Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore To Open In Greenwich Village

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY — Shakespeare & Co. is opening two new bookstores in New York City this year, including a location in Greenwich Village.

The longtime NYC bookstore announced on Tuesday that it would add two local branches to its existing shop on the Upper East Side: one on the Upper West Side, where the store's flagship first opened in 1982, and another in Greenwich Village, at 450 Sixth Ave. Both stores are expected to open later this year.

In addition to the two new stores opening in Manhattan, Shakespeare & Co. announced that it would open a standalone cafe outside the Hunter College subway station as well as a bookstore in Philadelphia, the company's first move outside of Manhattan.

The new bookstores will be modeled after Shakespeare & Co's current location on the Upper East Side, which has about 3,000 square feet of space plus a cafe.

The new stores will also include the company's patented "Espresso Book Machine," which, per its name, can print bookstore-quality paperbacks in the time it takes to brew an espresso, so that any book not in stock can be quickly accessed and printed on the spot. The machine allows for writers to self-publish their own works or access a "potentially infinite selection of books" from inside the store.

"My vision for Shakespeare & Co. has always been to create the biggest little bookshop in the world," Dane Neller, the CEO of Shakespeare & Co., said in a statement. "Each new bookstore should be rooted in the local community and offer a cultural sanctuary where customers can escape from their daily routines, turn off their smart phones, relax, unwind, and indulge in the luxury of reading."

The three new bookstores and standalone cafe are the first phase of a larger expansion the company will continue in 2019.

Image credit: Courtesy of Shakespeare & Co.