{"id":7410,"date":"2025-04-09T18:26:49","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T22:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=7410"},"modified":"2025-04-30T12:15:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T16:15:46","slug":"bookstore-and-hunter-merch-staple-set-to-close-end-of-the-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2025\/04\/bookstore-and-hunter-merch-staple-set-to-close-end-of-the-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Bookstore and Hunter Merch Staple Set to Close End of the Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

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Sign posted on the front door of Shakespeare & Co. (Raven Campbell)<\/figcaption> Photo by Raven Campbell<\/span><\/figure>\n

Shakespeare & Co, located across from Hunter\u2019s North Building at 939 Lexington Ave., is shutting its doors. Home to literature, textbooks, art supplies and more, the store had something for everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hunter junior, Kaylah Atwell, mostly went there for textbooks, but enjoyed a novel or two in between classes. She never thought it would close, since it\u2019s always so packed with eager customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[It] had 99% of the items I needed \u2026 it was quite expensive for notepads and notebooks, but it was convenient, so I didn\u2019t mind,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The closing of Shakespeare & Co is devastating for its customers, as well as its employees.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maddie Wank, who\u2019s been working at Shakespeare & Co for a year, said the store generally has no centralized communication system.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe all learned at different times. I came into work one day and found out because my coworkers were talking about it,\u201d Wank said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another employee, Amaya Williams, had a similar experience: \u201cI actually found out at the same time the customers did. When they put the signs up, that\u2019s about when I found out,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

When told about the lack of communication at such a beloved store, Atwell had a lot to say.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a moral standpoint, it\u2019s not correct at all,\u201d said Atwell. \u201cThe employees need to know these things, especially if they need to find a new job ASAP. I think the employees deserve better. It\u2019s a shame.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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“Everything must go!” sign inside Shakespeare & Co. (Raven Campbell)<\/figcaption> Photo by Raven Campbell<\/span><\/figure>\n

Shakespeare & Co is closing two out of their three stores in the city. Despite having one store stay open, the management has no plans to relocate employees from this store to their other one.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll just have to find another job,\u201d Wank said. \u201cThere\u2019s no positions open. It\u2019s three stores down to one.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Amaya says she\u2019ll go back to her home state, Georgia, where she\u2019ll get a summer job until she can find a new opportunity in the city.<\/span><\/p>\n

The store on Lexington, as well as the one on Broadway and 105th Street, are closing due to an increase in rent prices. <\/span>The stores aren\u2019t making enough in sales to be sustainable.<\/span><\/a> This is just a few months after the Lexington store completely removed its caf\u00e9 section, turning its upstairs into strictly a bookstore.<\/span><\/p>\n

The downstairs area, where students can find art supplies, stationery and iconic Hunter merch, will be closing as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For in-person shopping, the last remaining Shakespeare & Co is located near Lincoln Center, at 2020 Broadway.<\/span><\/p>\n

The two stores are expected to close for good in late April, but for now, customers can enjoy 25% off art products and 15% off everything else.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Shakespeare & Co sale sign. (Raven Campbell)<\/figcaption> Photo by Raven Campbell<\/span><\/figure>\n

As for Hunter gear, students can still purchase textbooks and course materials from Hunter College\u2019s official online bookstore, but there may be in-person expansions in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hunter’s Office of Communications and Marketing\u00a0 told The Athenian via email, \u201cThere is an active conversation at\u00a0the highest levels of the college about how best meet students\u2019 needs for essentials, including exploring ways to improve access to on-campus resources.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Athenian reached out to Shakespeare & Co directly for comments, but did not get a response.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For over 20 years, this bookstore has served residents of the Upper East Side, as well as Hunter College students. On their most recent visit, customers found a heartbreaking sign posted on the door.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":7415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,324],"tags":[338,279,355,682,150],"class_list":["post-7410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-student-life","tag-community","tag-huntercollege-hunterstudents","tag-hunternews","tag-shakespeare-co","tag-studentlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7410"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7450,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7410\/revisions\/7450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}