Main NYU bookstore will move to 726 Broadway in April

You'll no longer be able to buy textbooks on Washington Place when NYU Bookstores move in the spring.

But you will be able to get a caffeine fix as you shop: The new space will be home to a branch of NYU-favorite Think Coffee.

In mid-April, the Main and Professional NYU Bookstores will consolidate and move to the ground floor of 726 Broadway.

While the stores are in transition, both the Main and Professional Bookstores will be closed for about two weeks, NYU Bookstores Director Phil Christopher said. During the transition, students will be able to order items online for delivery.

Once open, the new bookstore will include the Think cafe and will also reserve an area for discussions and readings.

"Moving into this space will allow the university at last to have a bookstore that is truly consistent with its intellectual character and vitality," NYU spokesman John Beckman said.

Additionally, the store plans to expand its retail space with an extended trade book section, a children's section and a clothing section for the community.

"We've tried to design the store to be really customer-friendly," Christopher said.

Following several focus groups with students, faculty and local community representatives, it was decided that the first floor of the new building was an ideal space for a bookstore.

Beckman anticipates that the new bookstore will allow the university to better connect with the community.

"We think that having a bookstore that is tied to the university on a major thoroughfare like Broadway is a good and positive way for NYU to engage our neighborhood," Beckman said. "The bookstore will serve not only the NYU community but the local community's reading interests too."

The bookstores' new location on Broadway will place the store closer to other local bookstores, including Shakespeare and Co., located at 716 Broadway. However, according to Lori Mazor, NYU's associate vice president for planning and design, NYU Bookstores will focus on offering more scholarly reading material so as not to compete with local bookstores.

Some students expressed concern about the new location.

"Broadway is a little far away," CAS freshman Angela Chen said. "Right now the bookstore is really close to Washington Square. It's convenient, and you can get what you want whenever you're nearby."

It has not yet been determined what will occupy the previous spaces after the bookstores relocate. The NYU Computer Store on Greene Street and the Health Sciences Bookstore on East 29th Street will remain in their current locations.