DUMBO's powerHouse will be openning a new store in Park Slope, Brooklyn

Good news from Brooklyn! The Brooklyn Paper reported earlier today that "DUMBO’s powerHouse Books is planning to open an outpost in a former video rental shop on Eighth Avenue in October — marking the first high-profile bookstore to come to the neighborhood since Barnes and Noble set up shop on Seventh Avenue in 1997."

This is certainly a bold move, as even Park Slope doesn't seem to be immune to the unfortunate trend of bookstore closings - the neighborhood once had four booksellers on Seventh Avenue alone, but now has just two.

There might be a reason yet to be optimistic, as Ezra Goldstein, co-owner of the Community Bookstore on Seventh Avenue, offers a more positive perspective on the state of bookstores in Park Slope:

“Our business is way up despite Nooks, Kindles, and Amazon. We now share that literary cachet with many more neighborhoods, but people in Park Slope still love books.”

Will that be good enough to justify the opening of another bookstore? powerHouse hopes so and so do we!

The bookstore is expected to be opened on October and will be located at 1111 Eighth Ave. between 11th and 12th streets in Park Slope. Check www.powerhouseon8th.com for further updates.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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Dumbo is going green

Dumbo (an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) is a beautiful neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY and now it is also getting greener. Green initiatives already take place in Dumbo and a series of green events starts now, including a panel discussion on Monday on how to raise a "green family" with few authors of green books!

The green initiatives in Dumbo are part of are part of Dumbo Improvement District’s neighborhood sustainability program called 'Smart Environmental Efforts in DUMBO' (SEED). The blog Dumbo NYC, Brooklyn quotes from SEED's last newsletter: "SEED was built on a foundation of five initiatives that encourage: public recycling, alternative modes of transportation, consumption reduction, greater energy efficiency and environmental education." According to the blog, the program already initiated installation of bicycle racks to encourage transportation by bicycle, planting of 52 trees in Dumbo last year and installed recycle bins around the neighborhood.

And what's next? more interesting green events! Yesterday, an art exhibition, Oil Drum Art opened at Gallery 202 of the 111 Front Street Galleries. And on March 24 at 7:00 pm at the powerHouse Arena (37 Main St., at the corner of Water St.) there's going to be a discussion on how to raise a green family with: Alexandra Zissu, co-author of The Complete Organic Pregnancy; Marisa Belger, founding editor of Lime.com and TODAYshow.com contributor; and Lynda Fassa, author of Green Babies, Sage Moms: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Your Organic Baby. The panel will be moderated by Josh Dorfman of the “Lazy Environmentalist” on Sirius Radio. Besides the panel discussion there will be also book signing, so don't miss it.

And one last personal note on the greening efforts of Dumbo - I visited Dumbo this week and it's really a neighborhood with a character, something that we don't see much these days, so I think it's great the neighborhood is going green. While I was in Dumbo, I visited two major culinary institutions there - Jacques Torres Chocolate Store and Almondine Bakery (both are located on Water St.), and I couldn't notice that these two places serve their great chocolate and food on disposable plates and cups made of paper, even if you eat on spot and don't take it with you. It generates a lot of trash that is not recyclable, so I hope these great places will join the initiative and go green as well!

Have a great Easter weekend and Happy Purim,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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