Book Culture's Queens, UWS Stores Struggle To Stay Afloat

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Beloved local bookseller Book Culture, which has locations in Long Island City and on Manhattan's Upper West Side, is on the brink of having to close its doors, its owner says.

Book Culture owner Chris Doeblin reached out to his loyal customers this week with a plea for help after months struggling to stay afloat.

"Our four stores are in danger of closing soon, and we need financial assistance or investment on an interim basis to help us find our footing," Doeblin wrote in an email newsletter Monday.

Doeblin said competition from Amazon and the city's rapidly rising minimum wage are making it difficult for Book Culture to make ends meet. He is hoping to borrow and then repay at least $750,000 to pay our vendors and publishers and restock our stores, he wrote in an email Thursday.

Now, Doeblin is turning to elected officials in hopes of finding a way to help small businesses like his survive — and a way to remind people to support their local businesses.

He has already met with State Sen. Michael Gianaris, he said, and City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer will be at Book Culture's Long Island City location on July 2 for a meet-and-greet with customers.

"An ideal city has an active street life. It's a city where you can walk out of your apartment, walk in your neighborhood and find most of what you need at hand," Doeblin said. "A drugstore, a bookstore, a bakery, the bars and restaurants that you like, the cafes you like, the shopping you find appealing and necessary."

"Those are the kinds of things that make a neighborhood valuable," he added.