Who or What: Henry Zook, Zack Zook, and Mary Gannett

Bookstore: BookCourt

Image:

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Image Source: Photo of by Joshua Kristal. “BookCourt Expands on Court Street in Cobble Hill.” South Brooklyn Post. 24 May 2011.

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Additional Information: Henry Zook and Mary Gannett met while working part-time at WordsWorth, an independent bookstore on Harvard Square in 1979. The following year, they were married and working in publishing in New York. They opened BookCourt in 1981, and despite their separation in the early 2000s, they have ran the business together ever since. Son Zack left home at 17 to attend the University of the Virgin Islands and get out of the city but returned 2005 to help with the store. His parents e became general manager and started up an events series, which the store had not placed an emphasis on before. Zack moved into an apartment down the hall from the one he grew up in, and now he and his parents work in the store together 60 to 70 hours a week. Mary manages the children's section and Henry is the adult frontlist and backlist buyer for the store.

Sources:

Rosenblum, Constance. “Over the Family Store, Staff Quarters.” The New York Times 26 July 2009. Web. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/realestate/26habi.html.

Glorioso, Alexandra. “BookCourt Expands on Court Street in Cobble Hill.” South Brooklyn Post 24 May 2011. Web. http://southbrooklynpost.com/shopping-services/bookcourt-court-street.