New York, New York, It's a Booksellers' Town

Shelf Awareness

Describing the list as "only a handful of the bookshops NYC has to offer," Buzzfeed showcased "14 New York City bookstores you should visit before you die." And DNAInfo pointed out "where to find thriving indie bookstores in New York City," noting that the "owners and managers of several of the city's thriving literary stores said their secret is a combination of attracting loyal customers devoted to supporting small shops and diversifying their business model to offer more than just books."

"For us, it's being an event space, both public and private, that really helps to sustain us," said Heidi Tannenbaum, store manager of Housing Works.

Andrew Unger, manager at BookCourt, observed: "The biggest thing for a store is being in a neighborhood where people read a lot of books. One of the reasons we do so well here is because books are so important to the people who live here."

BookCourt's Sophie Stewart stressed the importance of "being in a neighborhood where people... make a conscious decision to support businesses as opposed to doing the easy thing... They understand that where you spend your money on that one book makes a difference as to whether the store can stay in business or not. That's really nice, and it's those people who help keep stores open."