Coliseum Books
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Neighborhood: West 40s Type of Place: Books Description: On some things, tourists and native New Yorkers easily agree. Such as: This city is very expensive (What do you mean, $3.00 for an iced coffee?!); navigating Greenwich Village is never very easy (Cornelia Street? Yeah, it's around here...somewhere); and Coliseum Books is a great shop. Visitors will find tourists poring over guidebooks and maps, natives looking through the store's eclectic stock, and members of both camps enjoying snacks from the adjoining cafe, hearing authors read as part of the shop's ongoing series, and snapping up some of the Coliseum's hard-to-find-elsewhere offerings. In this cookie-cutter-retail age, it's great to see that you can't keep a good indie down. The Coliseum had been in business and well-loved for 27 years when, in 2002, its previous lease (on 57th Street) ended and its rent soared, leading to its closure. But the following year, the store reopened 15 blocks south and reunited much of the staff that had been with the original shop for years. The cafe has been added as a new feature, and has proven a convenient and comfortable one. We love visiting this shop both when we're looking for a particular book and when we're just looking. No one minds how long you browse. The poetry, music, theater, and film sections are wonderfully broad. Even the music played in the background is interesting and chosen with care. And though we suppose that some of the books available could be gotten for less at a chain, the prices are perfectly reasonable and the sales downright exciting. (A recent sale on art books had us carrying more to the register than we actually have room for at home but hey, they'll fit just great on the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves of our future, much bigger apartment. Right?) The store's current location is central. It's right across from Bryant Park, whose graciousness is something else on which natives and tourists agree. Be you from Brooklyn, Baltimore, or Berlin, finding a great Coliseum book and then taking some time to read it in the park spells out a pretty great afternoon. - Pamela Grossman; July 29, 2005
Coliseum Books 11 W. 42nd St., bet 5th & 6th Aves New York, NY 10036 (212) 803-5890 http://www.coliseumbooks.com Map Subway
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