What's New
Book Culture BY ANGELA MATUA
the borough was left with a dearth of
AMATUA@QNS.COM
bookstores.
Book Culture was co-founded by
Long Island City‘s book lovers now
Doeblin and his partner at the time,
have a new shop to peruse new and old
Cliff Simms, in 1997. The Long Island
titles with the opening of Book Culture.
City location is 2,300 square feet and
The shop officially opened its doors
the basement is dedicated to children’s
to the public on Dec. 8 at 26-09 Jack-son
books and toys, with a reading room
Ave. This is the business’s fourth
for young adult and middle readers.
location.
Brightly colored shelves are stacked
Chris Doeblin, a co-owner of the
with books, stuffed animals and com-fortable
bookstores, said that Rockrose Devel-opment
cushions.
approached him to open the
“We have extravagant plans for
space in Long Island City earlier this
kids stuff there in terms of setting up
year. When several Barnes & Noble
readings and Sunday book readings,”
locations throughout Queens closed,
he said.
Photos 10 JANUARY 2018 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
The first floor features new releases
and a wide array of genres including
literature, fiction, mystery, history, so-ciology,
science, nature, poetry, cook
books, picture books and more. Books
dedicated to New York and its history
are also available and Doeblin believes
they will be interesting to the tourists
who visit cultural institutions like MoMA
PS1, which are located nearby.
Staff will also see what genres the
neighborhood is seeking to make deci-sions
about stocking the shelves.
Book Culture offers subscription op-tions
that provide a gift-wrapped book,
handwritten letter and a bookmark every
three months, every two months or every
month. The subscription is curated by
one of the store’s indie booksellers
and readers can choose between six
genres like new and noteworthy fiction
or nonfiction, picture books and poetry.
Doeblin said the reception from the
community in the first few days was
great.
“Within a couple of hours there was a
lineup of strollers and moms that came
in,” he said. “We’re so happy to be in
Long Island City, particularly in Queens
more generally, because everyone is
so committed to making this a great
neighborhood.”
by Angela Matua
