Bibliofile: Morningside Bookshop

Peter Soter purchased the bookstore formerly known as Papyrus in January 2004. After five months of renovations, the newly christened “Morningside Bookstore” opened on July 1.

“I loved Papyrus; I worked there for 13 years. In many ways, we’re still that bookstore,” he said.

But Soter is trying to drop the loftier, more academic connotations of the Papyrus name in part to help differentiate it from Labyrinth. Whereas Labyrinth caters more to the University market, Morningside Books is meant to be a “more general neighborhood store. We have best-sellers and cookbooks.”

Raised on 113th and Riverside, Soter is “a local guy with a local bookstore, trying to appeal to local people.” Judging by the stream of customers who came in to greet him by name, he is doing just that.