Venerable NYC Bookstore, Coliseum Books Closing

birdie writes From the New York Times , news that Coliseum Books, a Manhattan bastion of independent bookselling since the early 1970s, is apparently closing for good. “I believe we will simply disappear,” George S. Leibson, a founder and co-owner, said yesterday in the store’s second-floor office on 42nd Street opposite Bryant Park, as he composed a poster to inform customers that Coliseum had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. “The book business has changed a great deal,” Mr. Leibson said.

The checkout line at Coliseum is often too small to make the store profitable. Many independent booksellers are in the same predicament.”