NEW YORK—As galleries close and industry professionals continue to fret about the state of the contemporary-art market, dealer Larry Gagosian just keeps charging forward. Gagosian Gallery confirmed today that it plans to open a bookstore below its exhibition space on the Upper East Side. The shop, at 988 Madison Ave., will have a soft opening on Sept. 18 and will offer catalogues, books, and magazines printed by the gallery, which sells an assortment of publications and editions through its Web site.

It has been an epic summer for the gallery, which announced in June that it would work with Richard Meier to double the size of its Beverly Hills gallery to 11,600 square feet. Last month Gagosian revealed plans to open a branch in Athens at the end of September. Gagosian also maintains a location in Rome, two in London, and three in New York, and offices in La Jolla, Calif., and Hong Kong. Still, some have questioned whether the gallery can withstand the economic downturn. In a March 2009 e-mail, quoted in the New York Times, Gagosian told his staff, "The luxury of carrying under-performing employees is now a thing of the past."

Read more at Lindsay Pollock's Art Market Views blog.