Nestled behind the Hippodrome State Theatre, Gainesville’s distinctive bookstore, bar, art gallery and music venue will soon be closing its doors.
“So, some bittersweet news here,” read a message from the Broken Shelves Books & Art Facebook page Thursday. While the bookstore will be celebrating it’s second anniversary Saturday, it will also be closed by June 1.
However, Broken Shelves, at 101 SE Second Place in the Sun Center, was not a victim of hard times for bookstores. Instead, the store did very well for itself, said co-owner David Astor.
“It’s more than what I thought could ever come out of it,” Astor said. “I was very prepared to eat the losses for a year of running a bookstore and learning that, and the fact that it was met with such immediate and overwhelming delight and praise and success was great.”
Astor, 28, opened the bookstore two years ago, and later the other co-owner, Eric Chianese, bought half the business.
The two now find themselves invested in other work and not as involved in the store as they had originally hoped, Astor said. The message on their Facebook page continued by adding that Astor has been busy with other time-sensitive projects while Chianese has been balancing a career in law.
Before Broken Shelves closes, Astor said he plans on hosting some more events.
“We’re going to try to squeeze in as many of the things that we think we’ll miss before we go,” he said.
Some of those events include Weird Wednesdays, drunk lectures and hopefully a closing concert, Astor said.
As for the possibility of keeping Broken Shelves running, he said he had never planned on it but is open to the idea.
“We would want to keep it going if we found necessarily the right person and the landlords were willing and all the logistics worked out,” Astor said.
Daniel Feinberg, a UF master’s graduate in wildlife ecology, said he first went to Broken Shelves for the books but started talking with Astor. He was eventually booked as a musician for a songwriters showcase at the bookstore and later for his own show.
“I think when I first stepped into Broken Shelves what I liked about it was that it’s a bookstore and it’s an art gallery and it’s a music venue and it’s a bar all in this tiny space that feels like somebody’s living room,” Feinberg, 24, said.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 3/31/2015 under the headline “Broken Shelves closing not due to broken business model”]
David Astor, 28, sits in his bookstore, Broken Shelves, in downtown Gainesville. “It was more than I ever thought could come out of it,” Astor said of the soon-to-be-closed business. “The fact that it was met with such immediate and overwhelming delight and praise was great.”
