In a memorable scene from the \u201990s rom-com \u201cYou\u2019ve Got Mail,\u201d independent bookseller Kathleen Kelly, played by Meg Ryan, and her two employees stand outside a chain bookstore about to open around the corner from their smaller shop. Kelly tries to convince herself that the stores can not only coexist, but might even boost each other\u2019s sales. One of her employees, who thinks otherwise, sums the feeling up briefly: \u201cQuel nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n
The nearly 30-year-old scene could play out today in the East Village, where Barnes & Noble plans to open a new location next month at Avenue A and East 11th Street \u2014 across the street from an independent bookstore called The Rabbit Books and Bar, and walking distance from several others in a neighborhood that prides itself on its local businesses. All this, as Amazon continues to dominate the print book market.<\/p>\n
Is it a nightmare? Just like in \u201cYou\u2019ve Got Mail,\u201d it depends on who you ask.<\/p>\n
Marianna Vaidman Stone, who opened The Rabbit with her daughter this past summer, is surprisingly upbeat about the shop\u2019s soon-to-be neighbor: \u201cTo have two similar businesses on a street corner makes it a little bit of a destination for people who are interested in that sort of thing,\u201d she told Gothamist. \u201cI\u2019m hoping it will be a multiplier effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the narrative Barnes & Noble prefers. Janine Flanigan, a B&N employee of 41 years who currently serves as vice president of store design, said \u201ca true book buyer\u201d won\u2019t just stop at a visit to the chain store.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there are five bookstores on a block, you are walking into each and every one of those bookstores looking for that gem,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery one has somebody who has a different kind of specialty or something else that they love and that they\u2019re passionate about, and they\u2019re putting all of these new things in front of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Rabbit Books and Bar<\/p>\n
Sonia Rao for Gothamist<\/p>\n
Lulu Mourning and Nika Voron, who opened Afterword Bookshop on East Sixth Street last December, also remain optimistic: \u201cWe created our business model and set up our point of view so we\u2019re not necessarily competing with Barnes & Noble,\u201d Mourning explained, referring to the carefully curated collection on display in their roughly 700-square-foot store. \u201cIf we\u2019re not losing business to the other bookstores in the neighborhood, if we\u2019re not losing that much to The Strand \u2026 I\u2019m not particularly freaked out.\u201d<\/p>\n
After speaking to Gothamist on a recent afternoon, Mourning returned to the front desk to speak with a customer lingering nearby. The woman told Mourning that Afterword had been on her list of places to visit: \u201cI just love small bookstores,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She isn\u2019t alone in the sentiment. Riding this wave of hope, more than 420 independent bookstores opened across the country in 2025, according to the American Booksellers Association. That represents a 31% increase from the previous year.<\/p>\n