July 7, 2013 By Bill Parry
Astoria bibliophiles will have plenty to celebrate this summer. Enigma Bookstore will open at 33-17 Crescent Street next weekend.
The neighborhood, which has been without a bookstore since Seaborn closed in 2011, will now have two, when The Astoria Bookshop opens in August.
“We heard about Astoria Bookshop the day after we signed our lease,” said Enigma owner Claire LaPlaca adding, “There’s room for both, and we fill a particular niche.”
Enigma Bookstore will cater to “geeks and nerds,” with a heavy focus on science fiction, fantasy and mystery books. The space, formerly home to a thrift shop, will be furnished with bean bag seating and sofas.
“It will be more of a clubhouse than a bookstore,” said LaPlaca. Enigma will host reading groups, geek-nerd trivia nights, poetry slams and mystery games.
LaPlaca and her fiancé, Hugh Brammer, have delayed their wedding in order to open their store. “With the economy the way it is we know we’re taking a chance,” said LaPlaca adding, “It’s a dream we share and you know the saying – try your dream. If you fail at least you tried.”
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15 Comments
Good luck to the owners. Nice to see independent businesses opening up.
The bookstore that closed in 2011 was Seaburn, not Seaborn.
I literally pooped my pants from excitement when I read this. I’ll clean up before I come visit though.
Sounds like a great place. Can’t wait until it opens!
This sounds like an amazing place to hang out! Now I’ll have somewhere cool to drink my coffee from Bakeway. Astoria is quickly becoming my home away from home!
The youth in the community will greatly benefit from such an awesome venture! Certainly looking forward to Enigma…for my own kids, as well as for my inner-geek 🙂 !!
Enigma sounds awesome. Queens needs more places like this. Can’t wait to check it out!
Finally! A place that caters to my needs… can’t wait to check it out.
“It’s a dream we share and you know the saying – try your dream. If you fail at least you tried.” – This alone sold me. A real place for real people, not some faceless corporation trying to take my money. Welcome to Astoria and good luck Enigma!
Engima sounds like my kind of bookstore, a place to buy my books and hangout with my fellow geeks/nerds. Can’t wait until it opens!!
Very excited to have a place that I can go to for more than just books..looking forward to all Enigma has to offer!
Sounds very exciting. Sounds like a real fun place now I have a reason to come to queens besides work.
Another reason for me to never go into Manhattan for anything…looking forward to some trivia.
Enigma sounds awesome already! I’m looking forward to having a nice, local spot to indulge in all of my geeky/nerdy guilty pleasures – and I know all of my friends are excited too!
This is just what we needed. So excited!