Strand Bookstore

The story

Patti Smith worked here and hated it — she said the Strand 'wasn't very friendly.' Tom Verlaine, by contrast, was fond of the discount carts sitting outside. That tension feels right for a store that has quietly shaped New York literary life: family-owned, more than 230 employees, a unionized workforce for over 35 years. Its slogan is '18 Miles Of Books.' In 2016 the New York Times called it 'the undisputed king of the city's independent bookstores.' It still stands at the corner of Broadway and East 12th Street, stubbornly itself.