street, http://idlewildbooks.com/.

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 16:12 (nine years ago)

Charming little place that is long gone:
Tell-Tale Books, 314 Sackett Street (Carroll Gardens)

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 16:15 (nine years ago)

Somewhere I still have a bookmark from there, with a Sherlock Holmes style magnifying glass on it.

Gone since 1997,
Books & Co, 939 Madison Avenue,
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/26/nyregion/books-and-company-on-east-side-to-close-down.html
http://archives.nypl.org/mss/4804
The NYPL link is quite interesting.
You can also buy some kind of book about it- perhaps vanity press ? - from, um, one of the usual online suspects.
Went there as a custom when I was in there area, only remember going to one reading, David Lodge reading from Paradise News.

Had almost forgotten this place
The Madison Avenue Bookshop, between 69th and 70th
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/17/nyregion/after-30-years-cozy-bookstore-gets-to-the-end.html

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 16:30 (nine years ago)

Long gone Latino mainstays on 14th Street
Macondo, 221 W 14th Street
Libreria Lectorum, 137 W 14th Street

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/books/24span.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/adios-macondo-article-1.256479
http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/latino-bookstores-turning-page-article-1.260825

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 16:51 (nine years ago)

The Drama Bookstore (250 W. 40th) is holding on.

Loved Coliseum on 57th back in the day.

Any Given User (Eazy), Sunday, 10 July 2016 16:55 (nine years ago)

Have still not been to this swanky new French bookstore:
Albertine, 972 Fifth Avenue, between E 78th and E 79th.
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/albertine-reparue-french-bookshop-new-york
http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/albertine-french-embassy-bookstore-new-york

Librairie de France, 610 Fifth Avenue on Rockefeller Center, closed in 2009
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/longlived-french-bookstore-in-rockefeller-center-to-close/

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 17:00 (nine years ago)

Has anyone been to the new Rizzoli on bway and 26?

calstars, Sunday, 10 July 2016 17:00 (nine years ago)

No intending to go there soon when I get a chance and perhaps Idlewild as well.

Used to be a French perhaps French and Spanish bookstore on 5th quite near the main Barnes & Noble store but I can't quite remember its name or location. I believe its inventory was taken over by Librairie de France.
There was also a German language bookstore inside an office building a block or two north of Columbus Circle (you had to take an elevator), staffed by a charming elderly lady and a cat. (You could call the owner, Tom something, in Westchester, I think, if you really needed a special order) One time they put my purchase in a kind of used interoffice mailer, the previous recipient or sender being De NIro's assistant Jane R, who a friend of mine had worked for a little before that time.

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 17:10 (nine years ago)

The Juilliard Store has been moving since they have been doing all the work on Lincoln Center these past years, used to be on the upper level near the Walter Reade theater, think it is now on street level near the cafe in the film center called indie food and wine. Ah no, in basically the same location on block north, 144 W 66th Street (cafe at 144 W 65th)

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 17:17 (nine years ago)

Forgot that I also verified with my own eyes that The Mysterious Bookshop, 58 Warren Street, is still going strong at its downtown location which it has been at since 2006. Old location was midtown, 57th street maybe. Where there was also an art bookstore a few floors up that I haven't been to in a decade or so and can't quite remember.

But Partners & Crime, 44 Greenwich Ave, between Charles and Perry, closed in 2010.
http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2012/08/partners-crime-bookshop.html

Is the newish sci-fi bookstore in DUMBO, Singularity, 18 Bridge Street, still there? Website is down.

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 17:28 (nine years ago)

Ah, found a sticker on a book that says

The Dictionary Store
115 FIFTH AVE., N.Y. 10003
610 FIFTH AVE., N.Y. 10020

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 17:59 (nine years ago)

So the other bookstore, also know as French & European Publications was at 19th Street and Fifth Ave.
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/07/books/going-out-guide.html

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 18:09 (nine years ago)

NYPL bookstore links, some here some gone:
https://www.nypl.org/weblinks/2160

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 18:10 (nine years ago)

Wonder how old that is. Labyrinth Books is listed but now in NYC it is now Book Culture, 536 W 112th St. (Labyrinth now Princeton only, Book Culture has a few other new locations)
http://www.harlemonestop.com/organization/593/book-culture112th-street-bookshop

Ah, owner previously worked at Papyrus Books (not the stationery store chain) at 114th and Broadway, which later became Morningside Bookshop and closed in 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/30/nyregion/30metjournal.html
Some articles about Papyrus can be found by googling Papyus Staskiewicz, the latter being the owner's last name. Loved going to that place on a Saturday after getting out of SHP in Pupin Hall at Columbia.

