Visited the Strand in NYC last week and it totally changed my view on used bookstores

I always thought used bookstores were just a mess of old smelly paperbacks. But I walked into the Strand for the first time last Tuesday and spent 3 hours in there. The way they organize their shelves by time period and author made me realize I've been missing out on finding random reads that actually fit my taste. Has anyone else had a store visit flip their opinion on something in book club discussions?

3 comments

3 Comments

skyler_jackson2715d ago

From my experience, the Strand's curated chaos is actually pretty rare - most used bookstores just dump everything in piles by genre and call it a day. The difference for me was a tiny shop in Savannah that had handwritten notes from the owner on every shelf, making it feel like a personal recommendation rather than a browsing chore. Those little touches can completely change how you see the whole used book economy, even if the Strand is on a much bigger scale.

wyatt_mitchell2615d ago

Yeah the handwritten notes thing is a GREAT example of something bigger I've noticed. It's like how smaller places can actually give you more personality because they're not trying to appeal to EVERYONE at once. That same principle shows up everywhere from coffee shops to hardware stores - the curated experience almost always beats the pile-it-high approach when you actually want to connect with what you're buying.

linda1149d ago

Isn't that interesting how a personal note can make a whole store feel like a conversation?