Beloved Port Washington staple the Dolphin Bookshop closing its doors

For the past 9½ years, Judith Mitzner has walked into the Dolphin Bookshop in Port Washington every weekday morning and has done her usual routine — count the drawer, turn on the computers, tidy the shelves and prepare for customers — but at the end of the month it will all end when the beloved shop closes its doors.

Mitzner made the announcement on Monday via social media. The bookshop has been a staple in Port Washington for 76 years. It dates to 1946 and has cycled through three locations, four owners and several expansions as it tried to keep up with the times.

Mitzner said diminishing sales and an increase in rent influenced her decision to not renew her lease. The COVID-19 pandemic, she noted, escalated the situation.

“Over the [past] year, we haven’t seen the kind of traffic that we need in order to make it work,” Mitzner said. “This was a love project … but it’s asking for too much.”

The Dolphin Bookshop, which sits at the corner of Main Street and Shore Road, will join a growing list of independent bookstores that have shuttered amid the pandemic because of financial demands and decreased sales. This includes the Book Revue, Long Island’s largest independent bookstore that served Huntington for more than four decades, which closed in September 2021 after the owner couldn’t agree on new lease terms with the landlord (Mallory Braun, a former Book Revue manager, is expected to open its successor, The Next Chapter, next month). 

On Monday, Dolphin Bookshop saw a steady flow of customers, many expressing disappointment about the pending closure.

Linda Villano, 57, of Port Washington, said the bookstore was always a welcoming place, where customers would buy gifts, attend events and meet authors.

“Their motto has been ‘a town without a bookstore is a town without a heart,’ and that is the truth,” Villano said. 

Eric Schulmiller, 50, of Port Washington, said he first frequented the bookstore when it was on Port Washington Boulevard, and was excited when it moved to its current larger location.

Schulmiller, who left Monday with several books, applauded Dolphin Bookshop for giving local authors exposure. He said the closure will leave a big hole in the community and urged residents to shop local.

“It’s always good to shop local, especially if it’s with a place that cultivates a relationship with their community,” Schulmiller said.

As for her next chapter, Mitzner said she is unsure what will be written.

“It’s going to be hard to replace something that you do because you love to do it,” she said.