Greenlight Bookstore

It’s so easy to fall in love with bookstores and Greenlight is an easy target. Nestled in the adorable Fort Greene, the Greenlight is a quiet haven for reading and exploring.
A warm, happy place, the tables are stocked high with paperback favorites, New York-​related books, and coffee table reads. The store is well stocked with all the current fiction favorites, providing staff recommendations as well.
The staff is great, always around to check and see if a book is in stock. They have a wide range of books and a great selection but they will help you if you can’t find something you want.
They also have a deal for every $ 200 you spend, they give you $ 10. They keep your name on file and add your purchases each time you come in. A great idea for customer loyalty!

Absolutely the best book store! Every time I’ve asked for gift suggestions for all ages (but particularly children, and I do not have my own) the staff is SO knowledgable and makes ME look like a hero to the recipients. So dependable, so kind, so neighborhood essential. Love Greenlight!

The term «neighborhood gem» was created for places like Greenlight. Always a good selection of books, helpful staff, and many events/​readings. Plus BAM members get a 20% discount!

Great book store with a phenomenally hand picked selection. I always find what I’m looking a for but its never an overwhelming selection. Staff is super helpful and friendly, but not overbearing. My favorite bookstore in this area by far!

What a great little hidden gem I found while traveling home from my friend’s studio at Green point. I remember seeing a bookstore on the way to the train and I decided to visit it after the session and I was not disappointed. They have a great collection, a relaxing layout, and some really nice staff workers.
In all honesty this is also a great place for kids! They have events and book readings every week for the little ones and they have an online website that detail there events and book readings.
Overall it was a great place to hide from the spring humidity for a bit an enjoy a browse through a very calm and organized bookstore with the hustle and bustle of a giant chain store.
Some things to take note of — reasonable prices (some books as low at $ 12.99−15.99 and some really courteous workers. Seriously just really polite people across the board.
Great store! Brooklyn Bookstore to the fullest!

Greenlight is a clean, well-​lit, relaxing and comfortable place to spend time and browse books or find a great greeting card. Employees don’t hover, but are available, knowledegable, friendly and helpful when you need them. The prices are ordinary, but the «staff pick» book is reduced-​price. I don’t really mind paying the list price at a really nice brick-​and-​mortar store because of the added value of how much I enjoyed the browsing experience.

Neighborhood brick-​and-​mortar bookstores are the best!

Beautiful bookstore with very nice selection, lots of hardcovers. A nice place to mill and check the surrounding area out. Nice selection of cards and potential gifts.

I feel like a sleazebag for saying it, but Greenlight doesn’t exactly do it for me. I’ve spent a lot of time asking myself why. The main thing I want to say here and now is that I go in frequently willing to buy something, and leave empty-​handed. As a voracious reader, I am as surprised by that as perhaps they are.
Here are a few thoughts as to why — though I am deeply grateful such a place exists in my neighborhood — it doesn’t scratch my itch.
The feel of the store is cool: blond wood.
The selection is overweighted towards officially «significant» (well-​reviewed in the right venues) fiction.
Corollary: the fiction is all expensive.
Corollary: as another commenter has noticed, there is virtually no genre fiction: thrillers, mysteries, romances.
The layout favors Children’s books much more than, say, history. As a non-​child I feel vaguely elbowed aside.
They have foreign language books, but in so stingy a selection that I wonder, Why bother? Ditto dictionaries and other forms of «information.»
For a bookstore catering, plainly, to the highly educated, why are there so few books about, say, Beethoven or Shakespeare?
More essays!
I wish I could put my finger on my distress. These are plainly serious people running a serious bookstore: given that even most Manhattanites live in bookstore-​starved neighborhoods, how can I complain? And yet, why do I so often leave depressed, not exhilarated, and emptyhanded rather than laden with purchases?
There is something too-​quiet, too-​perfect, too-​smart about this store. I am someone who reads Proust in French, so I’m hardly a thug. But even I feel like I can’t ask for, certainly not hope to find, the latest Lee Child. But why not? People read for multiple reasons, and they are not always of the most exalted.
Greenlight, I thank you, I truly do! But I seldom think with joy of you; whereas I do of smaller, quirkier, cozier places like Word in Greenpoint or Community Bookstore in Park Slope. Is there no way you can be a little trashier and more lovable?

«Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book» –Author Unknown
I love books, I love libraries and bookstores but I’m a bit conflicted about this one.
My visits here while in no way terrible ones are always a bit cold. No one has ever been rude! In fact staff members are always professional but I get the feeling that it’s not a place for «small talk». I just imagined, hoped for that independent community bookstore vibe.
Don’t shoot me and my review down because I’ve seen the wonderful raves about this bookstore but I can only speak about MY experiences so ima have to sit this (the glowing reviews) one out.
I’ll update after another visit.
Not quite the End.

