The Lit. Bar is the only independent bookstore in the Bronx, opened on April 27, 2019 by Noelle Santos in Mott Haven. Santos started it after the borough's last Barnes & Noble closed, leaving the Bronx without a general-interest bookstore.
She funded the build with second-place winnings from the 2016 New York StartUp! Business Plan Competition and an Indiegogo campaign, 'Let's Bring a Goddamn Bookstore to the Bronx,' which raised somewhere in the range of $170,000 to $200,000. The result is a 1,700-square-foot hybrid: a bookstore with a wine bar attached, so drinks help offset the thin margins that make bookselling hard. The selection leans into Black feminist writers, Latinx authors and local Bronx voices, reflecting the borough it serves.
Santos holds a bachelor's degree in business and accounting and a master's in human resources management, both from Lehman College, and brought that background to building the store. It is a neighborhood bookstore that exists because a Bronx resident decided the borough should have one. Stop in for a book and a glass.
The Lit. Bar