Bibliothèque is a bookstore first, with a café and wine bar operating within the same Mercer Street space. The project was founded in 2022 and opened to the public in December 2023. Books line the room throughout the day, while coffee, food and wine extend its use beyond conventional retail hours. Dark shelving surrounds tables, banquettes and lounge seating beneath two crystal chandeliers. The walls include work by artists such as Robert Longo, Roy Lichtenstein, Damien Hirst and Rashid Johnson. Books remain visible throughout the room rather than being separated from the hospitality areas. Its programme includes author readings, wine tastings, art classes and musical performances. During the day it operates as a bookstore and café; later, the wine-bar element becomes more prominent. The literary programme and shelves provide continuity between those two uses. The room’s most convincing quality is that these uses remain visible to one another. A reader does not leave the books behind to sit down, and the café or wine service does not occupy a separate hospitality zone. Tables, shelves and artwork share the same field of view, allowing the space to change pace across the day without losing its identity as a bookstore.
SoHo, New York, United States