The rumors are true: Left Bank Books will open a new downtown store, hoping to appeal to convention-goers, office workers and loft residents.

It will be at 10th Street and Locust -  officially 321 North 10th Street, says one of Left Bank’s owners, Kris Kleindienst. “It was an offer we couldn’t refuse. … Craig Heller asked us to open and run this store; he’s paying us to manage it.”

Heller is a real estate developer (Loftworks, Inc.) who lives downtown and who, Kleindienst says,  believes a bookstore will be good “bait” for other store owners. He’s underwriting the store for three years, but Left Bank may agree to buy the space at any time. 

The 5,500-square-foot space has an industrial feel now. Not much will be done to change that, but some soft chairs, area rugs and funky, re-purposed pieces will be added to warm it up. Plus the books, of course. The store will share a free parking lot with City Grocers, but most customers are expected to arrive on foot. The downtown store, which will operate under the same name as the one in the Central West End, is expected to open by Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, the store’s Central West End site is getting about $45,000 in help in St. Louis grants and loans to improve the space at 399 North Euclid Avenue. Health care expenses for employees have made the independent bookstore ever-more difficult to keep going, along with other rising costs, Kleindienst says. She knows a lot of book buyers want to order online and save sales taxes, but notes that those very taxes support essential St. Louis services.

She said that the business is getting an award from Mayor Slay as one of 2008’s Neighborhood Businesses of the Year.