WEST VILLAGE — Three Lives and Company bookstore is facing "uncertain times" and is "in a bit of a limbo" after more than three decades in the Village, owner Toby Cox said, but he's hoping it will ultimately be able to stay in its space at 154 West 10th St.
Cox wrote an email to customers last week letting them know that the building is up for sale and the store is now on a month-to-month lease, just in case the eventual buyer decides not to keep Three Lives in its home of 33 years.
"Ideally, I'd love to stay here. Our core of our customers are here," Cox said. "The people we know, the people who swing by."
Cox said he knew his landlords were planning to sell the building, along with the buildings on either side of the store, for months, but it just went on the market "in the last couple weeks," with signs posted "maybe two weeks ago."
Since the email went out and DNAinfo New York wrote about it, Cox said customers have been coming in to tell him how devoted they are to the store.
"We've gotten an incredible response. A lot of folks stopping in after work, pledging to do all they can to keep us here," Cox said. "It's been very heartening."
Cox said Three Lives was opened by a trio of women in 1978 on the corner on West 10th Street and Seventh Avenue South where Otto's Tacos now stands. After four years in that space, that building was sold and they moved to the corner space at 154 West 10th St.
"It was an old corner market, Angelo's," and the women built it out themselves, Cox said.
He made a point in his email to customers to note that the business is thriving.
"I guess I just wanted to make it clear to our customers, we’re doing very well. It’s been a great run the last few years," he said.
That wasn't always the case — as many independent booksellers know, the last decade or so presented its fair share of challenges.
"First it was the spread of the big box bookstore, and then the advent of online buying, and then the e-reader was the third wave," Cox said.
"I think things are starting to settle and people are really starting to appreciate the 'buy local' aspect, whatever community they’re in, whether it’s the Village or Austin (Texas)," he added.
And New York City itself is "a great place to be a bookseller," he said, with "plenty of book readers."
The problem is "really about real estate in urban areas," he said.
Despite that, he's hopeful they can try to stay in the neighborhood they've always lived in.
"I just feel like this is our home," he said. "It’s part of the community."
