For latest news visit qchron.com 24THthe ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF Q UEENS • 2021
QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, June 24, 2021 Page 6
C M CEL page 6 Y K BACK TO BUSINESS
New tech, old friends boost bookstores Net brought new clients; regulars kept on coming by Michael Gannon Chronicle Editor
Bookstores were made for browsing; but even when a pandemic made that impossible, ingenuity and technology kept readers occupied , a nd book stores i n business. Kew & Willow Books, on Lefferts Boulevard in Kew Gardens, last week already had begun welcoming people back inside; its twolevel display area having tables and racks to augment the shelves on the walls. It could be a large, inviting living room where owners Vina Castillo and Holly Nikodem could welcome Agatha Christie, William Shakespeare, Dr. Seuss and Alice Walker and all could feel at home — there also seems to be a bit of the magic from the world of Harry Potter, if you’re attuned to look for it. One woman was purchasing a gift card; a father kept pace as a young girl made a beeline to the children’s section. “I think with a small business you always worry a little,” Nikodem said, when asked about deciding how to handle Covid-19. Both women said they were able to adjust on the f ly while putting together long-term plans. “Our online orders picked up immediately,” Castillo said. “And we offered $1 shipping.” Nikodem said once people were ba n ned f rom t he store, t hey adjusted, offering curbside delivery service for online or telephone
orders out front. “We also offered delivery in Queens,” she said. “Once we had to keep people out this functioned as a warehouse.” And while they soon began taking orders from across the country, and winning over legions of new customers, they are convinced that it was old friends who made the difference. “I think we survived because our regular customers wanted us to,” Nikodem said. Grouped in a corridor of small businesses on Lefferts Boulevard, they saw a lot of their neighbors, such as a small restaurant and other shops, struggle. “Then the 7-Eleven closed — not overnight; closed down for a while,” Nikodem said. “That was strange.” The 7-Eleven reopened. But Nikodem and Castillo said the first sign that things were going to be all right was a call they received from Alex Segura, a mystery author who has participated in some of their inperson events bringing customers together with local authors. “He asked if we could do an event virtually,” Castillo said. They did, and it worked, initiating an ongoing series of virtual events. “I think that was the first sign,” she said. People can come in to browse, though appointments are requested. The wall of shelves at the checkout desk is filled with orders awaiting
Ray Harley’s jersey reflects his love of baseball, a subject which is one of the more popular offerings at his Austin Book Shop.
Vina Castillo, rear, and Holly Nikodem mixed costumer service with improvisation to shepherd their Kew & Willow PHOTOS BY MICHAEL GANNON Books through the Covid-19 crisis. it something a reader is looking for, pickup by area bibliophiles. A few changes, they said may be something unexpected or an older, permanent, such as their layout. forgotten hardcover or paperback More tables are in the ground-level that was an old friend. Inside, the f loor-to-ceiling main browsing area, as the elevated section to the rear of the store was shelves are as organized and precise closed off once state regulations as any library — albeit with boxes of books waiting to be sorted allowed people back inside. through or shipped The children’s secout to customers. tion is there now. A br ief gla nce “This is the first oday, you around one portion of day we’re opening the store shows Winthis area back up, have to ston Churchill’s six“Castillo said last volume “History of Thursday. be on the the Second World I n for m at ion on internet.” War” about equidisappointments, spetant from women’s cials, bestsellers and — Ray Harley studies around one upcoming events can corner and a biograbe found on their website, kewandwillow.com. They phy of former New York Yankees a l s o a r e o n Fa c e b o o k a n d catcher Thurman Munson around another. Instagram. “We have our biography cataRay Harley, owner of the Austin Book Shop on Jamaica Avenue in logue, American history catalog. Richmond Hill, said he has been And we’re probably best known for online for years; and that it was a our baseball catalogue,” he said. He said he also is expanding necessity even before Covid-19. “Today, you have to be on the other catalogues in subject areas internet,” said Harley. “You have to such as the arts. When Covid struck, Harley had be on book exchanges like Alibris, Barnes & Noble; you have no the advantage of ow ning his building. choice.” “I have a great relationship with He is on Facebook at facebook. the landlord. He’s a terrific guy,” he com/austinbookshop. But as much as he has done busi- said. His online business expanded ness online, he’s glad to have peogreatly, with many new customers, ple coming back in person. A visitor is greeted by mobile he believes, soon on their way to bookcases out front, ones that becoming regulars. Harley’s neighbors on the comrequire time, care and an eye for detail if one is to look them over to mercial corridor are at least holding see what might be of interest — be out, he says.
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“The barbershop next door is doing very well,” he said. “So is the barbershop around the corner that I use. Everyone who was here before Covid is still here.” The relaxed regulations now allow Harley to welcome walk-ins rather than having to schedule appointments. But he said he still is considering cutting his in-person hours from Thursday through Sunday to just weekends. And he offers one slight correction when asked if his baseball catalogue covers everyone from players David Aardsma to Paul Zuvella. “I prefer to say Aaron to Zink,” Harley said. “We go by authors Q here.”
And the best part? They never force you to sit by an electrical outlet while they charge.
