For every East Village business that’s opening or closing, dozens are quietly making it. Here’s one of them: St. Mark’s Bookshop.

St. Mark’s Bookshop might seem like an odd choice for this column: given all the to-do about its struggles with landlord Cooper Union, and its subsequent fundraising for a new location, it’s hard to say the store has been “quietly making it.” But last month, owners Terry McCoy and Bob Contant celebrated 35 years in business — and if that isn’t Making It, what is? In light of the anniversary, we spoke to Mr. McCoy about what the future holds. As it turns out, he has a new space in mind, and it’s right here in the neighborhood.

How did St. Mark’s Bookshop come about?

We were originally five guys who knew each other from working at a store on St. Marks Place called East Side Books and it was struggling. We felt like we could do a better bookstore so we opened our own. We didn’t have much money and borrowed a small amount.

How much did you borrow?

I believe it was a total capital of $5,000. We did all the work ourselves. We bought wood and built the bookcases. We sanded the floors on our own.

What was your rent then?

The place was only $375 a month. We paid ourselves nothing for at least the first six months. It was all sweat equity and we worked a lot of extra hours.

What made you choose the East Village?

We happened to catch a wave that was going on in the East Village. There was a true renaissance in the neighborhood at the time. The counterculture of the ’60s had died out and the neighborhood was of disrepute. That was why it was easy to find a storefront. The neighborhood was made worse by the attempt to create the Second Avenue subway way back then. The roads were torn up and all roads boards for sidewalk. The neighborhood wasn’t appetizing to most people so the gallery scene was able to start there, and then CBGB, and the Super 8 filmmaker scene. Suddenly, there was so much going on and we as a new bookstore caught that.

There have been lots of bookstores in the East Village that have come, gone and stayed. What did you offer that was different?

We were carrying those books that others weren’t. We had a special section that we became very well known for where we carried the works of post-structuralism French philosophers. You could say, we were academically hip.

You haven’t always been at this location, though.

We were originally on St. Marks in a 600-square-foot space. We moved in December 1993 because we wanted more space and Cooper Union offered us a great deal on this place. It is 2,700 square feet and at the time, they offered us rent that was 20 percent less than what we were already paying in the first place. It was new, too. We were the first in the space and we became the storefront for an NYU dormitory. It was an ideal situation at the time.

Are you going to be able to stay here?

We are going to relocate, hopefully by early 2013. We’ll stay in the East Village. We can’t stay here. It’s too expensive. Moving is our only route of survival. We have an offer for a space so we will see how it goes. Nothing is every official until it’s official. You find a space and you have to do all kinds of investigating of it and place an offer and wait. This is not a quick process, but we want lower rent.

What has been worse for you, the downturn in the economy or the embrace of eReading?

eBooks is something all bookstores are having to deal with. We made it so you can buy eBooks on our website, but we found that we really don’t sell many. The amount we make from eBooks is very little, less than $100 a month. This isn’t something that will work with us and make us rich. It’s just capability that we and other bookstores have felt we need to offer. Regarding the economy, we saw business decline almost instantly in September 2008 with the economic downturn. It’s hard to say if the eBook has affected us more than the economy because it was already going on at that point.

Is the holiday season good for business?

Christmastime is when everyone gets their tablets, eReaders or eBooks, so that actually hurts us. Business declines in January because people are trying out their gifts. But still, I have an awful lot of people who are still dedicated to the actual physical book and there are people do both still.

What does well here?

There is a class of book we sell here called “the remainders.” They are sale books. They are books where the publisher might have too many or they are out of print and leftover stock. We have been very successful with sales of these books and I think that is because of the economy. People actually seek us out for them. Our selection is quite good and better than other stores. Most do just cooking and gardening books, coffee-table-type books, but we feature books that you might actually read. We’re a bit more cutting edge.

Allen Ginsberg, Philip Glass, and Susan Sontag are among those who have frequented your store over the years. Who are your customers these days?

There are several types of people but it’s mostly students and faculty. Faculty the most. It’s people who work in the arts, people who are scholars of one kind or another, people who are interested in the culture. We try to stay on top of what’s new in the culture.

How do you keep up with the culture?

You get a feeling about something. We respond to what the neighborhood seems to respond to. For example, we found that having a dedicated section for fashion was successful because it was something we found that many, many people were asking for. We have an anarchism section which I doubt other bookstores have.

How have you cut back as a result of the rent?

We’ve reduced the percentage of payroll available to us. When rent goes up something has to give. I cover for lunch breaks and stuff like that rather than having more staff. There are 15 people total and six of those people are part-time and two of them are me and my business partner.

Do you view The Strand as competition?

To some extent The Strand competes with us now. They are carrying new books now, so yes they are more similar than when they were just used books. They are doing a bigger business, though, in that they sell other things like candy there. We have never gone in that expansion direction to sell other things that have nothing to do with books.

Do you think you might end up going that route?

I don’t know. We might or could do bags and t-shirts but that is down the road and you have to have investment for that. We’d really have to be sure it would be worth it and that people would buy them. Right now, we would rather spend the money on books.