By Salomé Davoudiasl
In the heart of Mount Sinai’s historic district, a new bookstore has emerged as a haven for readers seeking cozy corners, Victorian-inspired decor, and shelves devoted entirely to imagination.
Unlike many independent bookstores that purposefully avoid niche genres, owner and founder Krista Lochren makes a point of stocking only fiction books, specifically science fiction, horror, and fantasy. The only nonfiction selection is placed on a $2 rack of donations, outside the store.
“The world is scary and stressful,” said Lochren. “We need places to decompress. For me, that means reading stories that let you escape.”
Though not exclusively a genre bookstore, Book and Mortar at 157 North Country Road offers space for readers who crave the extra-ordinary. It’s a subtle but important choice for a bookstore, where such titles often get overlooked unless tied to blockbuster adaptations.
Lochren’s journey to creating Book and Mortar was a plot twist itself. She was studying at the Long Island Business Institute, working towards a degree in Communications, hoping one day to become a court reporter, when the school suddenly shut down.
“I was suddenly thrown into crisis,” Lochren, 30, recalled.
Relief came during a quiet afternoon in a Connecticut coffee shop, when her husband asked her to forget about being realistic. “What was your dream?” he asked her. Lochren didn’t hesitate; she always wanted to open a bookstore.
And then her luck started turning. Because of the school’s accreditation loss, Lochren’s student loans were unexpectedly all forgiven. This gave her the financial freedom to take the leap she never thought possible.
Patchogue was one of the first areas she really considered after endless unlucky negotiations, but the available spaces never felt right.
“It wasn’t freestanding,” she said. “I wanted that escapist vibe where the store feels like its own world. Patchogue would’ve been too modern—neighboring a deli or an insurance agency—and that just wasn’t me.”
Then came a twist of fate that Lochren called “spooky.” Driving through her hometown in Sound Beach, she passes through Mount Sinai, where she noticed a For Sale sign on The Gift Corner, a well-known local shop she had admired since childhood. For years, she had joked with friends and family about what she would do with the building if she ever had the chance.
Now the dream was truly possible.
“I called my husband immediately,” she said.
Over the next two years, Lochren and her circle of family and friends transformed the shop into the intimate, welcoming space it is today. All of the furniture comes from Facebook marketplace, thrift stores, or even the curb. They painted and restored the building themselves, and the result is a space that feels personal, warm, and homemade.
The store’s name is a tribute to her dedication and perseverance through unsolicited skepticism. When Lochren began applying for loans, strangers told her brick-and-mortar bookstores were a dying business. But Lochren persisted and inspiration for the store’s name came from her husband.
“My husband joked, ‘More like book-and-mortar,’ and I thought, That’s perfect.”
Book and Mortar is more than just a bookstore to locals; the shop has quickly become a gathering place. Book clubs, crochet groups, and tarot readings fill the calendar, drawing people who want connection as much as literature.
Lochren smiles when she talks about new mothers who found friendships here, rolling in with strollers, or visitors traveling from Nassau just to spend an afternoon in the space. And because the store is dog-friendly, customers are often greeted by Lochren’s American Hairless Terrier, Bones, who has become a local celebrity in his own right
Book and Mortar and Lochren are a reminder of the importance of fueling fantasy. For her, the same love of fiction that offered escape also gave her the courage to build something real and a dream come true.
Salomé Davoudiasl is a reporter with The SBU Media Group, part of Stony Brook University’s School of Communication and Journalism’s Working Newsroom program for students and local media.
Captions: (All photos by Salome Davoudiasl)
