The Greenlight Bookstore location in Prospect Lefferts Garden will be closing its doors on May 14, 2023 said company owner Jessica Stockton-Bagnulo.
While the location at 632 Flatbush Avenue will be closing, the Greenlight Bookstore location at 686 Fulton Street in Fort Greene, as well as the company's stationery store Yours Truly Brooklyn, and partnerships with BAM will remain unchanged.
"It's been an incredible six and a half years serving the community of PLG with books, events, and a space for local meetings. Though this is a change we need to make for the overall sustainability of Greenlight, we acknowledge this as a moment of sadness for our customers and our staff. We take our support of this community very seriously and will continue to work with our partners at the PLG Neighborhood Association and others to find ways to bring books to the neighborhood, even without a bookstore location," said company owner Jessica Stockton-Bagnulo.
Stockton-Bagnulo confirms that the decision to close the Flatbush store is due to a number of factors, but asks that fans of Greenlight not view this as a bad sign for bookstores.
"One of Greenlight’s strengths as a small business has always been that we are able to adapt to focus on what’s working. This is a harder shift than we’ve had to make before, but the reasons behind it are the same: we need to reallocate our resources to better serve our customers. So really this is a story about a bookstore finding a way to go on.
"We're proud to be a space that supports the needs of readers and of our staff. We've spent nearly 14 years serving the Brooklyn community, and we look forward to many more," Stockton-Bagulo adds. "We will continue to offer – as our mission statement says – 'a welcoming space for discovery, conversation and connection around books' at 686 Fulton Street, and anywhere else we meet readers."
Greenlight plans to mark the closing of the Flatbush bookstore with a sale and champagne toast on May 14; details will be shared closer to the date.
