BY CYBELE POLICASTRO AND LIZ KEENAN

The original Left Bank Books was a quirky, good, used bookstore with a long history in the West Village until it closed in 2016. Two former employees, Erik DuRon and Jess Kuronen, regrouped as Left Bank 2.0, creating a website, building a mailing list, and working the book fair and trade show circuit. In March they have opened a new store at 41 Perry Street (between W. Fourth St. and Waverly Place).

BSB met up with Erik to discuss the latest iteration of the book store.

Who is Left Bank Books’ target audience? We sell largely 20th and 21st century literature and the fine arts; film, photography, music, fashion, design and performance, the the lively arts as well as good literature. Everything has a strong visual or graphic component. We want to appeal to creative professionals and people who work in the arts. The Greenwich village community is arts aware, literate and art centric.

We sell to gallery owners, film people, fashion designers, photographers, writers and artists that still live here a plenty. We sell books that are an inspiration and a resource for people in their work or in their practice. We want it to be kind of an active living resource for people so it's not just for collectors.

Inside the newly reopened Left Bank Books (Photo by Erica Freudenstein)

On your Instagram account, I noticed that you even allow people to bring their dogs in the store. Yes, we want to be open and accessible. I think stores not just book shops, but mom and pop retail shops are the soul of the neighborhood. They are the fabric of the community. It revitalizes street culture (and) it brings people together. I just think it's so important. The city has changed and The Village has changed and that's really been the greatest and most tragic loss; seeing the decimation of retail spaces in favor of big corporate anchor stores, banks and drug stores.

Book Case at Left Bank Books (Photo by Erica Freudenstein)

I read that your books sell for anywhere from $10 to $10,000 dollars, can you talk a little about that? We wanted to carry forward the DNA of the old Left Bank, which was a used bookshop. But because I don't believe that that model works or can work in this day and age we had to modify it. So, we do carry vintage paperbacks and reading copies of what we think are good books that retail for between 8- 15 dollars and that makes up about 15% of our inventory. On the other end of the spectrum we handle books in the $5,000 to $15,000 range. And that comprises about 15% of our inventory. We also have lots of books for $50 and $75, and we also have a lot of good books that are a between one hundred and six hundred dollars. So, anywhere and everywhere.

Exterior of the newly opened Left Bank Books (Photo by Erica Freudenstein)

What's the reaction been the reaction from the locals? Great. Everybody has been so welcoming and complimentary and thrilled to have us here. We want people to come in and tell their friends about us and spread the word, and buy books.

Are you planning on doing events? We would like to do events. We have been hosting open houses each Thursday night in April, to meet the neighbors, and it has been a lot of fun. We want to eventually do an exhibit, whether it's posters or flyers or letters or just a really solid collection of one type of thing such as an archive. Then we can devote our window and a couple of our cases and have an opening event and have it up for two or three weeks and have it also be available for sale either in its entirety or piecemeal depending on the circumstances.

Left Bank Books' current hours are Wednesday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. or Tuesday by appointment.