Long Island's only Black-owned bookstore doing brisk business in Baldwin

Claudia Haskins found out about Book Nook LI after seeing a TikTok video Saturday morning touting the new Baldwin bookstore.

That snippet, showing colorful arrays of books by authors of diverse backgrounds, inspired the Jamaica Estates, Queens, resident to see for herself.

"It motivated me to get up. And I did my little tidying up," and drove to the store, said Haskins, who bought one book for herself, "Future Millionaire," by Rachel Rodgers, and children’s books for her two granddaughters, a boxed set in Barbara Park’s "Junie B. Jones" series and a copy of "Islandborn" by Junot Díaz.

Since Book Nook LI’s opening May 2, business has been bustling, as patrons come in to buy books after seeing social media videos, while some visitors just come to make videos to help to spread the word about the store, owner Marlene S. Munn said.

"A lot of people have come in here and are making videos. But we’re fine with that because, you know, if just gives us more exposure," she said.

The only Black-owned bookstore on Long Island, Book Nook LI is part of a resurgence in Black-owned book sellers nationwide.

"People say this is exactly what they need, they feel it brings value to their community. They’re very excited," Munn said.

A former high school and college educator who has taught in graduate education programs at Long Island University Brooklyn and Hofstra University, Munn and her husband, Roberto Joseph, a Hofstra professor, had been talking about opening a bookstore since 2017, she said.

The Nassau County residents put those thoughts on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, which started in early 2020, but then began researching potential rental spaces about a year ago, she said.

"We understand the challenges of Long Island. It’s a car community, and so we wanted to find some place that had adequate parking. So, when we saw this, we said, "OK. Let’s take the jump,’" said Munn, whose husband helps her run the store.

Located at 1205 Grand Ave. in the Fairview Shopping Center, Book Nook LI is a 1,060-square-foot store that features fiction and nonfiction books for children and adults written by authors of diverse backgrounds, but most are Black.

There are classics from Black writers, including Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, W.E.B. Du Bois and Zora Neale Hurston, as well as contemporary works, including those from romance novelist Kennedy Ryan, lifestyle personality Tabitha Brown, personal finance expert Tiffany Aliche and socio-political writer Ta-Nehisi Coates.

"We have highlighted BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) authors because my background is in history. I have a lot of Black history books in here," said Munn, adding that the store also carries books targeting Baldwin’s Caribbean and Latino populations.

The store’s book selection also is being influenced by what patrons want to see and read, she said.

"A young boy from Rockville Centre wanted to see Greek mythology, so we did a little shelf on Greek mythology. So, we’re really listening to the community. We’re getting a lot of local authors, so we’re trying to organize how that would work, you know, because we want to have a couple of shelves that highlight local authors," Munn said.

She opened the shop with the hope that it would become a community resource, something she learned to value from her Jamaican immigrant parents, she said.

The store will feature sit-down chats with local authors, including a June 10 visit by Hofstra professor Kristal Brent Zook, who will discuss her book, "Tulsa Speaks: A City Council, Reparations, and Race in America Today," about the legacy of the 1921 race massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Also, on June 20, Freeport author Kim Taylor will lead a children’s storytelling hour about her book, "A Flag for Juneteenth."

Munn also is allowing Book Nook LI to be reserved for community workshops and book club meetings, she said.

"It’s not about making the money for me, you know. Since being here the month, like the satisfaction that I felt, like the purpose, like that people really wanted it. They see the value. I can’t even describe it. It’s really very heartwarming ... and it feels authentic and heartfelt," she said.

Shoppers 'more intentional'

The number of Black-owned bookstores nationwide has fluctuated considerably over the last century, but by about 2000, there were 300, said Jill Gibson, CEO of the National Association of Black Bookstores, a nonprofit founded last year in Sacramento, California.

The number began to fall over a 15-year period to about 50, but now has risen to about 385 for several reasons, she said.

One reason, the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in 2020 by a Minneapolis police officer.

"I think people were being a lot more intentional about supporting Black-owned entities, and there was a demand for books by and about" Black people, said Gibson, who added that there was more demand for spaces to have dialogues.

Also, the barriers to entry were reduced for businesses during the pandemic, when more bookstores began operating through different channels, such as pop-up shops, selling online only or running mobile stores, instead of being housed in permanent brick-and-mortar spaces, she said.

"About 36% of [Black-owned bookstores] operate without a physical space," she said.

Independent bookstore numbers overall are growing in part because those retailers do a better job than larger chains at community involvement and carry books the community wants, said Jim Milliot, editorial director of Publishers Weekly, a Manhattan-based trade publication. 

Although the nation’s largest chain of brick-and-mortar bookstores, Barnes & Noble, has adopted a strategy over the past four years of letting store managers take on more responsibility for ordering books, he said.

Most of the nation’s independent bookstores are members of the American Booksellers Association, a Harrison, New York-based nonprofit that has a membership of about 3,400, he said. But more than half of the books sold in the country are purchased from ecommerce giant Amazon, he said.

While the number of Black-owned bookstores is growing, they face more business challenges, such as acquiring capital, than their competitors, Gibson said.

"We know about the systemic barriers to financing, you know, whether it’s about securing the space, whether it’s building out, whether it’s buying the inventory, the technology, what have you," said Gibson, who added that some publishers overlook Black-owned bookstores when promoting books, even when the authors are Black.

Munn started Book Nook LI using her personal savings and financial support from extended family, she said. Despite the early success of the store, she’s not sure about the possibility of expanding into a second location yet.

"We’ll see. I kind of like the niche of being very local right now. But that’s not to say what the future may hold," she said.