Brooklyn Bookstore Outgrows Former Location

When booksellers Christine Freglette and Bina Valenzano first opened The BookMark Shoppe in Brooklyn, New York, they had no idea they'd be quite so ... popular. "We thought it would be calmer, but it's always hopping!" said Freglette. "There's no downtime, but I love it. We always have so many different groups of people -- a set of teenagers, a mother with three kids, an older woman. And it all just meshes."

The BookMark Shoppe opened in November 2002. After several years it outgrew its 1,000-square-foot location in the Dyker Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn and, in October of last year, moved to a 1,800-square-foot brick building in Bay Ridge.

"The storefront is all glass," said Freglette. "We've got two gorgeous window displays on each side of the front door. We're surrounded by stores on each side and have a coffee shop with great desserts down the block." Since the move, the store has seen a significant jump in foot traffic and sales. It's kept most of its Dyker Heights customers and, of course, has added new ones from Bay Ridge.

Neither Freglette nor Valenzano, friends who've known each other for more than 15 years, had any prior bookselling experience. Both grew up in Brooklyn and knew they wanted to open their store there, both loved books, and both wanted a career change. (Valenzano had been in advertising and Freglette had been in inventory management.)

For Freglette, there was the added perk that she could bring her three-year-old, Isabella, to the store. "She comes in everyday, except for Saturdays when it's so busy I'm afraid someone will steal her," Freglette said. "She has her own customers. And she's handselling -- when someone comes in and is looking for a book for a three-year-old, she runs and gets her favorite. She's good." Isabella's picks are Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann and Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser.

"There's a lot of fiction -- a little bit of everything," said Freglette. Near the front is their Brooklyn section, where former Brooklynite David McCullough's The Great Bridge (S&S) is a bestseller. Educational sidelines are emphasized, including toys from Melissa & Doug and Brain Quest, a sideline from Workman Publishing. Freglette also found that Book Sense gift cards sell very well. "At our other location we didn't sell gift cards," she said. "We came here and there was a big demand for them. We went through 400 over Christmas."

The BookMark takes advantage of Brooklyn's high number of writers per capita with a busy events calendar featuring local authors, including an upcoming reading with Darren Shan, (Cirque de Freak series, Little, Brown).

Until July 20, all will be Harry madness, said Freglette. "Harry Potter is taking over. We're trying to get the street closed so we can have a block party from 8:00 p.m. until the release at midnight." As far as their further-range plans, Freglette said, "We just signed a new lease. We'll be here quite a while ... hopefully. We just want to keep up the good times." --Karen Schechner