Koryo Books: Where K-Pop Fans and Book Lovers Converge in NYC

Visitors to Koryo Books stroll about in no rush. They browse through the “Boy Group” music collection, flip through Korean language books, and scan the back of the store for souvenirs representing Korean culture. No wall of the store is left uncovered, and the shelf labels make it easy for visitors to navigate.

On Korea Way, restaurants, karaoke lounges, and bars fill the street. A standout, Koryo Books, was the first business of its kind to open in Manhattan and a founding part of Koreatown. The bookstore is a popular spot for tourists looking for gifts, locals seeking a specific K-pop album, and students who want to learn Korean. Koryo Books has remained in Koreatown for over 40 years, and for the past 15 years, general manager Chris Im has been in charge.

During our interview with Im, conducted in Korean, he told Untapped New York that over 90% of Koryo's customers are foreigners, often seeking K-pop and Korean language books. 

“The Hallyu [Korean] Wave had a big impact on this store,” Im said. “Sales went up, and our customer base expanded from just Koreans to foreigners and other Americans.” Now, he sees visitors from around the globe, including South America and Europe. 

Although Im said he can relax on the weekends, throughout the week he is at the store helping customers look for merchandise, taking inventory, ordering shipments of books from Korea, and checking which items need to be restocked.

Though a large portion of the store is now full of K-pop merchandise, this was not always the case. 

The original founder and owner of Koryo Books, Choi Eung-pyo, had a passion for reading and wanted to share his love for books with other Korean people in New York City, according to Im. 

Im said the idea for Koryo Books first sprouted when Choi began bringing in books from Korea and started a collection in his Flushing home. He made those books available to Korean people in New York City. As demand grew and readers reacted favorably, Choi expanded by opening up Koryo Books in Manhattan’s Koreatown. 

“This bookstore is the first store in Koreatown. This is where Koreatown started,” Im said. 

However, he said that Koreatown at the time looked very different from how it looks now. The street was not as busy. It contained storage units and some wholesale markets, rather than the businesses prominent in Koreatown today. 

As Koreatown gradually became more developed, Im said Koryo Books continued to sell books, cassette tapes, and Korean handicrafts. 

In the forty-plus years that Koryo Books has operated, there have only been two owners. The latest change in ownership occurred toward the end of 2007, according to an article by The Korea Times from December of that year.

Little information is available about the current owner, Lim Yang-mook, but manager Sunky Kim told Untapped New York that Lim was responsible for gradually introducing K-pop to the store in the 2000s. 

The collection of K-pop items and fan merchandise has since grown exponentially. As a result, Kim said that although the business has always been a bookstore, its offerings in K-pop are what made the store more popular among foreigners and visitors who are not part of the Korean immigrant community. 

Elias Mulios, who is studying music production in Boston, browsed the shelves of Korean comics, situated next to the “Learning Korean” section. He said that his sister used to visit this store about a decade ago to fuel her interest in K-pop. 

Mulios was reminded of the store when he too became interested in Korean music. He returned to the store for Korean language textbooks before studying abroad in Korea. 

He said he is planning to return to Korea to pursue a master’s degree. “I want to look at the manhwa [Korean comics], because I like to watch it, it helps me learn more vocabulary,” Mulios said, referring to the bookshelf of Korean comics.

 Despite Koryo Books being a cultural location in Koreatown, Im said the store lacks the monetary support that ensures it can continue to grow in Manhattan. After some attempts at contacting the South Korean consulate, Im said that nothing has come to fruition. 

“It’s like talking to a wall,” Im said. After these failed attempts, Im has given up and doesn’t expect to receive their support. 

On nyc.gov’s “It’s Time for New York: Bookstores,” page, Koryo Books was not listed as one of the 70 bookstore locations in Manhattan. 

“Bookstores are disappearing nowadays, but the reason Koryo Books has been able to exist for so long is due to our owner’s love for books,” Kim said in Korean. She mentioned that this is the only store in Manhattan that sells Korean books, though a list of Asian-owned bookstores and stationery stores published by NYC Tourism and Conventions notes that Bandi Books in Queens also stocks predominantly Korean language books.

The second floor, which is not currently in use, was originally a tea room where visitors could read, talk with other visitors, and stay for a cup of tea, for free, according to Im. 

Alyson, who declined to give her last name, said she heard about Koryo Books a few years ago when she was trying to look for a K-pop Christmas gift for her cousin. 

“This time I wanted to stop by because I like to learn languages and one day I’d like to learn Korean,” she said. 

In September 2025, the store had a very special guest, the first lady of South Korea. According to an article by The Chosun Ilbo, Mrs. Kim Hye-kyung posed with a book by President Lee Jae-myung and visited several other businesses in Koreatown. 

When we stopped by, many tourists were browsing the back of the store, which contained non-book items such as jewelry boxes, Korean game sets like “baduk” and “gonggi,” as well as traditional fans. 

Casey Shaw, who is from Richmond, Virginia, said she was traveling to New York City for her birthday. She mentioned she was looking for a gift for her daughter, who likes novelty items.

“One of my coworkers recommended coming to Koreatown because there’s lots of, like, tchotchkes and just random things to buy, which is exactly what my kid loves,” Shaw said. 

A family passing by a shelf pointed out the neatly labeled “Mug Cup” section that included color cups printed with K-Pop Demon Hunters, the hit movie of the summer. 

Despite the lack of support from outside resources and although much of their store has evolved to include broader K-culture items, Im hopes that Koryo Books will continue to be a space where people can visit and engage with Korean culture through reading. 

“K-drama and K-pop are great, but if you want to deeply understand that country, if you don’t read books, you cannot have a full understanding,” Im said.