One Year of Big Red Books

Richard Fulco has always been a book lover; having worked as an English teacher and a published novelist himself, that quality tends to come with the job. Now after years of instructing and creating, Fulco holds the title many book lovers dream of. Richard Fulco is a Book Shop Owner. Big Red Books in Nyack has officially had their big red door open for the last 365 days and while book stores all over the country are seeing a surge in customer activity post-Covid, several unique elements about Big Red Books set the shop apart from big chain book sellers. 

Fulco’s tender care and thoughtfulness is evident throughout both his shop and in the skillfully curated events hosted by Big Red Books. When perusing the shelves of Big Red Books, there are blurbs written for many of his eclectic collection of novels. Fulco proudly shared that while he tries to write as many blurbs as he can, several of them have been written by his own children. A painting of the big red couch that occupies the middle of Fulco’s shop was lovingly crafted by his artist wife and became the logo for the store. As Fulco sat on the aforementioned couch, he shared that what really sets this family owned business apart is the dedication to making Big Red Books a welcoming community hotspot. Of course, Fulco thoroughly enjoys his curation of the books that line his shelves, suggesting the perfect recommendations for his customers and keeping his eyes peeled for the latest novels, but what really seems to drive him is the interactions with the community. Fulco is brimming with ideas for how he can bring the community together and into his shop, and over the last year he has been testing them out to see what Nyack denizens seem to enjoy. One of his most memorable events of the last twelve months was a fundraiser for the Nyack Homeless Project featuring Litany Burns and Judith Rose. They held a night of spoken word and raised over $500 in donations for the Nyack Homeless Project. Rose, who started out as a customer of Big Red Books, will now be coming back again in November for a dance-centered event to be held in the space. 

This time next year, Fulco said that he hopes to “…keep doing what (he’s) doing”. He looks forward to continuing to grow his newsletter, to building and maintaining strong customer relationships, and to keep making the store a destination for creatives and book lovers of all sorts. Fulco plans to install a reading series with local writers and local playwrights to engage another artistic facet of the creative community of Nyack, as well as holding a memoir writing workshop. More information regarding events and store hours can be found at bigredbooks.net.