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Read the press release here.

Bergen Street Comics Closing After 6 Years in Business

By Leslie Albrecht | August 26, 2015 10:48am | Updated on August 26, 2015 1:51pm
 The comics shop will close in September, the owners announced.
Bergen Street Comics Closing After 6 Years in Business
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PARK SLOPE — Bergen Street Comics will close next month after six years in business, the owners announced Tuesday.

“Opening the store, becoming a part of the neighborhood, and getting to meet so many great people has been an incredible experience for us and we are grateful to each and every one of you for giving us the opportunity to build something very special,” co-owner Tom Adams wrote in an announcement posted Tuesday on the store’s website.

Adams added that he'll post more details soon about the closing and his plans for the future, which include launching Bergen Street Comics Press, a publishing arm the shop launched in 2013.

Adams did not respond immediately to requests for comment Wednesday.

The closure news was a blow for the comics and graphic novel world in Brooklyn and beyond.

Peggy Burns, publisher of the Montreal-based Drawn & Quarterly, which publishes work by well-known artists including Chris Ware, Lynda Barry and Daniel Clowes, said the loss would be felt by the entire comics community.

"You just sort of take for granted that the best comic shops will last forever,” Burns told DNAinfo New York.

“Bergen Street Comics was one of the first of a new generation of comics shops to break with the past. They understood the retail experience and 'nerd culture' had changed, they upped the game."

The shop was one of the first to stop carrying classic stapled comic books and focus on books, Burns said. The store also successfully wooed Park Slope customers by focusing on high-quality kids comics such as the "Moomin" series by Tove Jansson, Burns said.

Bergen Street Comics frequently hosted signings and events for independent comic creators, including the artist Adrian Tomine, who drew the Gowanus Canal-themed cover for the Aug. 31 issue of The New Yorker magazine.

"One more thing I love about Brooklyn - gone," Tomine told DNAinfo New York. "Terrible news. As a comics fan, a cartoonist, and just a dad in the neighborhood, Bergen Street Comics was a big part of my life, and I'll miss it very much."

The Canadian cartoonist Joe Infurnari wrote on Facebook: "Bergen Street Comics has, since its opening, changed the comic retailing landscape in NYC and I can't wait to see what they have in store for comics publishing. All the best to you and thank you for running such a fine comics shop."

Located at 470 Bergen St., between Fifth and Flatbush avenues near the Barclays Center, the shop has counted Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez among its fans.

The arena has brought increased rents and high-profile businesses to the neighborhood, and some lamented the comic shop's departure as an unwelcome change to the retail landscape.

“I’m so bummed that Bergen Street Comics is closing. The ‘perfect block’ of comics, Babeland, and Gorilla coffee is over," wrote Erik Hinton on Twitter, referring to the nearby adult shop and cafe.