Left Bank Takes Center Stage

By Claire Kirch -- Publishers Weekly, 8/28/2008 7:43:00 AM

There’s a lot happening this fall at Left Bank Books in St. Louis. The store, which celebrated its 39th anniversary in July, is opening a downtown store, which at 5,500 square feet, is significantly larger than its 4,000-square-foot soon-to-be flagship store in the city’s Central West End neighborhood. St. Louis developer Craig Heller, the owner of Loft Work Company, is financially backing Left Bank’s second location for the first three years, after which store co-owners Kris Kleindienst, Barry Leibman, and Jarek Steele can opt to buy Heller out and assume complete financial responsibility for the store.

“Heller will be responsible for all expenses,” Kleindienst told PW, disclosing that she and her partners hope to open the downtown outlet by Thanksgiving. The store also will be called Left Bank Books and will carry the same selection of books and sidelines as the Central West End store, “with more of a focus on tourists and conventioneers,” Kleindienst said. “And we’ll have events there to draw in the growing residential population downtown we’ll be serving.”

In collaboration with their local alderman and their landlord, Left Bank is also in the process of putting together a financing package to upgrade their current location. They will receive a grant from the city to improve the store’s exterior, as well as a low-interest loan from the city to upgrade computer systems and refurbish the store’s interior. The store will augment these funds with a fundraiser in October that will kick off its “Left Bank Books Awareness campaign,” asking consumers to divert money they would spend on books elsewhere to Left Bank by shopping there.

At the same time, Left Bank will launch a “Friends of Left Bank Books Literary Society” membership drive this fall, hoping to increase the numbers of people who contribute between $35-$175 per year to receive in-store discounts, as well as invitations to members-only events, like an appearance by David Sedaris in June, which netted $4,000 in new memberships. Currently, there are 200 members.

And last, but not least, Left Bank just received notification from the St. Louis mayor’s office that they have received a 2008 neighborhood business of the year award.