The Sparkle Bookstore is set to open in mid-July at 642 Main St. in Sparkill, N.Y. The Rockland County Business Journal reported that Donna Miele, along with her son Armand Miele-Herndon, have leased a 750-square-foot building for one year. Plans call for a small café with prepared foods to be added to the business.
Donna Miele's path to opening a bookstore is a familiar one. "From the time my mother and aunt taught me to read, I've loved books," she said. "Both my parents were working; I was alone a lot. Reading was a way to keep myself busy."
Her father, Armand Miele, was a real estate developer, political figure, and publisher of the Rockland County Times from 1998 until his death in 2013. At college, Donna Miele studied American Civilization and later law, but said, "I was always a writer," adding that her father, who became a publisher when she was 30 years old, "used to ask for my help because he didn't have a lot of practice."
Although she initially worked as a lawyer, then part-time at the newspaper, and later ran a co-working space in the building the company owns, she is now ready to pursue her lifelong passion.
"I've been speaking about this, saving up, for a long time," she said. "But when I learned about the space in Sparkill, I had to take it. It's a perfect space, perfect location, wonderful neighbors, and so we got started sooner than planned."
Located near the post office and featuring a large parking lot, the space is furnished with "the shelving, tables, and displays from free discards from the recently shuttered Shakespeare & Company in Manhattan," the Business Journal noted. Miele learned of the impending closure on Bookseller Discord, a social media platform.
Miele said she believes there is a recent trend toward "anti-billionaire sentiment," motivating consumers to uplift indies: "Local bookstores are a giving back to the community, and the community respond in kind. People want to feel like their dollars are going toward the betterment of the community."