Rockville Centre's Turn of the Corkscrew’s future uncertain

“Are you really closing?” customer Sandra Maliner asked the co-owner of Turn of the Corkscrew Books and Wine as she picked up several books she had ordered.

The local bookstore at 110 N. Park Ave. in Rockville Centre is currently looking for a buyer after recently becoming “cash poor,” meaning their liquid assets have worn thin. “We just don’t have the funds to keep it going the way we’d like to,” co-owner Carol Hoenig said.

The bookshop opened in October 2015; Hoenig and fellow co-owner, Peggy Zieran, each worked for Borders — an international book and music retailer that ceased operations in 2011 — for a dozen or so years and decided to start their own business because of their passions for literature. Despite independent bookstores “closing like crazy,” the duo had hope and said, “What the heck, let’s do it,” Zieran recalled.

Hoenig, of Bellmore, and Zieran, from Levittown, knew things would not be easy but chose to set up shop in Rockville Centre’s downtown, noting its high foot traffic. “We bring a lot to the community,” Zieran said, as she attended to a family browsing the shelves. “People love us.”

The store contains a few rooms with bookshelves stocked with good reads for purchase and tables and chairs for customers to relax. A café in the back serves beer, wine, coffee and other treats, and the store’s basement doubles as an event space. Zieran pointed out that bookstores are less formal than government-regulated libraries, which she noted “don’t serve wine or beer!”

Turn of the Corkscrew has book clubs for children and adults and hosts events for advocacy groups, such as Raising Voices USA. “We open up this place to everyone,” Zieran said.

They also invite writers to come by, because, “What’s a bookstore if you can’t do book events?” Zieran quipped. In the past, the shop has also co-hosted events at Molloy College’s Madison Theatre to hold larger audiences, featuring journalists like Cokie Roberts, Leslie Stahl and Maria Shriver as well as television host Kathie Lee Gifford.

“It’s the best little bookshop around,” customer Ruth Redlener said. She prefers to browse the store — feeling the books and perusing their jackets— rather than order online. “You can’t do that with Amazon,” she noted. “Bookstores are a dying breed.”

Daniel Bach, Zieran’s former co-worker at Borders, came by the shop with his young son last week to get a birthday present for his niece. “I’d rather pick up a book [for her] than a Barbie doll,” he said. Bach pointed out that he has dyslexia and added, “It’s important to read.”

Unfortunately for the shop, Zieran said, summer is not the best time for business, as people tend to read more when the temperature is cooler.

If all goes according to plan, the co-owners said, they will find a buyer that will allow Zieran and Hoenig to keep working there and doing what they do best. “We would love to be able to stay,” Hoenig said. They are also looking at other options, such as subleasing the basement or having another business take over the café.

Nonetheless, the local business owners plan on keeping their doors open and holding events as long as they can. “We don’t want this to be lost,” Hoenig said. “We think it’s important to the community. We have no intention of closing at this point.”