Spoonbill & Sugartown Books

What Spoonbill & Sugartown Books does

Spoonbill & Sugartown Books (DBA: Spoonbill Books) is an independent, founder-owned bookstore established in 1999 by Miles Bellamy and Jonas Kyle in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The company operates a single physical retail location at 218 Bedford Avenue (open daily 11am-9pm) and a Shopify-powered e-commerce storefront that ships to 100+ countries with multi-currency checkout. Its inventory is built around curated depth in art and design, theory, literature, poetry, exhibition catalogues, artist monographs, performance art documentation, photography, Fluxus and avant-garde materials, and rare or out-of-print titles; the store also sells tarot decks and accepts customer book purchases in art, design, literature, philosophy, the occult, poetry, and ephemera.

The business runs on a straightforward transactional retail model. Revenue is generated almost entirely through one-time unit sales of books and specialty items, with individual prices ranging from approximately $25 for accessible editions to over $2,000 for rare collectibles (e.g., Ed Ruscha's 'Thirty Four Parking Lots' at $2,000, Gerhard Richter 'Sindbad' at $800). The company has begun publishing select original titles, notably 'Picasso's Assholes' (2022), conceived by co-founder Jonas Kyle and edited by Jake Shore. Distribution is dual-channel (single physical storefront plus direct-to-consumer e-commerce), and customer acquisition relies on Instagram, an email newsletter, organic search, and word-of-mouth within Brooklyn's art and literary communities. The company has 1-10 employees, no disclosed institutional funding, and no parent organization; it is privately held with ownership concentrated with the founders.

The technology stack is intentionally minimal and consists of Shopify for e-commerce and a broad set of payment integrations (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay, Bancontact, iDEAL Wero). No mobile app, public API, proprietary software, or AI/ML capabilities are present in the source data. Customer segmentation is horizontal, with primary personas in book collectors/art enthusiasts and literature/poetry readers, and secondary segments in tarot/occult collectors and general interest readers. The company is not pursuing M&A, expansion capital, or rapid headcount growth based on available evidence.

Name

Spoonbill & Sugartown Books

Legal name

Spoonbill Books

Website

https://spoonbillbooks.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Spoonbill & Sugartown Books is an independent, founder-owned bookstore in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, founded in 1999, selling curated new and rare books in art, design, theory, literature, and poetry through a single physical storefront and a global Shopify e-commerce site.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Independent Bookstore

NAICS

Book Retailers and News Dealers (4592), Used Merchandise Retailers (45951)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Retail-Catalog & Mail-Order Houses (5961)

akta.pro primary industry

General Bookstores (New Books) (CRALAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Used, Rare & Antiquarian Bookstores (CRALAAAB), Humor, Gift & Specialty Format Books (Journals, Coloring, etc.) (MPAJAAAN), Specialty Genre Bookstores (e.g., Sci‑Fi, Mystery, Poetry) (CRALAAAJ)

Keywords

• Independent bookstore
• Art book retailer
• Rare book dealer
• Tarot deck sales
• Avant-garde literature

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Book Sales: Retail sale of new and used books, art books, exhibition catalogues, rare and out-of-print titles, poetry, and literature. Transaction-based sales through both physical storefront and e-commerce website.
2. Tarot Decks and Specialty Items: Sale of curated tarot decks, cards, notebooks, and specialty merchandise.
3. Book Purchasing Services: Purchases books from customers, focusing on art & design, literature, philosophy, the occult, poetry, and ephemera.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Spoonbill & Sugartown Books operates an independent bookstore retailing new and used books with particular depth in art & design, theory, literature, poetry, exhibition catalogues, rare and out-of-print titles, plus tarot decks and specialty merchandise. Sales occur through a physical storefront in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and a Shopify-powered e-commerce site with worldwide shipping. The store also purchases books from customers and accepts special orders with quick turnaround.

Product overview

Spoonbill & Sugartown Books is an independent bookstore located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, founded in 1999 by Miles Bellamy and Jonas Kyle. The store operates as a physical retail location (open daily 11am-9pm) with a Shopify-powered e-commerce platform. Their product portfolio consists primarily of curated books with particular depth in art & design, theory, literature, poetry, children's books, cookbooks, cards and notebooks. They also offer a selection of tarot decks. Notable book categories include exhibition catalogs, artist monographs, performance art documentation, photography books, Fluxus/avant-garde materials, poetry collections, and rare/out-of-print titles. The store also purchases books from sellers in these specialty areas.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• New and used book retail Curated retail sale of new and used books with depth in art & design, theory, literature, poetry, exhibition catalogues, rare and out-of-print titles, children's books, and cookbooks, sold through a Williamsburg, Brooklyn storefront and Shopify-powered e-commerce site with global shipping.
• Tarot decks and specialty items retail Sale of curated tarot decks (e.g., Fantastical Tarot, The Nigel Jackson Tarot, Experimental Tarot, Roots of Asia Tarot, Egipcios Kier Tarot Deck, Tarot Balbi, Navigators' Tarot of the Mystic Sea, Cagliostro Tarot), cards, notebooks, and specialty merchandise.
• Book purchasing / buy-back service Purchases books from customers focusing on art & design, literature, philosophy, the occult, poetry, and ephemera. Walk-ins accepted Monday-Friday 11am-4pm, with appointments available for larger collections.
• Special order service Accepts special orders for specific titles with quick turnaround (typically within days), available through both in-store and online channels.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration11 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Strand Bookstore: Iconic independent bookstore in NYC's Union Square with a legendary rare-book room; directly comparable as a large-format independent bookseller with deep used and rare inventory serving collectors and general readers.
• Greenlight Bookstore: Independent Brooklyn bookstore with a curated literary selection and strong community programming; directly comparable as a Brooklyn-based indie with similar customer overlap and event-driven GTM.
• McNally Jackson Books: Independent NYC bookstore with curated literary selection and multiple locations; comparable independent bookseller with strong literary/poetry emphasis and a physical-plus-online model similar to Spoonbill's.
• Printed Matter: NYC-based nonprofit bookstore and publisher specializing in artists' books and art publications; directly comparable for Spoonbill's art-book, exhibition-catalog and avant-garde-publishing niche.
• Powell's City of Books: Largest independent bookstore in the US, with deep used and rare inventory and a global online footprint; comparable in operating model as a destination indie with strong rare/used selection and e-commerce reach.
• Housing Works Bookstore: Brooklyn-based nonprofit used bookstore with curated literature, art, and rare sections; comparable for used-book inventory, Brooklyn retail presence, and collector-oriented curation.
• Hennessey + Ingalls: Art bookstore specializing in architecture, design, photography and visual arts; directly comparable to Spoonbill's art-and-design curation focus and collector-driven customer base.

Regional players

• Shakespeare and Company: Legendary English-language independent in Paris with curated new/rare books and online global sales, similar brand cachet among literary travelers; comparable independent bookseller with strong brand and collector focus, though based outside the US.

Broad incumbents

• Barnes & Noble: Largest bookstore chain in the US offering broad new-book inventory plus e-commerce; comparable as a book retailer serving overlapping customer demand, though operating at much larger scale and with mainstream assortment.
• Amazon Books: Dominant online book retailer with extensive new, used, and rare inventory; comparable as a book retail competitor for online customers, particularly on selection breadth and pricing on standard titles.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/spoonbillbooks/?hl=en

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Spoonbill & Sugartown Books