Back in 2014, lifelong Bronx resident and human resources professional Noëlle Santos saw a petition online to save the Bay Plaza Shopping Center Barnes and Noble, the only bookstore in the borough at the time. More than 3,000 supported the petition, but the bookstore ended up closing in January 2017, because of a rent increase.

Two years after signing that petition, and after attending courses on managing bookstores and signing up for start-up competitions, she launched a crowdfunding campaign to open her own—and only—general-interest bookstore in the borough: The Lit. Bar.

“1.4 million people...ten colleges... 42.7 square miles... and no bookstore,” she wrote in the online campaign. “Right here in the capital of the world, smh.”

She raised more than $170,000, and this Saturday, April 27, on National Independent Bookstore Day, the store will finally open its doors.

Located at 131 Alexander Avenue in the Bronx’s Mott Haven, the bookstore’s mission, as its website reads, will be to “create a haven that inspires reading, encourages healthy social interaction, highlights diverse voices, and increases intellectual visibility in the Bronx.”

As Santos told Teen Vogue in a recent interview, it was important for her to make the place multifunctional so members of the community could hold a wide range of meetings and events. She’s also emphasized on diversity and representation, highlighting titles such as The Women Who Made New York and African American and Latinx History in the U.S.

“I used to measure my success by how far I could get away from the Bronx,” Santos told Teen Vogue two years ago. “The moment I was ready to get out of dodge, some higher power said, ‘No, it’s you, and you need to stay here and do something about it.’”