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| Shakespeare & Co.'s last store will become part of the Strand. | |
In New York City, the Strand Book Store is taking over the Lincoln Square Shakespeare & Co. store at 2020 Broadway, between 69th and 70th Streets, according to several news reports. The new outlet will be the Strand's second on the Upper West Side; besides its flagship store at Broadway and 12th St., it has a store at 450 Columbus Ave. between 81st and 82nd Streets. After several closings in the last year, this was the last Shakespeare & Co. store remaining open and perhaps marks the end of a bookstore whose roots go back to 1982, when Bill and Steve Kurland opened the store on Broadway at 81st St.
The Strand will assume Shakespeare & Co.'s lease for the 2,500-square-foot space, which includes a café, on June 1. The company will then make some changes and reopen in early July.
"Shakespeare & Co. has been an invaluable and treasured resource on the West Side since the 1980s and in 2018 opened a store near Lincoln Center to build on this tradition," Strand owner Nancy Bass Wyden said in a press release quoted by WestSideRag. "The Strand Book Store aims to honor and continue this legacy as we expand our presence on the Upper West Side with the addition of this new store." She added that the current Shakespeare & Co. staff and baristas will continue to be employed by the Strand.
In March, Shakespeare & Co. announced the closing of two of its three stores, at Broadway and 105th St. and on Lexington Ave. at 69th St. on the Upper East Side. At the time, Dane Neller, one of Shakespeare & Co.'s owners, said that the Lincoln Square store was thriving. Neller was a founder and CEO of On Demand Books, which made Espresso Book Machines, allowing bookstores to print on demand in their stores. In 2015, Neller bought Shakespeare & Co. and introduced Espresso Book Machines to the stores. Under his leadership, Shakespeare & Co. opened a store in Philadelphia in 2018--which closed in 2022--and had plans to expand elsewhere outside New York City.