Around Indies

Awards for the Cohens

Jews United for Justice (JUFJ) will honor Politics & Prose co-owner Carla Cohen and her husband, David, on October 24, when the two will be among the recipients of the organization's 2010 Abraham Joshua Heschel Awards.

The JUFJ website noted that Carla Cohen is “the founder of Politics & Prose, a leading national independent bookstore, which for more than 25 years has been a gathering place for people to discuss the world as it is and as it should be.” David Cohen has “over 50 years as an organizer, lobbyist, coalition builder, and founder of organizations.”

Record-Holder Catches Grapes at Bunch of Grapes

When Ashrita Furman, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for holding the most world records, decided it was time to re-break his record for grape-catching, he found the perfect venue: Bunch of Grapes Bookstore on Martha's Vineyard.

“They performed the task in our parking lot – for ideal grape-catching visibility – with an audience of about 20 silent, awed kids,” said store manager Katherine Fergason. “They did indeed break their record by catching 189 grapes in three minutes. And I'm sure the kids all went home and threw food at each other.”

WSJ Notes Bookstore Openings

The Wall Street Journal has taken note of two new Long Island bookstores, Books & Books Westhampton Beach (covered in an earlier BTW article) and Montauk Bookshop.

Montauk Bookshop is owned by Perry Haberman, who previously owned Madison Avenue Bookshop in New York City. The Journal reported that the store has been making a name for itself by hand-delivering customer orders.

Jack McKeown, co-founder of Books & Books Westhampton, told the Journal: "With Borders struggling, Barnes & Noble no longer building new stores, and Amazon focusing on the Kindle, we saw an opportunity that if you really understood who was buying here, you could reinvent the book store."

New York Magazine Looks at Indies

The latest issue of New York magazine includes a section on the city's independent bookstores, particularly those that have opened in the past two years.

Among the stores covered in the articles are Greenlight Bookstore, which shared its financial data, Boulevard Books, BookCourt, Book Culture, St. Mark's Bookshop, Hue-Man Bookstore, McNally Jackson, Brownstone Books, Books of Wonder, Idlewild Books, Bluestockings, WORD, and Posman Books.