Longlived French Bookstore in Rockefeller Center to Close by Dave Itzkoff (NY Times)
The Librairie de France, the bookstore and New York institution that has operated for 74 years from a storefront in Rockefeller Center, will close at the end of the month, its owner, Emanuel Molho, said Wednesday. Mr. Molho, 73, whose father, Isaac, founded the store in 1928 and moved it to its current location in 1935, said that his lease is set to expire on Sept. 30, and that his rent on the space had become too expensive. “There’s not a chance we can stay here,” Mr. Molho said in a telephone interview. “Even at the current rent, it’s a struggle. Everything that comes here, all the income we get goes to pay the rent here.”
The store, which specializes in French books, also had a publishing arm that during World War II printed the works of writers including Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (“The Little Prince”) who had emigrated from Vichy France. Mr. Molho estimated that the shop presently carried about 10,000 titles, and said that he had already packed up about 800 cartons of books that he would be taking home when the store closed. “I’m attached to these books,” he said. “I find it very hard to let go.”
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