Push open the door at 44 Mulberry Street and the first thing you notice is the warmth. Not temperature-warmth — atmosphere-warmth. Soft lamps, reclaimed wood, a coffee machine humming somewhere in the back, and shelves of books that look like they were chosen by a person rather than an algorithm. Most bookstores want you to browse and leave. This one wants you to stay.
This is Yu and Me Books, the first Asian-American, woman-owned bookstore in New York City. It opened in December 2021. Its founder, Lucy Yu, was 26 years old. And four years later, this little shop on a Chinatown side street has become one of the most beloved literary spaces in Manhattan — not because of its size, but because of what it survived.
The Fire That Almost Ended It
On July 4, 2023, a fire broke out in a residential unit in the building above the bookstore. A resident died. The store was destroyed. Smoke and water ruined almost the entire inventory. Lucy Yu, who had quit her corporate supply-chain job to build this place from nothing, watched two years of work go up in flames.
What happened next is the part New Yorkers love to tell. A GoFundMe launched within days. Customers who had never met Lucy in person donated anyway. Asian-American writers organized benefits. Neighbors brought hot food. Publishers shipped boxes of new inventory at cost. Within months, the fund had cleared $369,000. By January 28, 2024, Yu and Me Books threw a grand reopening party. The line stretched down Mulberry Street.
The store that reopened is not the store that burned. Lucy rebuilt it smarter. The checkout counter moved to the back so customers can linger in the front without feeling watched. The display tables are on wheels now — the whole store can be reconfigured for readings, launch parties, or community events in about ten minutes. There is a Murphy door that hides a small private reading room. And the basement — which used to be storage — is now a finished second floor with more books and more seating.
What Makes the Shelves Different
Yu and Me focuses on books by writers of color, immigrant stories, and Asian-American voices — not as a themed section tucked in the back, but as the heart of the collection. You will find Ocean Vuong and Cathy Park Hong and Celeste Ng, yes, but also small-press poetry, bilingual children’s books, out-of-print Chinese-American cookbooks, and debut novels from authors you have not yet heard of but will in two years.
Lucy does the curating herself. When you ask a staff member for a recommendation, you get an actual one — a book they have read, with a reason. This is a craft bookstore. It is also a bar. Yu and Me serves beer, wine, and coffee, which is how it stays open late on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, when the front room fills up with people reading, typing on laptops, or talking in the soft way you only talk in places that feel like living rooms.
Insider Tip: The best seat in the house is the small two-top table tucked into the northeast corner, under the window. Arrive on a weekday around 2 p.m., order a coffee, grab a poetry collection off the shelf, and you will have one of the quietest, most perfect hours anyone can have in lower Manhattan. Regulars know this seat. Get there early.
The Events Calendar Is the Secret
The thing most people miss about Yu and Me is that it is as much a venue as it is a store. Book launches, poetry readings, author Q&As, open mics, and monthly book clubs fill the space on a rotating basis. Many events are free. Some sell out in an hour. Following the store on Instagram (@yuandmebooks) is genuinely the best way to catch them — the calendar updates weekly and tickets move fast.
If you have never been to a bookstore reading in New York, this is the one to start with. The room is small enough that you can actually see the author. The Q&A sessions turn into real conversations. And the book signings afterward happen at the coffee bar, which is a better setting than any chain bookstore could manufacture.
Why It Belongs in Chinatown
Lucy chose Chinatown on purpose. Her grandmother worked in the neighborhood for decades. The store sits a three-minute walk from Columbus Park, where older residents still play Chinese chess under the trees, and four minutes from the historic Mahayana Buddhist Temple on Canal Street. The block itself — Mulberry between Bayard and Worth — is one of the oldest continuously commercial streets in Manhattan, dating back to the 1850s.
Having a bookstore that celebrates immigrant stories sitting on a street shaped by immigrant stories is not a coincidence. It is the whole point. When you buy a book here, you are participating in a very specific loop — Chinatown supporting Asian-American writers supporting a Chinatown business owner supporting her neighborhood.
How to Visit
Address: 44 Mulberry Street, Manhattan, NY 10013
Nearest Subway: Canal Street (6, J, N, Q, R, W, Z) is a four-minute walk. Chambers Street (J, Z) is a seven-minute walk.
Hours: Monday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Closed most Sundays (always check Instagram for event nights).
Phone: (646) 559-1165
Cost: Free to browse. Coffee around $5. Books at cover price. Wine and beer modest.
Accessibility: Ground-floor entry. The basement reading room is stairs-only.
Make a Day of It
Yu and Me is a perfect midpoint for a Chinatown walking day. Start with dim sum at Nom Wah Tea Parlor on Doyers Street (five-minute walk). Browse the store. Cross into Little Italy on Mulberry for espresso. Loop back south for Columbus Park’s afternoon chess scene. End at the Museum of Chinese in America on Centre Street if it is open. You will have covered one of the most densely layered square miles in all of New York City, and you will have a bag of books to carry home.
Some bookstores are retail. Yu and Me Books is a room — a specific, loved, rebuilt room full of voices that New York almost lost and then decided to save. Go. Sit. Buy something. That is how rooms like this stay open.
