Archestratus Books + Foods, which opened in 2015 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, N.Y., is "expanding next door to add an entirely new book-browsing area, while the original space at 160 Huron Street will offer an expanded Italian grocery, more café seating, plus beer, wine and cocktails (provided Lipari can upgrade her current liquor license)," New York magazine's Grub Street blog reported. When the new space opens, the two areas will link up under outdoor party lights.
Owner Paige Lipari spoke with Grub Street about the challenge of expanding her small business in the current climate: "Right before coronavirus hit, I was applying for SBA loans and trying to negotiate a lease on Manhattan Avenue. I was going to move around the corner into a much larger space, but something didn't feel right, so I pulled out of the deal. Three weeks later, my employees couldn't come to work because of the stay-at-home order. I felt fortunate I hadn't expanded. But I had still started to feel like we were outgrowing the space. I had things I wanted to do with the bookstore; I wanted more event space, and I wanted to be able to fit as many people as possible for the pop-up chefs."
To fund the expansion, Lipari said she had to be creative: "I've applied to so many different loans. This is not the best time. A lot of banks weren't even entertaining loans for the past year. I haven't been able to get any disaster-relief funding, besides some PPP, because we don't actually qualify. So I invented 'All Domani's Parties,' which are events in the future. We'll have a rainbow-cookie class, and timballo night and Parm nights from the future. And they will happen. All the people who bought dinners for the future honestly funded this project. It's amazing. It was a different way of crowdfunding. I wasn't overtly saying, 'I need $75,000 to expand,' but people just got excited about going to future events. That's what really helped us."
Archestratus is still feeling the effects of the pandemic. "My staff that I've grown in the last year are all lovely and amazing," Lipari said. "I've put out the word that I'm hiring for three months. I'm being very choosy for people with the right energy for this Archestratus expansion. There are way fewer people applying than normal. I'm being more discerning and there are fewer people.
"Everyone is experiencing coronavirus in different ways. Our vendors don't always have what we want. We don't get consistent deliveries. It's improved a lot this year, but nothing is completely back to normal. I've really had to hunker down and be solipsistic. I've focused on our business, making all this work. I'm so excited to open the doors and share everyone else's food and be a cheerleader for other people. I can't wait for that--it's very exciting to me."