4 The Queens Courier • SEPTEMBER 3, 2015 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com OUTRAGE Forest Hills expresses frustration, sadness over Barnes & Noble closing BY ANGELA MATUA amatua@queenscourier.com/@AngelaMatua They’re not ready to say goodbye. After a long fight to try to keep the 20-yearold bookstore open in Forest Hills, residents and Barnes & Noble patrons are fuming over the thought of the property being turned into a Target. Forest Hills resident Virginia, who was perusing the store and declined to give her last name, signed a petition started by local author and preservationist Michael Perlman to express her support. “What a disaster,” Virginia said. “One of the great things about living around here is having access to a place like this. It’s a shame. It seems to be a thing in this neighborhood like other neighborhoods, if you walk along Austin Street a lot of the businesses that have been here for years have closed so I guess it’s the rents.” The bookstore’s lease will expire in January 2016 when the Target will open in the space, joining Starbucks, Men’s Warehouse and T.G.I. Friday’s. Muss Development LLC and Barnes & Noble were not able to negotiate a lease renewal, which allowed Target to make an offer. The Forest Hills Target store will be the company’s first flexible-format location in the city and is expected to open in July 2016. According to Target, the two-level, 21,000-square-foot space will be stocked “with a tailored assortment that caters to city dwellers, including home products perfect for single-family homes and condos.” Nadereh Saiediaa and her daughter Orel had just finished school shopping at the bookstore and were upset to find out that in a few months, they will have to do their shopping elsewhere. “We need it,” Saiediaa said. “Barnes & Noble is very useful. We just bought a book for school and we’re happy to have Barnes & Noble here.” Perlman, in an email, said the loss of the beloved bookstore is a “travesty.” “We are losing more than a bookstore, but a soulful part of our community which benefits many people’s daily lives,” he wrote. “Books grant a universal language and interacting with neighbors in an appealing and vibrant space while holding books and smelling the print cannot compare to reading a book behind closed doors that was retrieved on Amazon.” Along with the closing of the Forest Hills site, Barnes & Noble will also be shuttering its store in Bayside, leaving no more locations in Queens for the bookstore chain. Comments expressing residents’ disdain flooded The Courier’s Facebook page following the news of the Forest Hills store’s closing Wednesday, and many people were concerned with the lack of parking in the already congested street. “Has anyone done a parking assessment or is everyone walking to Target and carrying their bulky purchases through the crowded streets of Forest Hills and hopping on equally crowded mass transit?” Dawn Rodriguez-Insanalli commented. “Strange location since there are many Targets already available with ample parking. Sad to see another bookstore disappear.” THE COURIER/Photo by Angy Altamirano The last Barnes & Noble in Queens is slated to close. ALL REMAINING BARNES & NOBLE LOCATIONS CLOSING IN QUEENS BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO & ANGELA MATUA editorial@queenscourier.com/@QueensCourier It’s the final chapter for Barnes & Noble in Queens, as the bookstore is shuttering its remaining location in The Bay Terrace shopping center in Bayside. A representative from Barnes & Noble declined to reveal the official closing date or who is expected to take over the property but did admit that the property owner declined to renew the company’s lease. “With Bayside, when our lease came back up for renewal the property owner notified us that they chose a tenant who was willing to pay rents far in excess of what we were willing to pay,” said David Deason, vice president of Barnes & Noble development. “The Queens community is extremely important to us and as a result we are aggressively looking at new locations and expect to have a new store there in the future.” According to a representative from the property owner Cord Meyer Development, a HomeGoods store will take over the Barnes & Noble. The representative said that the property owner made repeated attempts at securing a long-term contract with the bookstore, but that Barnes & Noble decided not to exercise the option to renew the lease. “Cord Meyer has not closed the book on B&N, and would welcome the bookstore back as a tenant in Bay Terrace, once they develop a business plan that would work in our shopping center,” the representative said. This news comes days after it was announced that a Target would take over the Forest Hills location of Barnes & Noble. Forest Hills residents tried desperately to keep it open, starting a petition to vocalize the importance of the community’s only bookstore. A Barnes & Noble in Fresh Meadows, near St. John’s University, also closed at the beginning of this year after failing to negotiate a lease extension. In response to the closing of the remaining Barnes & Noble locations in Queens, supporters of the bookstore have started a Facebook page called “Keep Barnes & Noble Open in Queens.” According to the About section of the Facebook page, which had garnered 2,045 likes as of Wednesday morning, it has been set up as in an effort to save the book chain locations in Queens, specifically at the last remaining site in Bayside. “Watching family locations shut down in Queens is unsettling. Barnes & Noble has operated as the largest book selection center in Queens for more than 15 years, and its closure in this area would cause great inconvenience to families, professionals and book lovers who regard this as their ‘go-to’ bookstore,” according to a description on the page. “At the request of the Bayside, Flushing and Queens communities, the Bay Terrace Barnes & Noble lease must be renewed to preserve this educational center. The Bay Terrace Shopping Center is already home to many wonderful fashion and food retail stores. Why eliminate the most convenient, enriching core of The Bay Terrace mall?” Once the locations close, Queens residents will have to head to Brooklyn or Manhattan to get their Barnes & Noble fix.
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