Every time I come in here to browse or buy a birthday card or something, I’m reminded of how I wish I read more. The selection on display at Greenlight is extremely well-​curated – I could easily spend several hundred dollars every time I come in. I love how they make a point to feature local writers too, and the people that work there are always very nice and helpful. If only I had more time and money to read – one day!

If there isn’t a famous saying about how every neighborhood needs a bookstore, there should be. And that bookstore should be like Greenlight – warm, welcoming, and for everyone. I’ve been to a few readings here, and have stopped in when killing time to browse and it’s always a pleasure. The staff is beyond friendly, and they carry pretty much any book you could want, and if they don’t have it, they can order it for you. Did I talk about the readings, which are varied and feature big names and smaller indie writers? They really make an effort to reach a broad audience, and the staff recommendations are great as well. Three cheers to Greenlight!

T’was a balmy and foggy Halloween when me and Spiderman walked out of the rain, away from bats and cats and scary masks and cardboard boxed people; away from BAM’s entertaining but extremely over-​crowded Halloween festival and into a minty fresh experience at the very peaceful Green light bookstore.
In this delightful book haven, we found:
Warm and friendly customer service, eager to give away all their Halloween candy;
An extraordinary book selection that we’re dying to peruse for hours, again and again;
Toys, toys and dare I say actually fun, learning toys. When Spiderman took it upon himself to pick one up in honest interest, I almost froze in disbelief;
An air of true Brooklyn love.

I love Greenlight! Happy 5 Year Anniversary!
Great author event series and really beautiful, well curated collection. It’s easy to pass a few hours here and feel like you’ve seen everything. I’ve seen a few great authors here, especially Anthony Doerr and Emily St. John Mandel. Because of their events, the store has a great selection of signed books and signed first editions.
Staff picks are at a reduced price, so if you’re looking for a deal, you can sort of find one here.
It’s not Amazon, so you should feel good about spending a little extra on these books. You can see the people (authors, booksellers, store owners) they support.
Shop local this holiday and always. Let’s keep Greenlight around for at least another 5 years — if not more!

Sweet bookstore. Lots of copies of books with signed copies by authors. Lots of books that are either currently hiply popular or hiply canonical. Just hip, I guess. Even a section of hip kids books. I succumbed to the hipness and purchased a book with a copy signed by the author. It will sit on my shelves, probably unread, with the others, hopefully collecting innumerable value.

We always make it a point to stop by this wonderful neighborhood bookstore whenever we’re in the area. It’s such a joy to shop in a friendly, well-​lighted space.
While they may not have every single book in stock like some of the big-​box retailers, the staff in our experience is happy to special-​order whatever you’re looking for and call or e-​mail you when it’s in. I would rather buy here than online any day of the week!

I hadn’t realized I hadn’t reviewed this bookstore yet — I’ll make this one short & sweet.
I really love the space here — always find myself browsing around forever, but I only think I’ve ever bought one book. That is probably because my main motivation for stopping in is always their greeting card selection.
I’ve purchased many a birthday card, holiday card, new baby card, and even postcard at Greenlight. Their selection is really interesting and contains a lot of Brooklyn-​inspired cards as well. My most successful Christmas card was found here this past December, if that gives any indication.
They have a lot of events here — it’s worth checking their calendar or joining the mailing list. They also have a frequent customer program — all they need is your email (just as ID, not to send you anything), and once you hit a certain amount spent, you get something in return. Unfortunately, it’s been a while since they explained it to me, so I can’t remember how much you have to spend, nor what amazing treat you receive when you get there. But apparently it was enough to entice me, who rarely buys more than cards! Check it out next time you’re here.

I love this store. Really well-​curated selection (I can spend an entire afternoon going through their recommended picks and wish I had more money and time to read them all). Perfect size and efficient layout, friendly and helpful staff, and not corporate. They probably won’t have Dean Koontz and Tom Clancy but I consider this a good thing. They have books by authors I actually want to read (is that pretentious to say? So be it).
Definitely check out their cookbook/​food writing section. Excellent and tasteful picks from indie chefs that are doing really cool things with food. It’s one of my favorite areas of the store.

I was on my way to practice and realized I was half an hour early so I explored the neighborhood and found this gem.
It was cozy and super friendly, and the atmosphere was just welcoming.
I absolutely loved it! Will be back soon to purchase some books.

I’m conflicted because having worked and managed two independent bookstores, I want to give this one more star, but the staff is so… so-​so!
They’re okay, but it’s just a weird vibe. I have to say they are helpful at finding titles and really promote their rewards program, but for some reason I don’t think of them when I want to get a book.
I’m happy they’re in the neighborhood though and I love a good bookstore, but I just wish their customer service would be better. Hmm, maybe I’m sensitive.