Indie Bookstore Day

Do you have a favorite bookstore? How about a favorite independent bookstore? I’m located in the New York Metro area, and my favorite indie bookstore is the Strand in Manhattan (NYC), hands down.

In 2013, the last Saturday in April was dubbed “Indie Bookstore Day,” by the ABA (American Booksellers Association). Consumers are invited, and very encouraged, to shop in store and online at their favorite indie bookstores, whether local or adopted, and the businesses have special sales and giveaways that day.

The Strand has locations in the East Village, two blocks south of Union Square (the one I always go to, at 828 Broadway), as well as on the Upper West Side on Columbus Ave., and kiosks in Central Park and in Times Square. There’s also a curated shelf at Moynihan Train Hall.

I’ve been to the Strand many times, either alone or with friends to browse or for book signings in their Rare Book Room on the third floor.

Before each event, a Strand employee explains the history of the bookstore. Opening in 1927, it’s currently 98 years old, independently owned by the Bass family (Nancy Bass Wyden is the current owner – the granddaughter of the original owner Benjamin Bass). The Strand is the last bookstore standing out of 48 bookstores on 4th Ave – what was called “Book Row,” which was established as early as 1890. The other bookstores went by the wayside starting in the 1930s during the Great Depression.

Today, the Strand carries 2.5 million used, new and rare books – or, as they like to say (their tagline) – 18 miles of books!

Here, I’ll share with you some of my experiences and photos of when I’ve gone in the past.

Me & Julissa Arce for her signing of You Sound Like A White Girl (left) and Jessica Knoll & me for her signing of Bright Young Women (right).

Double book signing with Rebecca Serle (One Italian Summer) and Jennifer E. Smith (The Unsinkable Greta James).

Erica Katz & me for her signing of Fake and Sounds Fake But Okay signing with Kayla Kaszyca and Sarah Costello

I hope you’ve enjoyed my photos of me and the authors, and I’ll be sure to post more as they happen in the future!