New York City's Drama Book Shop will reopen next spring at 266 West 39th St., "in a garment district storefront just a block south from its previous location," the New York Times reported, adding that the bookshop "is a century-old mainstay of the city's theater community, selling scripts and books about the stage."
The legendary store was purchased last January by Lin-Manuel Miranda and three of his Hamilton collaborators after they learned it would be closing due to a large rent increase. The other partners are Thomas Kail, who directed the musical; Jeffrey Seller, who was the lead producer; and James L. Nederlander, whose company operates the Broadway theater where the it is running.
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| via David Korins/Twitter | |
"It was both a destination for tourists and it was also our hub, and so we wanted to keep it close to the theater district," Miranda said. "And, too, we're in the business of creating community, and that's another thing the Drama Book Shop does, and that's incalculable--I can't tell you how many creative teams on theater companies say 'Let's go meet at the book shop and talk there.' "
After closing the store's previous location in January, they "moved its contents into storage, and, with the assistance of city officials eager to preserve an arts-related business in Midtown, looked for a new location," the Times noted.
David Korins, who created Hamilton's set and is the store's designer, said the new centerpiece will be a large, spiral worm-shaped sculpture of dramatic literature, bursting out of the back wall and corkscrewing into the space.
"With a look inspired by European cafes and a reading room atmosphere, it will sell coffee, merchandise and writing materials, along with play scripts, librettos and books about the arts," the Times wrote. A basement level could be used for classes, readings or other gatherings. The new owners also saved the old-fashioned sign and an upright piano from the previous location.
"Early on, Jeffrey sent me an article about European cafes of 100 years ago, and how they were beautiful spaces where people would sip coffee and exchange ideas," Korins said. "We wanted to create a space where we were looking back into the past and into the future, so the space is carved up like a reading room cafe, with a tin ceiling, aged with patinas, and mix and match furniture."
The manager of the former location will helm the new store, with the operation overseen by a Hamilton-related company that already handles another Midtown business--the musical's merchandise shop, the Times reported.
"I'm the old guy in the bodega who is still talking about boxers. I'm an aggressively small-business person," Miranda recently said at the Fast Company Innovation Festival in New York, adding: "We're opening a bookstore in post-Kindle, post-Amazon America!"