Dear friends and fans of Greenlight,
In a few hours this news will be announced publicly to the media, but I wanted to share it with our community first.
I have made the difficult decision to close the Flatbush Avenue location of Greenlight Bookstore. The store's last day will be May 14.
As many retailers have experienced in the last year or so in the wake of the pandemic, we've had some financial struggles; sales have fallen, while costs remain high. We have done what we can in terms of short term solutions -- implementing new marketing strategies, returning inventory, reducing hours, paring back buying, even getting a small business loan -- but it's not enough.
I've done a lot of crunching our numbers in recent months to figure out how to return to sustainability, and I've had the chance to talk to some smart bookstore colleagues and small business experts for advice. The result of all of these conversations was the same: for the sustainability of Greenlight as a company, we need to close the Flatbush store.
The Flatbush store has regularly in recent years had costs (payroll, rent, cost of goods) that are greater than its sales. In good times, the company could float this loss, in hopes of seeing future growth. In tight times, we can no longer do so.
This isn't a decision I've made lightly. This will mean we will unfortunately have to let go some of our staff at both locations (we're working with the RWDSU union on that process, and trying to provide as much equity and autonomy for staff as possible). And we will no longer have this space to offer to the Flatbush neighborhood.
But as hard as this is, it's the right thing to do for the company. We can focus our efforts on a single physical location (the Fulton bookstore and stationery store), plus the various projects that surround it (ecommerce, offsite events, BAM and other partnerships) and ultimately return to a sustainable level of profit. My goal and expectation is that Greenlight continue to survive to serve the Brooklyn community for years to come.
Some important things to note:
- We are working with the PLG Neighborhood Association and others on ways to continue to provide access to books in Flatbush in future, even in the absence of a bookstore location -- through pop-ups, partnerships, or special events.
- We will be having a sale and goodbye celebration for the Flatbush store's closing (more details to come about that!).
- I hope you'll continue to shop at 632 Flatbush through May 14, and at 686 Fulton Street going forward. Greenlight and its hardworking booksellers will continue to need and value your support.
- As a favor, please direct any and all questions and concerns about all of this to me -- NOT to our booksellers in the stores. This is fresh news for them and everyone is still processing, and this closure is neither their decision nor their fault. I don't want to stress our staff even more by having them bear the brunt of what I'm sure will be a lot of strong feelings about this; that's my job. I'm happy to do my best to answer any additional questions you have; my email is below and you can reach out to me any time.
- You can hear more of my thoughts about what this all means here.
Thank you, again and always, for your support of Greenlight Bookstore and of the Flatbush neighborhood. Our time with the Flatbush community has been enormously worthwhile, and we hope to continue to be your neighborhood bookstore in Fort Greene for many years to come. I hope to stay in touch, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Jessica Stockton-Bagnulo
Owner / Co-founder
Greenlight Bookstore
