In a year when the retail news for independent bookstores has mostly been eulogies, Marigold Books on Cortelyou Road is doing something almost reckless: getting bigger. The Ditmas Park shop has signed a lease on the vacant laundromat next door and will knock through the shared wall this month, doubling its footprint to 1,400 square feet.

The expansion adds a dedicated children's annex, a reading nook in what was until recently a bank of dryers, and, crucially, a second bathroom, which owner Priscilla Nunes describes as "the most requested title in store history."

The money came from an unusual capital structure: a bank loan, Nunes's savings, and $38,000 raised from 611 neighbors in a three-week community campaign. Contributors get their names hand-painted on the annex's ceiling beams. "It's not charity, it's pre-payment," Nunes said. "These are people buying their next five years of birthday presents in advance."

Sales at Marigold have grown 22 percent since 2024, driven, Nunes says, by school partnerships and a stubbornly analog events calendar of story hours and teen writing nights. Longtime customer Angela Osei-Bonsu put it differently. "The algorithm knows what I already like," she said, browsing with her daughter. "Priscilla knows what I'm ready for next."

The expanded store opens in late September.