January 26, 2008: Vol. 31, No. 4

A new bookstore and café opened last week on the City Tech campus Downtown, but the public will have to wait at least a week more before they can partake of the gourmet coffee and organic snacks.

That’s because red tape is holding back the scrappy new café, which hopes to compete with the Starbucks and the Au Bon Pain in the Metrotech Center a block away.

“I’ve been to the licensing center in Manhattan so many times, I don’t even want to think about it,” said Melissa White, manager of the bookshop, which is at the corner of Adams Street and Tech Place. “It’s a very slow process.”

The health inspector was due to give the store its preliminary inspection on Jan. 25, a full week after the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The café is located within the college’s official bookstore, which is managed by Follett Higher Education Group, but both the café and the bookstore, which stocks the latest John Grisham novels and other general interest works alongside the requisite school textbooks, are open to the general public.

“We’re hoping to draw people from the courthouse and Metrotech,” White said.

Once the Health Department gives the green light, the café will serve wrap and deli sandwiches as well as salads and other pre-made victuals, with a focus on organic snacks.

“We’re jumping on that bandwagon,” White said.

If all goes well, the café will have nine tables and 36 seats.

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper