As comics shop closes, Sunset Park asks where to buy books
Galaxy Comics in Bay Ridge, adjacent to Alpine Cinema, is closing on March 1. With its closure, Sunset Park’s residents are left with one less place to buy books.
Galaxy Comics (6823 Fifth Ave.) has been a neighborhood staple since the early 2000s. Formerly Mutant Mania III, also a comic book shop, the store is closing as a result of declining sales and a lease dispute with the landlord, as confirmed by two separate anonymous individuals.
For decades, the store has sold comics, trading cards, toys, and candy, specifically the kind “bought before sneaking it into the Alpine Cinema next door,” according to Ming Chen, an employee of Galaxy.
Although many will miss the store for its candy and as a place to hang out, many more will miss the store for its comics and graphic novels, a shared literary pastime between young and old, and what is for many their introduction (or re-introduction) to reading for pleasure.
Where are the bookstores?
The only standalone general interest bookstore in Sunset Park is Powerhouse @ IC, located inside Building 2 in Industry City. Whether one considers Industry City a part of Sunset Park is up for debate.
Mitch Cutler, co-owner of St. Mark’s Comics (also located inside Industry City), referred to Industry City as “going through a long integration process into greater Sunset Park.”
“The main areas of Sunset Park along Fourth Avenue, Fifth Avenue, there are so many businesses and things it’s missing and deserves,” he added.
With the closure of Galaxy in Bay Ridge, St. Mark’s is now the only place selling comic books in the area. Business, which was already doing well, has substantially increased with the announcement of the closure of Galaxy, according to Cutler.
A huge portion of business at St. Mark’s is selling children’s comics and graphic novels, which came as a surprise to Cutler when he opened the store in July 2021 (following 36 years on St. Mark’s Place in Manhattan and a two-year hiatus).
“When we opened, we were mostly catering to our regular customer base from the old location. We were soon surprised by the number of kids coming in. We tripled the amount of comics we had for kids.”
This, he explained, is the true value of having dependable bookstores and comic book shops in a neighborhood. “Places like ours provide a place for kids to stop looking at a screen, find something to read, become lifelong readers. And it’s generational, too. Some of our regular customers are third, fourth generation. Bookstores and comic book shops build communities of their own.”
A bookstore model alternative
Prose & Roast, founded and run by Abimael Ayala-Oquendo, is a business that sets up book-selling nooks inside coffee shops. Their stand inside Slimák, a cafe at 4110 Fourth Avenue, is their second location.
Ayala-Oquendo was inspired to start the business after a trip to Mexico City with his husband, during which they visited cafebrerías, combination bookstores and cafes.
Prose & Roast’s book nook inside Slimák at 4110 Fourth Ave. Photo by Charles Velasquez-Witosky
Young readers are also a core customer base for Prose & Roast. On their display inside Slimák, the entire bottom shelf is dedicated to children’s books, which are frequently his best sellers.
Those aren’t the only books that sell well.
Other best sellers have been Solito, a memoir about a nine-year-old’s journey from El Salvador to the United States. Also, Sunset Park, by Paul Auster. “I think these books selling so well is a pretty good indication that the people in this community are excited when they find books that reflect their experience, whether that’s living in Sunset Park or being an immigrant,” Ayala-Oquendo said.
Beyond Prose & Roast, St. Mark’s, and Powerhouse @ IC, the places to buy books in the neighborhood are all extremely niche. Industry City also has BOOKOFF, which sports a large manga wall but mostly sells toys. There is Libreria Cristiana JC (5703 Fifth Ave.), which sells bibles and other Christian reading material.
Most residents get their books at the newly built Sunset Park branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. Its presence is not to be discounted or minimized. Libraries are some of our greatest public, cultural institutions in the United States, according to Ayala-Oquendo, but cannot meet the reading needs of a community on their own.
Ayala-Oquendo emphasized that libraries have many parties to answer to. Local bookstores are more able to have direct relationships with the communities they sell to and serve. Part of the reason he sells so many children’s books is, plainly, he stated, “because the customers asked me to.”
As for Galaxy Comics, although the Bay Ridge location is closing, they have one remaining location at 431 Fifth Ave.
“Come see us in Park Slope,” Matthew R., an employee shared. “It’s always see you later, never goodbye.”