Winter blues got you down? This bookstore in East Williamsburg might be just what you need to perk you back up.
Mother-daughter duo Mary and Ashley Jones, alongside Ashley’s husband, Hans, opened The Little Bookshop earlier this year at 239 Bushwick Avenue. With its cozy reading nooks and homemade soups, it’s the perfect place to hibernate.
The “family of readers” had been batting around the idea for a while. A retired English teacher with an entrepreneurial streak, Mary always wanted a little bookshop of her own.
“The dream had kind of always been there, but it felt like it was something that was very much further off in the future and not right now,” Ashley told Greenpointers.
Once the family saw the space for rent in February, the dream kicked into overdrive. They busied themselves transforming the space, a former cafe offshoot of Danny’s Pizzeria, and officially opened at the end of April. The trio’s personal touch is evident in every corner of the shop. Hans built the bookshelves, Ashley decorated, and Mary’s own embroidery work adorns the walls.
Mary’s handiwork is also responsible for The Little Bookshop’s other trademark—soup. All the more impressive is that there’s no kitchen in the space, so everything is made in Instapots and air fryers.
“The soups will always be there because people love the soups,” said Mary. This past weekend, she made beef chili, plus a vegan option made with Beyond sausage. Hans is a vegetarian, so there is always a vegetarian option in rotation.
“It makes me feel so good when somebody tells me—and this happens often— ‘I can’t even tell this is not meat, it has the same texture…so if it’s not different, how do you do it?’ And I just shrug my shoulders because sometimes I wonder how I do it myself!” said Mary.
She noted her biscuit sandwiches have received similarly rave reviews.
Hans used to own a coffee shop and quickly put his expertise to use by training everyone as a barista. The Little Bookshop also recently obtained a liquor license for beer and wine and plans to serve specialty cocktails next year, which will come in handy as the team has expanded its events calendar. They’ve hosted literary readings, movie nights, jazz date nights, and even Mary’s craft corner, with many more ideas on the horizon (keep your eyes peeled for a future book fair, for kids and adults).
In just a short time, The Little Bookshop has emerged as a community hub with a steady roster of regulars and burgeoning relationships with nearby businesses.
The team is very intentional in creating a welcoming space and “making sure that the books on our shelves really reflect that, that we’re reflecting Black writers, Latino writers, women writers, LGBTQ+ writers,” said Ashley.
“I think the big thing that I love about the three of us is that we all work in that shop. We’ve learned the people, we’ve learned the neighborhood, the community. We’ve learned what they want, we set standards, and they appreciate it, I think,” Mary reflected.
And if you’re looking for ideas, I asked each of them their ideal book and soup pairing. Mary suggested butter bean stew with rustic bread, with James Baldwin; Ashley said something with sofrito and The House on Mango Street, or a potato and leek soup with Ruth Reichl’s The Paris Novel (with a glass of Chablis). Hans opted for vegan chili with Seven Years in Tibet.
The Little Bookshop is open Monday from 8 am to 6 pm, Tuesday through Thursday from 8 am to 8 pm, Friday from 8 am to 9 pm, Saturday from 9 am to 9 pm, and Sunday from 9 am to 6 pm.