The Strand Bookstore has opened its Upper West Side location at 450 Columbus Avenue, between 81st and 82nd Streets! The store will be open from Tuesday to Sunday, 11am – 6pm.
The store features a combination of new, used and rare books of all genres, as well as a children’s section in the basement. Also, through July 31st, they’ll be offering shoppers a free branded tote bag with purchases of $75 or more.
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photo by Lindsey Novakovic
The cool neon sign:
photo by Lindsey Novakovic
The downstairs children’s section:
photo by Lindsey Novakovic
photo by Lindsey Novakovic
And the non-fiction section:
photo by Lindsey Novakovic
For now, The Strand at Columbus Ave will not be offering holds or curbside pick-up. But, they mention that since the store is small, they should be able to find the book you’re looking for quickly.
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The Upper West Side Strand Bookstore also won’t be holding any in-person events for the foreseeable future, and have had to put a pause on book buying at all their locations. All UWS shoppers will be required to wear masks, and they will only be allowing up to a 50% capacity, so there may be some wait to get in.
Photo by Strand Bookstore
The Upper West Side has been anticipating this opening for a while!
“It’s refreshing to see a business opening on the block, especially from a bookstore we all look forward to having in our community,” says Jeff, a Columbus Avenue resident. This is even more true now that we’ve learned Bank Street Bookstore will be closing.
It’s also been a long time coming for owner Nancy Bass Wyden. In an interview with Gothamist earlier this month, she said that “Thinking about opening those doors feels like the light at the end of a long tunnel. This isn’t quite the grand opening we had imagined, but we’re looking forward to bringing some joy (and some great books) to the Upper West Side.”
Strand Bookstore Owner Nancy Bass Wyden. Photo by Strand Bookstore
The Strand’s new Upper West Side space was previously occupied by Book Culture, which closed earlier this year.
Learn more: www.strandbooks.com
I was one of the many Upper Westsiders eagerly anticipating the opening of a Strand bookstore in our neighborhood. In fact, I live right around the corner from the location and was especially excited to have a branch of the iconic book mart so nearby. But alas, now that it’s open, I am deeply disappointed to find not an uptown location of the famous downtown USED book store, but a NEW books outlet with a few racks of used books on the sidewalk outside. All the anticipatory excitement has been dashed on the rocks of . . . what? Are used books not as lucrative, do they not pay the exorbitant rent that forced out the predecessor bookstore in the first place? In which case, what’s the point? How long will this one last? Alack, alas–the dying of New York proceeds apace.