St. Mark’s Bookshop has lived in New York City since before I was born. And I hope it, and bookstores like it, are around long after I’m gone.
It’s a story we seem to be hearing a lot lately, bookstores and other small businesses closing because they are unable to afford the rent. But St. Mark’s is not closed yet and maybe you can help: there’s an online petition you can sign in support of the bookshop.
The petition reads, “The St. Mark’s Bookshop, a vital Lower East Side cultural institution, needs a rent low enough to survive. Join the Cooper Square Committee petitioning Cooper Union, the bookstore’s landlord, to give St. Mark’s Bookshop a lower rent.”
Right now there are about 10,600 signatures, but there’s a need for 15,000. The petition will be given to the bookshop’s landlord, Cooper Union, in the hopes that the rent will be lowered so that St. Mark’s Bookshop will stick around.
If you want to take an extra step, buy some books. www.stmarksbookshop.com
