Babylon bookstore The Neverending Story's new owner sees it as 'community hub'

When Nelly Ortiz saw that Babylon bookstore The Neverending Story was for sale, she seized an opportunity to turn her love of reading into entrepreneurship.

The Babylon resident recently bought the store and plans to turn it into a "third place," which is a gathering place outside work and home, where book lovers can linger.

"I really want to create like a ... community hub, so people can come in while they’re browsing, but then also sit down and read a book," said Ortiz, who also would like the store to become a meeting place for book clubs and public chats with authors.

Located at 9 W. Main St., the store sells mostly used fiction and nonfiction books in 1,200 square feet of leased space among the mom-and-pop stores and restaurants lining each side of the street. East Northport native Colleen Kinneary, who opened the store in January 2024, sold it to Ortiz in June.

Supporting independent bookstores

An avid reader who had shopped at The Neverending Story when Kinneary owned it, Ortiz has always been passionate about supporting independent bookstores, she said.

After she found out the bookstore was for sale by seeing a post on the business’ Instagram account in March, Ortiz said, she immediately contacted Kinneary.

As a Babylon resident, "it kind of just felt very, you know, serendipitous to reach out and engage with her and kind of understand what it could potentially look like" to own the store, said Ortiz, 38. "And, ultimately, it aligned very much with what I was looking for."

She declined to disclose the specific purchase price but said it was between $50,000 and $100,000.

To give herself time to run the business, which is open Wednesday through Sunday, Ortiz cut back her hours as a digital marketing specialist, in which she is an independent contractor.

The bookstore was doing well financially under Kinneary's ownership, but she sold it to Ortiz after accepting a job offer to become a museum store manager and buyer for the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California, a move that also allowed her to be close to family there, Kinneary said.

Before opening The Neverending Story, Kinneary had a career as a book buyer for museums.

When the store initially opened, it sold mostly new books, but it shifted to mostly used books based on feedback from customers, she said.

"It sort of established itself as a destination for readers who wanted more classic literature, who were looking for special editions of older books," said Kinneary, who also added used vinyl music records, dishes and knickknacks to the store’s inventory. The store also sells artwork and jewelry that Kinneary acquired on consignment from local artists.

Ortiz is going to retain some aspects of the store, while adding her own touches, she said.

For example, she plans to downsize the book inventory to create more space to expand the seating beyond the four spots that exist now, which she believes will attract customers from nearby coffee shops on West Main Street. She also plans to increase the number of vinyl records for sale.

The Neverending Story will host events, such as book clubs and community meetings, for small fees as an additional source of store revenue, she said.

Meeting 'a growing demand'

The number of independent bookstores has been growing nationwide for the past few years, with newcomers to Long Island including Book RePort, which opened in Port Washington in June; Book Nook LI in Baldwin in May; Published, a bookstore with a bar and cafe, in Huntington in March; Book & Mortar in Mount Sinai in June 2025; and Northport Books in July 2025.

Consumers wanting more booksellers with local connections is one reason for the increase in independent bookstores, experts said.

"Many people have opened independent bookstores to meet a growing demand — more consumers want to shop in alignment with their values and buy local as part of a backlash against billionaires and algorithms," Allison K. Hill, CEO of the American Booksellers Association, a Harrison-based nonprofit, told Newsday in an email in June. "People also often open indie bookstores because they want to have work that aligns more with their values."

Lindenhurst resident Florence Brennan frequents Barnes & Noble, which is the largest brick-and-mortar bookstore chain in the nation, but she also visits The Neverending Story every two weeks after getting her nails done at a shop across the street, she said while in the Babylon bookstore.

"I like that it’s small. I want to keep the small businesses, obviously the mom-and-pops, in business," said Brennan, 56.

Most of the nation's independent bookstores are members of the American Booksellers Association.

The association's 3,417 independent bookstore members have 3,783 locations, an increase of 502, or 15%, from last year.

Still, independent bookstores account for less than 10% of all books sold nationwide, while more than half are sold by e-commerce giant Amazon.com, Jim Milliot, editorial director of Publishers Weekly, a Manhattan-based trade publication, told Newsday in June.

Like most independent bookstores, The Neverending Story will not attempt to compete with Amazon, which focuses on offering customers convenience by shipping purchases to their front doors, Ortiz said.

"But what I want to focus on is what they can't do," she added, "which is creating that physical third space where the community can gather, spend time discovering books, engage with their neighbors and really feel part of the community."