Barnes and Noble in New York City: A Refuge to the Homeless

Talk about freebies in New York. It's a commonly known fact that simply by walking through Times Square on a Monday morning, you may be barraged with an assortment of complimentary condoms, promotional mints and tee-shirts, or that ever-present "once-in-a-lifetime" spa treatment that is only offered to "ten lucky ladies"--one of which you always happen to be. It's no secret that New York is teeming with free things--strings attached or not--but who would have thought that New York City offered free housing as well?

I walked into the Barnes and Noble on Astor Place near downtown's Cooper Square on Valentine's Day in hopes of celebrating Singles Awareness with a friend over coffee in B&N's quaint café. To my surprise, over the last few months my once-favored bookshop had morphed into a hangout for the homeless. Now that I think back on it, the change was gradual; an overweight bearded man dozing in the Romance section, a bag lady lounging with a magazine in a corner. At first I found it charming, taking their presence to be a symbol of the universal power and magnetic appeal that books have on all types of people. It wasn't until I had trouble reaching for Steinbeck because a man was sprawled on the ground beneath a shelf, that I started to get annoyed.