This New Book Is a Love Letter to Small Shops Throughout New York City

19.09.2023 - 22:37 / cntraveler.com

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For decades, couple and photography duo James and Karla Murray have walked, subwayed, and driven through the streets of New York City, with their camera trained on one easily overlooked subject: mom-and-pop shops.

“We wanted the stores to be the heroes,” says Karla. “So we take the photos straight-on, as if you're standing against the wall across the street.” The project, which James described as “initially purely aesthetically driven” started somewhat by accident, but has since become a concerted effort to document the vintage neon signs; old-school hand-painted lettering; and otherwise standout storefronts that have caught their eyes over the years. Together, they serve as a reminder that New York City, devastatingly vast as it can feel, is the sum of so many little parts—lives, stories, efforts to get by—woven together.

The authors of ‘Store Front NYC,’ James and Karla Murray.

Their new book, Store Front NYC: Photographs of the City’s Independent Shops, Past and Present, out September 19, celebrates 200 of these small businesses throughout New York City's five boroughs. With full-page images of local shops, taken in their now-signature bang-on style (which many will recognize from their Instagram account, @jamesandkarla), the book gathers images taken since 2001. There are landmarks most New Yorkers will recognize, like Peter Pan Donuts, with its sugar-filled window display in Greenpoint, and the iconic exposed brick of Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. But there are also places that have since closed or disappeared—from the CBGB music club in the East Village, or Lenox Lounge in Harlem. “When we photographed these, they were all still in business,” says Karla. “We didn't know they would close.”

As a six-years-and-counting Brooklyn resident, and longtime @jamesandkarla follower, I had to hear more from the Murrays about this veritable encyclopedia of shops. I hopped on the phone with James and Karla, who were eager to share how they envision the book guiding travelers “out of Times Square;” which stores are such local secrets they were hesitant to reveal them (there's a spot in Prospect Lefferts Gardens that has "best eggplant parm on a hero"); and what the changing face of New York City's streets says about the city on the whole.

Find the full interview below.

Ralph's Discount City was open from 1963-2007 in Manhattan (2004).

Every New Yorker has their own origin story with the city—where they're from, how they got here, why they came. What are your relationships to New York City?

Karla Murray: I was born in Mount Sinai