Business & Tech

BookHampton Announces Plans to Open on Love Lane

Independent bookstore chain centered on South Fork for 40 years to open fourth location; opening is expected Easter weekend.

After 40 years in business on the South Fork, indie bookstore chain BookHampton is coming to the North Fork.

The bookstore, with locations in Southampton Village, Sag Harbor, and East Hampton Village, will be moving into the Andrew Gildersleeve Octagonal Building, the building at the corner of Love Lane and Route 25 in Mattituck listed in the National Historic Register.

BookHampton co-owner Charline Spektor said on Friday that she and husband Jeremy Nussbaum have been scouting the North Fork for roughly five years for the right location and timing.

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The shuttering of Borders in Riverhead last July opened up a door in a market she sees as ripe for bookselling, an industry she said is doing "better than people tend to think it is."

"We've been watching to see what has been developing," she said. "And that absolutely leveled the playing field ... The North Fork is underserved and Mattituck is right in the middle of it. And Love Lane is unbelievably enchanting."

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The bookstore wasn't the first business this week to announce that it's moving to the quaint Mattituck hamlet center. A Roanoke Vineyards representative said on Tuesday that the vineyard plans on opening a satellite tasting room at 165 Love Ln., the former site of Model Nails, which moved to Jamesport in December.

BookHampton will step into the site that formerly housed Verizon Wireless, Patty B's, and a dentist office.

Spektor said she considered moving to Riverhead - and didn't rule out the possibility in the future - though she said a neighborhood that is more established was more what she was looking for.

The Mattituck store - which will also fall under the "BookHampton" name despite its geographical location - is expected to open Easter weekend, Spektor said. Three of its booksellers will move from the Southampton Village location while renovations take place at the Southampton store through the month of March.

The last time BookHampton expanded was roughly a decade ago, Spektor said, when it opened a shop in Sag Harbor. She said that the Southampton store would not be closing.

Editor's note: The author's wife is an employee of BookHampton.


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