c/o Shakespeare & Co.
“In like a lion, out like a lamb.” The old Thomas Fuller proverb from his 1732 book Gnomologia describes how March begins with wild winds and winter but ends in the calm of spring. The neighborhood has seen plenty of retail shakeups lately, and the news of Shakespeare & Co. closing at 2736 Broadway near West 105th, after just one year, feels like the lion is on the lam.
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The original Shakespeare & Co. opened in 1983 on West 81st Street and was featured in the film When Harry Met Sally. In one memorable scene, Harry holds a copy of What Jung Really Said by Edward Armstrong Bennett when Sally, across the way, catches his eye. The location closed in 1996.
The news leaves only one Shakespeare & Co. remaining, at West 69th Street and Broadway. This location marked the brand’s return to the Upper West Side when it opened in 2018. The cozy store continues to host book release events, signings, open mic nights, and serves as the gathering space for its own Shakespeare & Co. book club. It also offers freshly brewed coffee, pastries, and wine.
A sign in the window at West 105th Street reads, “We want to express our heartfelt gratitude for your support over the past year. It has been a pleasure serving this wonderful neighborhood community.”
We reported over the weekend that Szechuan Garden, also on 105th, had their official last day on March 2. We’re not letting the “rule of three” take over, so we’re beaming all the good karma and juju to Silver Moon Bakery, which is facing eviction from its landlord.
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I mourn its passing.
As for the original (NYC!) Shakespeare & Co. at 81st St. & Broadway, it opened in 1981, not 1983, and closed in August 1996; the building that housed it was razed 2016. Bloomsday 2, the bookstore that preceded it at that site, had closed in 1981.
Let us also pause to remember the former Shakespeare & Co. branches at 1 Whitehall Street, 716 Broadway, and 137 East 23rd Street.
Shakespeare and Co bookstore signed a 10 year least at 105th and Broadway with annual rent increases of 2%, less than the rate of inflation, so rising rent is not the reason the store is closing.