The St. Petersburg bookstore located at the heart of the densely Russian populated Brighton Beach is the heart of ‘Little Russia’.   Walking up to the store you smell the food markets selling traditional Russian “piroshki” and “blini” with a hint of sea water in the air.  Upon entering the store you’re immediately hit with its highly organized yet overwhelming variety. Although this takes away from the focus on Russian literature the sole purpose St. Petersburg survives its because of its miscellaneous items.

We also learned, by researching the Brighton Beach location before hand, that St. Petersburg had suffered great inventory loss due to Hurricane Sandy in 2012.  However, volunteers from the Russian community were not disheartened and helped the store get back into operation within four days.  Today, you can see that St.Petersburg stands out as Brighton Beach’s largest attraction and is a store largely valued by its community. -Sarah Ustoyev

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The store is one in which you can see some Russian Babushka walk in to buy her grandson or granddaughter a new toy to throw around with her minimal Medicaid check, or some intellectual looking for the new edition of Ulitskaya’s neuropsychological thrillers. A tourist can walk-in, with little to no help from the stuck-up workers, and find unique Russian souvenirs such as a matryoshka or an embroidered egg. A dad can come buy a bundle of dried leaves for his weekly trip to the Russian bath house with “the boys”; an escape from his strong headed wife and big mouthed children at home.  

Russians are a difficult culture to work with and/or be around when you don’t live in Brighton for a while. We are known for taking advantage of our own rather than coalescing into one. Brighton was created out of necessity rather than want to be together. The Soviet Union taught its people that the needs of foreigners and their view of the nation come before that of the nation itself, which forced people to fight for their own lives. Although everyone was “equal” in theory, no one was actually equal which made neighbors resent neighbors, siblings resent siblings, rural people resent urban dwellers.  

Due to this imbedded hatred, coming to Brighton is never an exciting day, feeling the judgmental stares is never fun, hearing the immature gossip is irritating. Coming to St. Petersburg on the other hand shines a light on my day. Due to my parents’ love for books, I have learned to appreciate to even just the smell of books let alone the content itself. Being surrounded by trinkets, costumes, childhood storybooks, funny t-shirts, flower painted metal pots, traditional tea cups, and the infamous Russian dolls brings me closer to the culture as a second-generation immigrant.

Fair warning however before visiting, get ready for arrogant attitudes from the workers and residence of the neighborhood as well as do not get into political arguments if you are pro-Ukraine or anti-Trump. -Darya Ryndych