Downtown families are flocking to latest addition to Lower Manhattan’s literary landscape: a new children’s bookstore, Words On Warren, at 52 Warren Street. Owner Jean Maeng, who describes her emporium as “a warm, family-friendly, child-focused bookshop in the heart of Tribeca, dedicated to inspiring a lifelong love of reading,” says the venture has been a long-held dream. “With everything going on, people need to start reading again,” she said. “To understand each other, we need to step into each other’s shoes and we need to introduce children to books so that they grow up to become readers.” Ms. Maeng, a Tribeca resident and mother of three, says that she was astounded that the neighborhood lacked a children’s bookstore.
“I wanted to do this while my kids are still young,” she said. “Barnes and Noble closed, and while big stores do have children’s sections, it is hard to find shops dedicated to children’s books.” At Words On Warren, the staff are trained to recommend books tailored to an individual child’s interests, and collaborate in making selections. She worked with the design firm Partners & Partners to create the Words On Warren space, based on the concept of “a hideaway at grandma’s house.” She says of the result, “I love it. The space has charm. The storefront is beautiful.”
Tribeca resident Helen Cabot-Goldman and her daughter, Evelyn, visited Words On Warren for the first time recently, and plan on becoming regulars. “It’s a great place, and a nice addition to the block,” Ms. Cabot-Goldman said.
Ms. Maeng said that opening in fashionable community like Tribeca “was a leap of faith. I’ve found it very encouraging so far, because families in the neighborhood appreciate that we’re here. I’ve wanted to do this for years and I was told ‘not right now.’ Opening a bookstore is different from other retail because a whole experience comes with it.” She wants Words On Warren to be a “purveyor of books and childhood memories.” and recalled that, “my fondest memories from childhood are going to the bookstore with my dad.”
The store’s location is advantageous. Just a few doors away is another independent bookseller and local institution, The Mysterious Book Shop. Words on Warren shares its building’s ground floor space with the venerable Philip Williams Posters, which has a Chambers Street address. Ms. Maeng’s new venture was welcomed by the board of the cooperative residential building that is her landlord. They understood that “small businesses keep the neighborhood a neighborhood,” she said.
On Saturdays, Words On Warren hosts story times at 11:30am. Ms. Maeng said, “families bring their babies and people start to connect. I see parents connecting, too. I want to create a space where you meet a neighborhood friend. It isn’t easy to make friends, since everyone’s busy.”
Looking ahead, she says, “I eventually want to start a middle-grade book club and do support classes for new parents, where they can meet other people in the same boat as they are and know that other people are going through the same things as they are. I’ve learned a lot through this process and I’m still learning. It’s been great to see people working here and being happy.”