Author Emma Straub Opening New Book Store On Smith Street

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — Cobble Hill may have lost "Book Court" in December, but a new shop, "Books Are Magic," is opening this spring at 225 Smith St. Author and owner Emma Straub made the announcement yesterday on the future shop's Instagram page:

In December, book lovers reacted with shock and dismay when they learned that "Book Court," a Cobble Hill institution for 35 years, would be closing at the end of the year. Owners Henry M. Zook and Mary B. Gannett didn't speak to the press after making the decision to shutter the business, but they issued a statement both expressing their thanks for the community's "loyal support," and lamenting "the challenges of rent increases, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon."

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But just as word of the closure was spreading, Brooklyn author Emma Straub announced that she and her husband, Michael Fusco, had plans to open a new neighborhood bookstore, "Books Are Magic," in the near future.

"A neighborhood without an independent bookstore is a body without a heart," Straub wrote on her website at the time. "And so we’re building a new heart."

[Editor's note: a previous post incorrectly listed Straub as the previous owner of Book Court.]

Pictured at top: the future "Books Are Magic." Image via Instagram.