Relatively recent roundup:
http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/67391/

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 18:31 (nine years ago)

Way too rich for my blood but
Argosy Books, 116 E 59th Street
is still a going concern.

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 18:33 (nine years ago)

In addition to missing the Barnes & Noble flagship
http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2014/01/barnes-noble-flagship.html
I also miss the Barnes & Noble Sales Annex, which was across the street and was definitely still there in the early 80s. Had tons of used and genre books at a deep discount, I believe- a commenter in that link talks about the ".88 bargain basement"

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 18:39 (nine years ago)

A friend of mine lost his virginity getting picked up by a much older woman in the Upper East Side B&N when he was a teenager.

Any Given User (Eazy), Sunday, 10 July 2016 18:56 (nine years ago)

Sales Annex mentioned in this old Columbia university roundup- "Bibliophilia" etc-
http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19780216-01.1.8&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------#
Was on 17th and Fifth, must still have been there in 1994
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/12/nyregion/new-yorkers-co-359351.html

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 18:57 (nine years ago)

Columbia Spectator also mentions a Brentano's at 20 University Place, which I remember, and a chain called Marlboro Books, which I have no recollection of.

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 19:03 (nine years ago)

Ah, I had forgotten The Madison Avenue Bookshop was responsible for this:
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/09/books/5-year-old-southern-novel-enjoys-a-sales-boom.html

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 19:16 (nine years ago)

Another bookstore on Madison at 81st, Burlington, that I am afraid I don't really recall
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/16/nyregion/neighborhood-report-manhattan-up-close-more-bookstore-casualties.html
Article also mentions Endicott, as does
http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2014/09/02/an-independent-bookstore-rises-on-the-upper-west-side/

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 19:25 (nine years ago)

Untitled (Fine Art In Print), 159 Prince Street, gone since 2006
http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2009/03/untitled-dogs.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/style/home%20and%20garden/currents-postcards-wish-you-were-here-customers-after.html

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 19:38 (nine years ago)

Spring Street Books, 169 Spring Street
http://www.sohobooks.net/gallery/

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 19:43 (nine years ago)

Art Bookstore on 57th was Hacker Art Books, 45 W 57th Street
apparently aka Strand-Hacker or Hacker-Strand
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/24/nyregion/s-hacker-83-book-dealer-in-new-york.html

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 19:49 (nine years ago)

Pageant Print Shop still exists in some form
http://leshistorymonth.org/2015/03/31/pageant-print-shop/
http://nymag.com/listings/stores/pageant-print-shop/
http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2007/02/pageant-prints-livesand-so-does.html
but rare books part of business now on-line only

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 19:54 (nine years ago)

German Book Center located in Mountain Dale, not Westchester. No further zooming in on NYC Columbus Circle area location.

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 20:03 (nine years ago)

Okay, 1841 Broadway (W 60th)

Seymour Hacker obit quite interesting.

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 20:05 (nine years ago)

A little more about Hacker
http://www.nysun.com/arts/still-life-in-the-art-book-trade/885/
In which article

Ursus Books, 699 Madison Avenue

is mentioned still in business

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 20:10 (nine years ago)

Hacker, at an earlier location:
http://www.gettyimages.com/pictures/seymour-hacker-in-his-shop-381-bleecker-street-greenwich-news-photo-474378939

The Rite of Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 July 2016 20:12 (nine years ago)

Ah, I see through google books that there is a nice book with photos of this bookstore and lots of other Art Deco buildings built around the same era called Fresh Meadows, by Fred Cantor and ‎Debra L. Davidson. Only some of them were Art Deco by the time I was coming up.

Death of a Disco Mystic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 17 July 2016 20:50 (nine years ago)

Art Bookstore on 57th was Hacker Art Books, 45 W 57th Street

I went there a few times. Strand bought their stock, if memory serves. But Hacker had some kind of afterlife at 248 Flushing Ave in Brooklyn. I wanted to solve this mystery and walked by once, but there was no way to get into the building. The business, whatever it was, is gone now.

alimosina, Sunday, 17 July 2016 21:34 (nine years ago)

Before my time, but some very interesting stuff here about the Eighth Street Bookshop
http://realitystudio.org/bibliographic-bunker/positively-eighth-street/

The Professor of Hard Rain (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 23 July 2016 12:59 (nine years ago)

four months pass...

And exactly ten years later give or take a week, will be the last day of BookCourt.

