Mary's Books
Mary built this bookstore for 30 years. We're not letting it close.
Started by an organizer
The story
Mary opened her bookstore in 1995 in a converted feed store on Lexington Avenue. She read every book she ever sold — that's not an exaggeration, ask anyone who's been there. When you walked in she didn't ask what genre you wanted, she asked what you'd been thinking about that week.
Mary is 71. Her kids live in Seattle and Austin. The lease comes up in March and she's exhausted. Her landlord wants to convert the building into a chain pharmacy. She told The Citizen Times last month that she'd "rather see strangers run it than see it become a Walgreens."
We are those strangers.
If 800 of us pledge to keep Mary's Books alive, we can buy the building, hire two booksellers from her current staff, and keep the doors open exactly as they are. Mary stays as our reading-list-in-residence for as long as she wants.