New Nyack Bookstore Is North Jersey Dad's Dream

NYACK, NY — It's one thing to love reading and writing, but it's quite another to run a business selling books.

Still, Richard Fulco is ready to take the risk.

Fulco, a West Orange, New Jersey resident who most recently taught English at a Hoboken private school, loves everything about books — from the smell of the page, to discussing classic literature, to waxing nostalgic about the novels that made him love reading (Of Mice and Men and Catcher in the Rye in high school, for starts).

Fulco, a father of twins and a Staten Island native, has also written two novels of his own. And he's always dreamed of owning a bookstore.

In fact, the fortysomething writer— who is also a musician — actually went to a "bookstore boot camp" in Florida in summer 2021.

A Comeback For Indie Bookstores

He's not the only one interested. Despite the threat of Amazon and large book chains swallowing up indie bookstores, they're making a comeback post pandemic as a place to socialize, shop, and find joy.

Fulco wanted a piece of the action. He worked at bookstores before he became a teacher at various New Jersey private schools, most recently the Hudson School's high school in Hoboken.
Last year, he says, his partner, artist Nan Ring, told him, "When you see the right space, you'll know."

In January of 2023, it happened.

He had already written off (get it?) artsy towns that had indie bookstores nearby — including Maplewood (Words), Jersey City (Word), Hoboken (Little City), Madison, Summit, and more — but a slim space for rent caught his eye.

He and Ring were strolling around Nyack when he spied the space, he told Patch in an interview.

A music shop had just moved out of the storefront at 120 Main St. It had a "For Rent" sign.
"I said, 'This is it. This is the spot,' " Fulco said.

Fulco didn't defer his dream any longer. He signed a three-year lease and began planning.

Watch The Transformation

Fulco wrote a vision statement, then began working on inventory and special features. He's been posting updates on social media showing the transformation into the new space.

"I'm always looking for community," he said, discussing events he'd like to hold for both adults and kids, including story time and book fairs. He may someday use the back yard space, he said.
He named the shop Big Red books. Although some people think he got the name of the store from Clifford the Big Red Dog, a Scholastic Books mascot, the origin story is different.

He and Ring have a large red couch in their home, Fulco said.

The couch "symbolizes family, freedom. It's where we do everything. We gather, play guitar, read," he said.

He hopes to open Big Red Books the first week in August.

"I want the people of Nyack to know me," he said, noting that many have stopped by to say hello and share his excitement about the shop.

He has quit teaching for now, and plans to make store his full-time job.

He says that while he has enjoyed teaching, the process has changed too much since he started in 1997. Now, he says, there are even more administrative duties than before, including protocol on asking students for rewrites, and other matters.

"In school you don't have too many literary conversations," he said. "I'm a book person. When kids are turned on to books, that's exciting. When it turns to grading, 'How do I get an 'A' in this class,' it's not as interesting."

He added, "There's a dark secret about being an English teacher. All you do is reread [the same books]. The act of teaching, I love. Giving grades, prepping, that's much more challenging."
The book store, he says, will be a different kind of challenge.

"The exciting thing is opening a box of books," he said, "putting the books in the window, making a recommendation to someone, talking about books with people you work with, and the clientele."

Fulco graduated from Pace Unversity in 1990 with a BA in English and a minor in education, and received both a master's in literature from the College of Staten Island and a MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College.

Read more about his recently published novel, We Are All Together, here.

Find out more about Big Red Books here.

by Caren Lissner, Patch Staff