NEIGHBORHOOD INTRIGUE: It's A Bookstore On Bleecker For Marc Jacobs?

We have known for a while that Marc Jacobs was taking over the former Biography Bookshop space across the street from his Bleecker Street boutique, but this week's buzz tells us that he is turning the former bookshop into... a bookshop.

Okaaay...

Of course, Marc has been responsible for more than a few head-scratchers in his time, so it's surprising, but then not so much.

Jeremiah's Vanishing New York has noticed that the unassuming message in gold letters reading, "A bookstore will be opening here Winter 2010," appeared in the window of the space after the Biography Bookshop vacated. The space is undergoing extensive renovation, so it will be several months before it will be ready for any new occupant. Style.com editor Meenal Mistry has tweeted that the store will be called BookMarc (so clever). Jacobs himself has so far remained silent.

It should be noted that Biography's lease was up, and it wasn't necessarily ended specifically for Marc Jacobs despite the endless amount of neighborhood hand-wringing and griping that accompanies any of his retailing activities in the West Village. He simply took the space that became available —since he could afford it. Why he wants his own bookstore is anyone's guess. After all, independent bookstores are not exactly a growth industry, but the designer's general success makes him tough to second guess.

The typically suspicious and anti-Jacobs minded Jeremiah also reports that rumors allegedly point to the designer as the wealthy anonymous donor who has made $700,000 available to renovate the seating area next to the Bleecker Playground at West 11^th Street, presumably for his own nefarious purposes. We don't expect that this will ever be confirmed because it is an anonymous donation, but it's hard to criticize anyone for donating nearly a quarter of a million dollars to renovate a public park, don'tcha think?

Stealth Marc Jacobs? (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)
Mystery donor’s big bucks back Bleecker park rehab (The Villager)