In January 2004 after having worked for 13 years at Papyrus - the former bookstore which occupied the space, Peter Soter singed a lease with Columbia University, the landlord of the space. After five months of renovations, the newly christened “Morningside Bookstore” opened on July 1.
The location was home to two other previous bookstores: Taylor's House of Paperbacks (10 years) and Papyrus Books (29 years)
“I loved Papyrus; I worked there for 13 years. In many ways, we’re still that bookstore,”
- Peter Sorter
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2005/0 ... e-bookshop
I also loved Papyrus. It was the only bookstore I knew and it's where I learned to love books (and Science Fiction). I remember seeing Peter working there behind the counter. Back then, mega stores like Borders and B&N didn't exist the way they do today. And Amazon? Outside of a few of us geeks who used BBS, no one was on-line back then.
Unfortunately Morningside had a string of bad luck and difficulties with it's landlord since the beginning.
The 2004 opening was delayed when Columbia University failed to live up to it's commitment to make plumbing repairs, which were further exacerbated by the need to replace the ceiling and repairs to the sidewalk and the facade. The air conditioner also required replacement
All this work necessitated engaging contractors and negotiating for the work to be done lasting for months. Delays caused the bookstore to open on July 1st. reducing the revenues for the year.
Columbia did agree to a rent abatement of four months, but sales were further hindered by Columbia taking on sidewalk and facade repairs and an accident that "flooded the basement sales area and storage space, damaging a large inventory of books kept there."
Even so, these delays caused Moringside to open up $117,000 in debt
The store was also blighted by a broken awning installed by Columbia which their insurance wouldn't cover the repairs.
Those of us in the neighborhood wondered what was taking so long? Why the delay? Peter and his family were never ones to vet these issues publicly - only now with the demise of the store and the numerous unfounded criticisms were they forced to shed light on the past.
By 2008 Morningside Bookstore tried to diversify by petitioning Columbia University to be allowed to open up a coffee bar, but Columbia would only do so if Morningside paid back the 117K owned.
Peter Soter never took a vacation during those five difficult years he had trying to run a Neighborhood bookstore.
Every Friday summer afternoon, Morningside would close for an hour and host a "Danna Banana" concert for the neighborhood children. At other times, Peter hosted readings by locally published writers, and if your birthday fell on a given month, he granted you a discount. Peter also published a monthly newsletter letting you know what new and exciting books were being published.
The bookstore was the kind of place where if perchance they didn't have what you were looking for, it would be gladly ordered and Peter would be call you when it arrived. These and many other things made Morningside a neighborhood place and not part of a giant corporation's marketing scheme.
All this and more endeared the bookstore to the hearts of many in the Upper West Side. When Peter finally had to make the devastating decision to close the store, many of us felt that it struck a blow to our very way of living.
A pledge drive was started, and over $68,000 was committed, but by now the Bookstore owed the university $158,000. Peter worked endlessly with Columbia hoping to strike a stay, but the civil court judge is asking that those pledges be turned into cash.
Within days after closing, Peter posted on the bookstore's Twitter account (morningside2915):
Went before the judge. I spoke. He listened and gave us 3 days to convert pledges to cash. Who would'a thunk it? Now, off to work I go!"
Alas either the those who pledged failed to come through or they could not do so within the given time.
The bookstore closed.
Granted, it may not have had the greatest selection, the wifi cafe atmosphere of a mega-store, or the largest floorspace, but Morningside Bookshop wasn't Peter Soter's bookstore - it was Morningside's. It lives on fondly in the hearts of those who took the time to see it as more than just bookstore.
Peter - thank you!
