NY Cookbook Store Reopens in New Improved Space

Shelf Awareness

Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks reopened yesterday in its new location at 28 E. Second St. in Manhattan's East Village, DNAinfo reported. The store had to find another space last fall after its West Village landlord refused to renew its lease.

Bonnie Slotnick in her new space (photo: vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com)

"It was terribly, terribly stressful and I empathize with anybody who's going through same thing," said Slotnick, who was offered a new location in Garth and Margo Johnston's building after they heard about her dilemma. "It's really an amazing dream that actually happened. It's something that I wish every small businessperson in the city who's being driven by their landlord could have happen."

The new space is "much more conducive to being a bookstore," she added. "The other store was so long and narrow that it was very hard for people to get in there. Sometimes a group of six or seven people would come in and they could not all sit down and they couldn't get past each other."

Although there is still work being done at the store, DNAinfo wrote that Slotnick reopened this week because she couldn't wait to see her former customers again and to meet new ones from the neighborhood. "I couldn't stand just sort of doing this in a vacuum. I was afraid almost that I would lose sight of what I was doing," she said. "I want people to see this and come in."

Earlier this week, Jeremiah's Vanishing New York got a sneak peek inside the new space, where Slotnick "has spent the winter unpacking, painting shelves glossy white and organizing what has turned out to be a dream bookshop, much larger than the last, complete with a working fireplace ('I'll probably never light it--fire and smoke don't go well with books') and a backyard perfect for book parties."