I Walk the Ondioline (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 6 December 2016 17:52 (nine years ago)

http://gothamist.com/2016/12/06/cobble_hill_bookcourt_rip.php

I Walk the Ondioline (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 6 December 2016 18:06 (nine years ago)

one year passes...

http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=24UAYW5NFEORE

Isora Clubland (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 21 July 2018 22:33 (seven years ago)

https://untappedcities.com/2015/08/26/4th-avenue-the-history-of-nycs-book-row/

Isora Clubland (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 21 July 2018 22:42 (seven years ago)

Here is a list of NYC bookstores circa 1993
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.arts.sf.written/HZvsc7mdkOU

Isora Clubland (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 July 2018 18:12 (seven years ago)

Which mentions the German bookstore off Columbus Circle I mentioned upthread:

Mary S. Rosenberg Bookstore (1841 Broadway, really on 60th a couple of
doors west of Broadway, 212-307-7733)
Large collection of German books, most standard paperback series,
and many used and new hardcover titles in literature, philosophy.
Books stacked all over, but navigable once you figure out the basic
layout.

Isora Clubland (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 July 2018 22:57 (seven years ago)

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_S._Rosenberg
https://www.fuerthwiki.de/wiki/index.php/Mary_Rosenberg

Never heard of this place until just came across:
https://www.haaretz.com/life/.premium-the-meshuggener-who-keeps-the-last-n-y-c-yiddish-bookstore-alive-1.5463462

Isora Clubland (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 July 2018 23:02 (seven years ago)

one year passes...

Uh oh Book Culture

The Soundtrack of Burl Ives (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 9 January 2020 00:09 (six years ago)

RIP the one in the old Endicott location

We Jam von Economo (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 January 2020 21:34 (six years ago)

three weeks pass...

RONG ROOM

He’s the Listener DJ, I’m the Listener Rapper (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 18 February 2020 18:59 (six years ago)

Looks like the Strand is going to move into that Columbus and 82nd sure that once was Endicott & Co. and then a Book Culture.

Also feel kind of weird seeing some American Greetings closed where I used to buy books decades ago.

Something Super Stupid Cupid (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 1 March 2020 15:28 (six years ago)

i've been doing my shopping at unnameable books in prospect heights, they're really knowledgeable and friendly and have a great used poetry and fiction section.

oiocha, Sunday, 1 March 2020 15:38 (six years ago)

seven months pass...

Wow, I'm really surprised to see that Coliseum Books in west midtown was still going in 1998.

Cabo Weibo (卡波微博) (Deflatormouse), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 04:11 (five years ago)

...Wait, they were open until 2007 in a 2nd location?? I only remember the one by Columbus Circle.

Cabo Weibo (卡波微博) (Deflatormouse), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 04:17 (five years ago)

Did you live in NYC?

Spiral "Scratch" Starecase (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 04:36 (five years ago)

I've lived in NYC most of my life, since the late 1980s. I actually worked right next to Bryant park when this thread started and didn't know there was a Coliseum Books there.

Cabo Weibo (卡波微博) (Deflatormouse), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 04:46 (five years ago)

Man I wish i had access to a bookstore like this in 2020, i remember some friends used to shit talk this place back in the 80s 90s for being too anonymous/generic but wtf it had the selection, i don't care about atmosphere

buzza, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 05:32 (five years ago)

It contained multitudes.

Spiral "Scratch" Starecase (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 05:37 (five years ago)

one month passes...

Bank Street Bookstore on the Upper West Side.

Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 7 December 2020 16:25 (five years ago)

Moving the bookstore out of the lobby of the school many years ago was an obvious mistake and probably sealed its eventual fate. As was letting Beth Puffer go.

Lamont Dozier Dream House (Deflatormouse), Monday, 7 December 2020 22:22 (five years ago)

You seem to know a lot about this

Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 7 December 2020 22:32 (five years ago)

I grew up in the neighborhood. The decision to move the store out of the school lobby and into a huge retail space on the corner wasn't to expand the store, it was to free the space in the lobby for a principal's office they could have put anywhere. They went from paying zero rent to paying... I can't remember the figure but it was jaw-dropping.

Lamont Dozier Dream House (Deflatormouse), Monday, 7 December 2020 23:04 (five years ago)

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/mome/industries/nyc-bookstores.page

Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 19 December 2020 00:57 (five years ago)

five years pass...

Shakespeare & Co.

Dr. Winston O RLY? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 3 June 2026 18:25 (one week ago)

The last one, on Broadway past Lincoln Center. Now it's a Strand. Probably for the best tbh.

Dr. Winston O RLY? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 4 June 2026 14:13 (one week ago)

They kept the layout and the staff at least

River of No Reply (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 10 June 2026 20:45 (four days ago)


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