The light goes out.New York's A Different Light closes for the last time The shelves were barren at New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of City's gay and lesbian book emporium A Different Light on the second weekend in March--and so was the store. It was an all-too-familiar scene for manager Michael Brandt. "We had lost about 30% to 40% of our business," he said. "I'd sit there and come up with a new excuse every day trying to figure out why." But Brandt's excuses were not enough. Store owners pulled the plug on the shop March 18. Norman Laurila, A Different Light's original owner, opened the first Manhattan location in Greenwich Village Greenwich Village (grĕn`ĭch), residential district of lower Manhattan, New York City, extending S from 14th St. to Houston St. and W from Washington Square to the Hudson River. in 1984. With business booming, he moved the store to a 5,000-square-foot space in Chelsea in 1994. The move was a stunning success. Crowds regularly appeared for poetry readings and movie screenings, and within two years gross revenues climbed 75%, to $5 million a year. But like many independent bookstores, New York's A Different Light fell on hard times in the late 1990s. Megachains were beefing up their gay selections, and Internet sites were delivering classics such as Dancer From the Dance Dancer from the Dance is a 1978 novel by Andrew Holleran about gay men in New York City, United States. Plot summary The novel revolves around two main characters: Anthony Malone, a young man from the Midwest who leaves behind his "straight" life as a lawyer to immerse directly to buyer's homes. Suddenly, A Different Light, which was located several blocks off Chelsea's main drag, became a less vital destination for both tourists and natives--and sales plummeted. In 1999, Laurila sold the chain, which includes stores in West Hollywood West Hollywood A community of southern California northeast of Beverly Hills. It is mainly residential. Population: 36,600. , Calif., and San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden , to investors Bill Barker and Stanley Newman Stanley Newman is a U.S. puzzle creator, editor, and publisher. Newman has been the editor of the Newsday Sunday crossword puzzle since 1988 and the editor of the Newsday daily crossword puzzle since 1992. . The new owners tried to defray de·fray tr.v. de·frayed, de·fray·ing, de·frays To undertake the payment of (costs or expenses); pay. [French défrayer, from Old French desfrayer : des-, some of the overhead by subleasing parts of the store. But, saddled with sagging sales, the Chelsea location was "too big and too costly," Barker said. "It struggled and struggled, and finally we made the decision [to close it] on purely financial grounds." The two California stores, which are smaller and more centrally located, are in strong financial condition and will remain open, Barker said. That's little solace for Brandt. "It was so much more than just a bookstore. We gave gay kids coming out a place to go rather than a bar," he said before closing the shop for the last time. "When people realize what they've lost, we'll be missed." |
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