Big Red Books hosted its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony this week at 120 Main St., Nyack, N.Y. Owner Richard Fulco was joined by Roger Cohen of the Chamber of Congress, Mayor Don Hammond, and Mayor-elect Joe Rand to launch the bookshop.
Located in a 700-square-foot space, the bookstore had its soft opening September 2. Fulco, a writer who formerly taught English at the Hudson School in Hoboken, told the Rockland County Business Journal last spring that opening a bookshop was his lifelong dream and he was aiming to have the store offer "personal service, knowledge of books, a human experience where along with a bookseller one enters the magical kingdom of letters and the written word."
Fulco had been researching bookselling, working in bookshops, and envisioning a day when he'd have a bookstore of his own. "I was walking down the street and saw the spot," he recalled. "It called out to me. I don't mean to sound too new age-y, it just spoke to me." He signed a three-year lease.
The shop's name refers to a big red couch Fulco and his partner share in their home. The bookstore also has a red couch. He plans to stock the shelves with a variety of genres, but "understands that bookstores are community hubs and that bookstores need to be more than just, well, stores that sell books. He's planning on readings, workshops for teens, getting involved with schools' book fairs. Eventually he hopes to open the backyard to use as a gathering place where coffee is served," RCBJ wrote.
"We are looking to be part of the community," said Fulco at the time. "People want to go back to mom-and-pop shops where there is a personal touch. Where you can talk to someone who knows about books, where you can browse. Where it's personal."