A Queens-based nonprofit that provides depressed or mentally ill people with skills for re-entering the workforce opened its first bookstore on Bell Boulevard earlier this month.
Turn the Page… Again, at 39-15 Bell Blvd. in Bayside, employs 14 workers who have had difficulty obtaining employment due to various forms of mental illness.
The used bookstore, which opened Feb. 1, is operated by Transitional Services for New York Inc., a nonprofit that provides jobs, counseling and housing for the mentally ill. The group is based out of Jamaica and has administrative offices in Whitestone.
“We give them opportunities for training, so they could go to work at Rite Aid or Barnes & Noble,” said Barbara Cohen, assistant associate director for TSI. “We help them beef up their résumés and give them job skills. We give them what they need to survive in the workplace and help them to be model employees.”
The group formerly operated a cafe — Arts and Carafes — on Jamaica Avenue at Sutphin Boulevard for the same purpose as the bookstore, but the restaurant is now under new ownership.
All books at the store will be $1 for the rest of the month. In March, customers will pay 50 percent off a book’s original price and will be paid 25 percent off the cover price for all donated books.
Turn the Page’s selection includes children’s books, mysteries, science fiction novels, nonfiction, romance novels, foreign language books and a slew of classics, including Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights,” Edith Wharton’s “The House of Mirth” and D.H. Lawrence’s “Women in Love.”
Employees at the bookstore will work an estimated 10 hours per week at minimum wage. Each worker will stay at the store for six to nine months and then will train other workers before moving on to new jobs, Cohen said.
Kennedy Terry and Jarrette McGrier, both of whom are from Jamaica, said they are responsible for operating the store’s cash register and stocking books.
“We greet customers and see what they are interested in,” McGrier said. “I applied for this job so I could learn another trade.”
The store will hire people 18 years and older from any economic background.
“The criteria is for people who are eager to get back into the workplace,” Cohen said. “With no jobs available right now, we thought this would be good to get people employment-ready. Most of the workers are from Queens and have work experience. But they’re just having trouble getting their sea legs back again, so they need a little support.”
This month visitors will get a free cup of coffee with each purchase.
Turn the Page… Again is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. as well as on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at nduke@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260-4566.