By Lindsey Wojcik

When Vina Castillo was in her early teens, she scribbled a drawing of the bookstore she dreamed of opening one day on a napkin. As an avid reader at an early age, Castillo hoped to find a career in which she could be around books all the time. In college, she focused on English literature and publishing, which cemented the idea that working with books in some capacity—whether with a publisher or in a store—was the path to take. Through her journey in the literary world, she found herself working at literary agencies, publishers, and, eventually, during her senior year of college, the Barnes & Noble located in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, N.Y.

At Barnes & Noble, Castillo, 26, connected with other book lovers—customers and colleagues alike. The environment at the Forest Hills Barnes & Noble was unlike any other location in New York City, Castillo says, noting that she had previously worked at the four-story location in Manhattan's Union Square. The Forest Hills store did not have a cafe or music store, and it became a meeting place for many neighborhood residents. The staff was also tight-knit.

However, after 20 years in Forest Hills, Barnes & Noble decided to close the location last December. The announcement shook local residents and the store's employees. An online petition to keep the store open garnered more than 6,300 signatures. Although Castillo had left her position at the location for another pursuit months prior to the closing, she recognized the demand for a bookstore in Forest Hills, and saw an opportunity to realize her dream of opening one of her own.

She pitched the idea to a group of her former Barnes & Noble colleagues. “During a giant group discussion with a bunch of us who used to work together, Vina said, ‘Hey, I’m just throwing this out there: What if we opened our own store?'” recalls Holly Nikodem, who also worked at the Forest Hills Barnes & Noble with Castillo.

“I said, ‘If each of you chipped in, it could happen,’” Castillo says.

Some 15 people were included in the group chat on Instagram, but only two—Nikodem, 30, and Natalie Noboa, 23, who had also both left their positions at Barnes & Noble before it closed—took Castillo’s suggestion seriously. Thus, The Queens Bookshop, an initiative to bring a bookshop back to Forest Hills, was founded.