{"id":51697,"date":"2025-11-25T14:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T14:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/51697\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T14:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T14:56:09","slug":"the-bookmark-shoppe-remains-a-reliable-staple-for-bay-ridge-readers-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/51697\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bookmark Shoppe remains a reliable staple for Bay Ridge readers \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Bookmark\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Bookmark Shoppe on Third Avenue ensures that everyone of all ages can understand the power of books. <\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of The Bookmark Shoppe<\/p>\n

In an era when national retailers and online sellers dominate book sales, independent bookselling is king at Bay Ridge\u2019s<\/a> The Bookmark Shoppe. The Third Avenue bookstore<\/a> has built its reputation not through trends or gimmicks, but through a straightforward focus on books, service and long-standing relationships with local customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Christine\u2019s baby,\u201d staffer Erin Ruggieri said, referring to owner Christine Freglette. \u201cHer dream in life was to open a store where she could sell people her favorite books. And I think she\u2019s achieved that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Bookmark Shoppe has become a neighborhood favorite, with warm staff, engaging events and a wide selection of books and toys.Photo courtesy of The Bookmark Shoppe<\/p>\n

Freglette, raised in South Brooklyn, has spent her entire life in the retail industry. As Ruggeri put it, she has worked \u201cback when people had jobs when they were 11 and 12 years old.\u201d The Bookmark Shoppe first opened in 2000 on 11th Avenue. Later, after the owners of the former bookstore, A Novel Idea, decided to sell, they approached Freglette.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sisters decided they were going to sell the store, and they offered [Freglette] first dibs, and that\u2019s how we got moved to Third Avenue.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Inside, the store carries a broad selection despite its limited footprint.\u00a0
\n\"TheBooks line the wall at Bay Ridge\u2019s The Bookmark Shoppe, owned by Christine Freglette.Photo courtesy of The Bookmark Shoppe\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe offer everything, at least we try to offer everything,\u201d Ruggeri said. The inventory includes fiction, a section featuring The New York Times bestseller wall, gift books, cookbooks, science and history titles, a children\u2019s section, and a steadily growing sci-fi and fantasy collection tied to the popularity of romantasy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just small and condensed. We\u2019re like a Campbell\u2019s soup can,\u201d Ruggeri laughed.\n<\/p>\n

The store\u2019s identity is closely tied to Bay Ridge itself. Ruggeri described the neighborhood as unusually stable and close-knit, even compared with other parts of the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re like the Hidden Valley of New York City,\u201d she said. \u201cWhere you do have people that have lived here from cradle to grave \u2014 we are still one of the last places where you really do see that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many staff members \u2014\u00a0including Ruggeri and Freglette \u2014 grew up in the area, and that familiarity shapes how the store operates.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Ruggeri also said customer loyalty has been a defining strength.\u00a0
\n\"TheMany who work at The Bookmark Shoppe are South Brooklyn natives and know the heart and soul that defines the area.Photo courtesy of The Bookmark Shoppe\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always had very loyal customers,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know people by their first names. We know their kids. We\u2019ve watched some kids grow up and go off to college. Kids get engaged to be married. A chain can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

To combat competition from corporations, The Bookmark Shoppe differentiates itself by offering guidance and hands-on support. Ruggeri said that independent stores can respond to customer interests more flexibly than chains, especially when it comes to emerging authors or niche titles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA big chain is not always going to have independent books that have been curated,\u201d she said. The staff also routinely recommends books based on personal reading experience. \u201cNobody\u2019s going to stand in the aisle with you and really sell you that book,\u201d Ruggeri said of larger retailers.<\/p>\n

The store\u2019s approach to curation is driven by practicality rather than gatekeeping.\u00a0
\n\"TheRuggeri told Brooklyn Paper that understanding customers is The Bookmark Shoppe\u2019s defining strength.Photo courtesy of The Bookmark Shoppe\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very important,\u201d Ruggeri said. \u201cIt\u2019s not our job to dictate to people what they read. Our job is simply to either have it here if they want to purchase it quietly\u2026 or not shame them when they\u2019re purchasing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, she said the goal is to remain open and continue serving local readers.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes people come in here and they don\u2019t even know that they\u2019re a reader,\u201d she said. Helping them identify genres they enjoy or navigate academic reading lists is a routine part of the work. \u201cAs long as we help create readers, we will be here for that,\u201d Ruggeri said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if it\u2019s five years, 10 years or 20 years from now, we\u2019re going to be here in some way, shape or form.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bookmark Shoppe on Third Avenue ensures that everyone of all ages can understand the power of books.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28717,28718,28719,98,100,28720,99,28721,28722,28723,9,24,12,370,63,26959,28724,28725],"class_list":["post-51697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-bay-ridge-bookstore","tag-bay-ridge-neighborhood-stories","tag-bay-ridge-small-businesses","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-independent-bookstores","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-brooklyn-retail-features","tag-indie-bookstore-community","tag-local-bookshops-nyc","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-small-business-saturday-brooklyn","tag-the-bookmark-shoppe","tag-third-avenue-bay-ridge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}