Bibliophiles, audiophiles, and ailurophiles alike could find happiness at Diskovery, where piles of books reach toward the ceiling, record bins overflow with ’80s classics and jazz standards, and two cats alternately stalk customers and curl up amid the clutter. But at the end of the month, book, music, and cat lovers will have to travel just a bit farther for their fix, because this Allston institution can’t hold on any longer.
Owner Yolanda Stratter, a Peruvian immigrant who lives four blocks from the used-book and -record store she opened 25 years ago, can’t afford to pay rent, which doubled this year after her Brighton Avenue block was sold.
“It’s hard for me,” Stratter says between helping the customers trickling in and out, even on a weekday afternoon. “This is my neighborhood.” And for years, she has shared that neighborhood with the students — “the kids” — who kept her business thriving. “No matter how high you go, you have to live in Allston. It’s a rite of passage.”
Lured inside by the popular titles displayed in Diskovery’s front window, browsers could spend the better part of an afternoon picking through piles of books, their titles often obscured, hoping to uncover a treasure. Many customers have benefited from Stratter’s generously granted discounts and late hours.
Let’s hope those perks remain intact in Stratter’s new space, which will accommodate her books and records as well as her feline friends, Magic and Loquita. She will move to her new store in Brighton’s Oak Square (569 Washington Street) by the end of the month. As for what’s going to take Diskovery’s place, Stratter says she doesn’t want to know.
