The Literary Goodness Continues – Crown Heights Welcomes a New Bookstore
Interesting Update: Penina Roth actually did a guest post on ILFA about the bookstore. In her post she notes that with the recent closing of Brownstone Books in Bed-Stuy, Daddy’s Basement is one of only 2 black owned bookstores in the city.
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Seems like we just can’t get enough literary goodness in Crown Heights these days. Just about everyone knows, or should know, about the wildly popular Franklin Park Reading Series, developed by Penina Roth, which is hosted at the Franklin Park Beer Garden on a monthly basis. 
Well now there’s a new bookstore in the neighborhood – Daddy’s Basement – for the literary fiends amongst us.
Further solidifying its Crown Heights roots, Daddy’s Basement was opened by a trio of Medgar Evers students/ alum (side note: another notable Medgar Ever alum and local entrepreneur is Colette Burnett of Super Wings).
To boot, the Basement will be home to a reading series of its own – the John Oliver Killens Reading Series (which actually debuted at the bookstore last Thursday, but unfortunately we were not able to make it) which is sponsored by the Center for Black Literature.
About Daddy’s Basement Bookstore
Located in the heart of Crown Heights, one block from Medgar Evers College, Daddy’s Basement Bookstore’s opening is a breath of fresh for community members. “Hooray for Daddy’s Basement Bookstore!” says Lory Henning, “I can’t say how thrilled we [are] to find you.”
Proprietors Shara and Luc Josaphat saw the need in the community for this new venture. Shara is a senior at Medgar Evers College who is majoring in English. Luc, the former editor of the College’s newspaper, Adafi, recently graduated from Medgar Evers with a degree in English. Shara was the Leisure Editor for the paper, and is co-editor of Legacy, the English department’s student literary magazine.
“We feel that we are adding to, and uplifting the diverse fabric of an already thriving neighborhood,” Shara says. “The absence of a community bookstore was apparent.”
The response to the store has been great. “Bookstores, specifically, anchor a neighborhood and bring people together positively,” adds Luc Josaphat.
Daddy’s Basement is located at 327 Rogers Avenue (between Montgomery and Sullivan streets).
Popularity: 11% [?]
Hopefully their business model does not just rely on pedestrian foot traffic. With the closing of Brownstone Books, which was located in a corridor that has significantly more foot traffic, there has to be some concern about the viability of the business. Hopefully the connection to MEC will be a boost.
give em a chance everyone deserves a chance.