Watching in a cozy knit crewneck may be a time-honored fall tradition for a certain (literary!) subset of New Yorkers. And while the film’s fictional Shop Around the Corner doesn’t actually exist on the Upper West Side (nor does, sadly, the very real Cafe Lalo, anymore), plenty of new, niche bookstores have popped up around Manhattan and the outer boroughs to satiate New Yorkers’ desires for bookish third spaces, hyperspecific genre shelves and a comfy space to read with an oat milk cappuccino or natural red blend in hand.

opened in Williamsburg in September 2025. Along with partner Lauren Komer, co-owner Jason Mellow, a full-time musician, found a “void in New York” when looking for horror books and spaces to celebrate them, though he’d noticed a rise in horror bookstores across the co

See Full Page