Oh No, What Would Sylvia Beach Say?: Shakespeare & Co. to Close Its Doors???

We don't think that she'd be very happy about this Publishers Weekly item. Pictured here is the facade of Shakespeare & Co.'s now extinct Upper West Side store, which left Manhattan in 1996. Here's to hoping that we aren't already turning the page on another independent NYC-based bookseller.

When Shakespeare & Co. shutters its downtown store on Broadway at the end of August, it could mean the end of one of New York City’s most beloved indie bookstore chains. Once with as many as four locations in Manhattan and two in Brooklyn, Shakespeare & Co. is now in danger of closing entirely.

Known for its mix of high-brow literature and college texts, Shakespeare & Co. was founded in 1981, when independent bookstores were at their height. After news surfaced last week that the company's Broadway store is closing, PW learned that the one remaining Shakespeare & Co. outpost, on Manhattan's Upper East Side, may close as well.

The Broadway store had been operating without a lease for more than a year, before it was forced out by higher rent. The lease at the remaining Shakespeare & Co. store, on Lexington Avenue, is currently under negotiations with another business. Now, according to a number of booksellers who asked to remain anonymous, it’s just a matter of time before the Lexington Avenue location will lose its lease, as well.

Learn more of the gory, nailbite-worthy details at Publisher's Weekly.