We caught up with Zack Zook-who, after nine years running BookCourt, left New York City in 2013 to run Seven Minus Seven, an NGO and non-profit art gallery in the US Virgin Islands-and he was kind enough to answer a couple of questions for us at what must be a busy moment: A key player in the retail renaissance of cozy Cobble Hill, BookCourt has thrived and expanded, becoming legendary for its excellent stock, ace staff, commodious event space (which, in New York City, is no small thing), and a certain je ne sais quoi that’s marked it as a store run not just savvily but passionately. Opened in 1981 by Mary Gannett and Henry Zook, who have run it ever since, later joined by their son Zack Zook, BookCourt has made itself an indispensable stalwart of the lit scene in Brooklyn, a breakaway republic situated just off the coast of the North American mainland. The news hit hard earlier this week: BookCourt, a beloved Brooklyn indie bookstore that has for thirty-five years stared down the ravages of Amazon, gentrification, and other forces of darkness, will be closing its doors at the end of this month. Henry Zook, Zack Zook, and Mary Gannett, in the expanded BookCourt, some years ago.
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