Christine Onorati had barely opened the doors of WORD, Brooklyn, N.Y., on March 14 when a customer
expressed his enthusiasm for the new bookstore with a dramatic gesture. "He
literally kissed the ground in front of the door," Onorati said.
In this metropolitan locale, Onorati has discovered something that was
missing during her six-year stint owning and operating a bookstore in
the Long Island suburb of Northport: a small-town atmosphere. "Who
knew that Brooklyn would feel more like a small town?" mused Onorati.
"The neighborhood is far beyond what I expected. It's really a
tight-knit community."
WORD is located in Brooklyn's Greenpoint section, an up-and-coming
residential neighborhood in the midst of a redevelopment effort. "There
isn't a lot of retail here yet," Onorati said. "I'm sort of like a
pioneer, which is fun." The storefront was boarded up for the last two
decades, and the landlord restored the historic building's exterior
according to landmark codes. Onorati revamped the interior, which
features hardwood floors, an abundance of windows, exposed brick behind
the counter and brightly colored walls.
With 800 square feet of selling space, WORD is nearly twice the size of
Onorati's previous store. Title selection is divided evenly between
adult and children's books, which reflects the store's sales pattern.
"Half of everything I sell is kids' stuff because there are a lot of
families in the neighborhood," said Onorati. Also selling "extremely
well" are stationery items--which aren't available at other nearby retailers--including loose cards, boxed
note cards, journals and notebooks. Adult titles consist primarily of
trade paperbacks: literary fiction and nonfiction, reference
and humor, along with gift books, cookbooks and graphic novels.
Merchandise in the store "has been carefully curated by me," said
Onorati, "and you hope that people have similar sensibilities when they
come in." She added, "I can't carry everything, but I at least want to
have a good selection so that customers can always find something for
themselves or for a gift or discover something they hadn't expected."
WORD patrons are responding, Onorati said. "I'm making probably in a
week here
what I made in a month at my old store."
Next up for Onorati is re-doing the store's basement level, a
900-sq.-ft. space that will be used for readings, workshops, children's
parties and other events. She is particularly looking forward to
hosting in-store reading groups. "They were probably my best community
builders," said Onorati, who still gets together monthly with a group
that met at the Northport store, "and it's a great source of
business."
Onorati expects to begin holding events within the next two months and
already has one high-profile gathering in the works. Brooklyn scribe Mo
Willems will appear at the store when his new kids book, There Is a
Bird on Your Head!, is published in the fall.
For now this bookseller is savoring her second act. "People seem really
happy to have a bookstore here," said Onorati, who relocated from
Northport to Greenpoint and lives near the store. On display in WORD is
a memento she brought along when she made the move: a vintage
typewriter a friend gave to her for good luck.--Shannon McKenna
WORD is located at 126 Franklin St., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11222; 718-383-0006; wordbrooklyn.com.