Called the “undisputed king of the city’s independent bookstores” by The New York Times, the Strand is without a doubt the most famous bookstore in the city. Its size makes it unique: twenty-three miles of bookshelves containing 2,5 million used, new and rare books. Its history spans three generations and its struggle for survival continues to this day. It survived the Depression in the 1930s and rising rent prices in the 1950s. So far, it has also survived competition from book superstores, e-books and Amazon. Only time will tell if it can stay afloat in the wake of a pandemic that has destroyed so many independent businesses in New York and internationally.
THE LAST STAND
The Strand is the only bookstore remaining in what is called ‘Bookseller’s Row’, a commercial district that once contained around fifty bookstores for second-hand books. Founded in 1927 by an immigrant from Lithuania called Benjamin Bass, it moved to its current location on Broadway in 1957. The business was continued by Ben’s son, Fred, who died in 2018 at the age of eighty-nine after a life dedicated to the store. Fred’s daughter, Nancy Bass-Wyden, is now in charge.
PEOPLE POWER
Nancy owns both the bookstore and the building it inhabits, which was acquired in 1996 for 8,2 million dollars. Last year she asked the community of book buyers to support the Strand. In October, after months of limited economic activity due to the pandemic, she announced that the store’s revenue was 70 per cent down and there was a risk of closure. The next day hundreds of people queued on the street before opening hour to get in.
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
Although unusually empty these days, one can visit this literary emporium and get lost in a maze of bookshelves, arranged along narrow passageways. Books are organised under dozens of categories and subcategories, everything from Historical Fiction to Writers of NY, Best of the Underground, Banned Books, Black Studies or LGBTQIA Literature. Will it make it to its one hundredth anniversary in 2027? With the pandemic out of the way and a little help from its friends, it probably will!
