Book her! Fort Greene woman inks lease on shop

A would-be bookseller has moved one step closer to bringing an independent bookstore to Fort Greene.

“It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: the lease is signed, the contractors are on their way, and we’ve got an opening date target for September,” Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, the founder of Greenlight Bookstore, gushed in an e-mail to The Brooklyn Paper last week.

The lease is for a storefront at the corner of Fulton Street and S. Portland Avenue in the bookish heart of the neighborhood.

Fort Greene has rallied around Stockton Bagnulo’s business vision ever since she won a $15,000 grant from the Brooklyn Public Library last year to do the impossible: open a bookstore in this electronic age.

But challenges remain for the shopkeeper.

There have been modest investments from neighbors, but Stockton Bagnulo and her partner, Rebecca Fitting, are still seeking financial backing.

Here's to the winner: This was Jessica Stockton Bagnulo (second from left) after she won a big award from the Brooklyn Public Library to open a bookstore. Now, she's signed a lease.

For info about Greenlight Bookstore, visit abookstoreinbrooklyn.blogspot.com.