I have a love and hate relationship with Strand. The "hate" part, for those interested, will be explained at the end of this posting, but let me start with the "love" one. For a hardcover-loving bibliophile rat I am, Strand is simply a great place - one of the best in the world. It's big, cavernous (they claim to offer "18 miles of books") and full of surprises...

* * *

The store covers almost all subjects in surprising depth. It's the place to go for rare, one-of-a-kind and out-of-print editions, books formerly owned by prominent New Yorkers and similar curiosities. Its staff is knowledgeable and its customers... well, at times, freaky. In a good way.

Strand Books

photo by jspad

Now, the bad part, admittedly irrelevant to most parties reading this. When the time came to say good-bye to my lovely SoHo apartment, I came to Strand to unload some of the volumes I'd accumulated in the years before. Well... Let's just say I swore off doing it again. Having spent almost 10 bucks on the cab and having brought a massive (and heavy as hell) bag of books, I was granted exactly two seconds of attention by the genius who puts the value on what customers bring. I opened the bag and evidently, the first volume out seemed a little academic to him. "Sorry, we're not a textbook store." - he said curtly and turned away, refusing to even look at everything else that I brought. What a dick! In that moment, I regretted all the hours and the money I'd spent at Strand. (The ending of the story: I dragged the bag to Houston street and was greeted by friendly employees at Housing Works who gladly took all all the books off my hands).

Now you have the complete story. So, go walk your 18 miles.

Strand
828 Broadway (at 12th st)
New York, NY. 10003
www.strandbooks.com

Posted by Slavito in New York » Stores & Markets on 23/Jan/2008

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