BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH | A new type of bookstore, where readers can drink as they read, has opened in the East Village.
Patrons of Book Club, which had a soft opening on Saturday, can sift through the store’s collection of East Village history books with an espresso or glass of wine — the independent Third Street bookstore houses a cafe and bar inside.
“If you are the kind of person that wants to read at the bar and then maybe talk about it, that’s cool,” said Nat Esten, co-owner Book Club with his fiancée and fellow East Villager Erin Neary.
The couple was inspired to open Book Club in part because of their love of reading at bars.
“It’s a nice juxtaposition to be in an open social place but to also be absorbed in a book,” Esten said.
But the store has something for everyone — there is a faux fireplace with comfortable chairs in the back of the store for the truly solitary reader, bistro tables for book clubs to gather and an outdoor patio scheduled to open in the spring.
“The space offers a lot of different options for different kinds of people,”said Esten.
Book Club is now open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. during weekdays and eventually will be open on Saturdays from 9 to midnight and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Visitors will not be able to purchase alcohol though until December when the store fully opens.
