In a major development for Bed-Stuy’s literary community, prominent journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones is partnering with well-known local entrepreneurs to open a literary salon and bar in the former home of iconic Macon Hardware, located at the corner of Macon Street and Marcus Garvey Boulevard.
Before closing in 2023, Macon Hardware had a long history as one of Bed-Stuy’s longest standing Black-owned businesses — and longest-standing businesses in general. The building will continue its legacy housing a business in service to the community, and Hannah-Jones said she was honored to keep it Black owned.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, perhaps best known for The 1619 Project, along with business partners Rotimi and Ayo Akinnuoye, the team behind Bed-Stuy’s beloved Bed-Vyne businesses, and DJ Johnson, owner of New Orleans bookstore and cafe Baldwin & Co., are preparing to open The North Star Books + Bar in the space at 339 Macon St.
Hannah-Jones, a professor at Howard University and co-founder of the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting who has worked as a staff reporter for The Oregonian, ProPublica, and The New York Times, where she is currently a correspondent, told Brownstoner that, in addition to being a bookstore, bar, and cafe, The North Star Books + Bar will serve as a literary salon designed to be “a draw for great Black writers and creators from across the globe.”
“I’m very plugged into the writer community, I’m friends with a lot of great writers, and wanted to be able to bring those writers into our community,” she said. “Whenever you have big book events in the city, they’re not at Black bookstores and they’re not in Black neighborhoods, so I really wanted to bring that to Bed-Stuy. People should expect all of their writing heroes.”
The two-story brick corner building at 339 Macon Street, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant/Expanded Stuyvesant Heights Historic District, has apartments on the second floor that Hannah-Jones said will be used for micro-residencies, offering visiting writers a place to stay and engage in community work.
On top of author talks and performances, the space will host other community programming, including writing workshops and book clubs. “I really, really want it to be a space, especially in these times, where creative folks can come together and exchange knowledge, ideas, literature, art,” she said.
The design of the space, now undergoing a gut renovation, is inspired by the Harlem Renaissance and its literary salons, with an Art Deco aesthetic, Hannah-Jones said.
“The space will pay tribute to Black writers of all eras and of all forms,” she said.
A Bed-Stuy resident for nearly 15 years, Hannah-Jones has been hosting reading events in her home and planning a public space with her partners for five years. When a previous lease fell through at the last minute, she decided, if possible, she wanted to own the building they would be opening in.
After searching for some time, she saw a social media post showing 339 Macon Street was for sale and, on driving by, thought it seemed perfect. Hannah-Jones said she made her case to owner Warren Hayes, as a longstanding Bed-Stuy resident heavily invested in the community, on why he should sell it to her.
“Mr. Hayes was very happy to be able to sell it to someone who is in the community and cares about the community and will create a great community space,” she said, adding, “I’m very much aware of the history, and very much honored to keep the building Black owned, frankly.”
Macon Hardware, open since at least 1930, had been operated by the Hayes family since 1987, when it was purchased by husband and wife Peter and Clara Hayes. The couple had a long and deep connection to the store prior to the purchase: Peter, who grew up in the neighborhood, began working there at 12 years old.
Clara took over its running when Peter passed, but following Clara’s death in 2022, there was no one left in the family to continue running the store, which had become a community hub. In 2023, her son Warren Hayes told Brownstoner he had made the difficult decision to put the building up for sale.
City records show North Carolina nonprofit Self-Help Venture Fund, which lends to other nonprofits, purchased the building in February 2024 for $2.6 million. (It’s a bridge loan and Hannah-Jones is the owner of the building, she said.)
is building out a full kitchen and consulting with chefs on the menu, but Hannah-Jones said that when they open, which she hopes will be at the start of the new year, they’ll begin small.
“We’re not going to have a huge menu. It’s hard enough to make money on books, but we will have the capability to offer a full menu whenever we’re ready,” she said.
The North Star Books + Bar is in good company in terms of independent bookstores in Bed-Stuy. In recent years, bookstore openings in the neighborhood have included Dear Friends Books and The Word Is Change, both on Tompkins Avenue. In September, a Black-owned bookstore and wine bar for Black lesbians, Gladys Books & Wine, opened in the old Brookland Capital spot on Malcolm X Boulevard. Back in 2010, Black-owned bookstore Brownstone Books closed its doors on Lewis Avenue after a 10-year run in the neighborhood.
This story first appeared on Brooklyn Paper’s sister site Brownstoner.
