Local Bookstores: A Portal to Another World

By Claire Jung (Communication Design ‘24)

Your head spins as you soar across the sky on the back of a dragon, your heart leaps as you’re waltzing in a ballroom, your hands shake as you run through a battlefield. You’re enthralled by your surroundings, the world so vivid and raw, but then you happen to look up. To your surprise, you are not in the midst of any fantastical events, you’re in a boxy dorm or apartment in the middle of New York City. The dizzy feeling you had wasn’t from the flying or the dancing or the fighting; it was just your eyes racing to get to the next word, the next page, the next book.

The way that books can influence its readers’ thoughts and emotions, and offer portals to other real and imaginary worlds makes it feel as if the books themselves are living things. If books can connect with us that much, then the least we can do is treat them as something to be respected and protected. This means caring about the places that bring us those books.

New York City is the most expensive city in the United States, so locating cheap shops is essential when moving here (especially as a college student). Bibliophiles in particular know that a habit of buying books is not the most economical activity to keep up, and being in this city will probably give you access to more bookstores than you’ve ever seen before. The good news is that there are also many used bookstores to find a good bargain at!

Here are some that are worth checking out:

Mercer Street Books & Records: 206 Mercer St.

The first used bookstore that I discovered after moving to the city was Mercer Street Books & Records. Located 20 minutes away from FIT by subway, this bookstore always has a new assortment of books to choose from. There is a wide range of topics from things like science fiction to art history to cookbooks, as well as a selection of records. Upon walking in you’ll see a hodgepodge of books on deep tables, and there’s something so invigorating about sorting through a messy pile of books that seems to never end. It’s so much more rewarding to dig to the bottom to discover something that really piques your interest than to go to a new bookstore where the bestsellers are just shoved in your face. The price range tends to be anywhere from $4-$20, the higher prices usually being for art books that originally cost much more. On some of my visits I have picked up a MoMA book of posters and Anna Wiener’s “Uncanny Valley”. There is often French music playing to give your browsing experience a taste of sophistication, and it makes the environment more friendly than the dead silence of other small bookstores. Bookoff: 49 W 45th St.

Codex: 1 Bleecker St.

Also in the Greenwich Village area on Bleecker St. is Codex. This store is quite narrow, but makes up for that with bookshelves that reach the ceiling. So while there may only be two main aisles, it’ll give your neck a workout as you crane to scan the tops and bottoms of shelves. It specializes in secondhand literary fiction and art books, but you can also find a section of new books if you’re looking for current bestsellers. The bookstore also happens to be an espresso bar and is right near a Plant-Based Community Fridge, which will give you the full “academia aesthetic” experience in your book shopping experience.

Bookoff: 49 W 45th St.

If you prefer to spend your time up by Bryant Park and Times Square, then Bookoff is definitely worth a visit. This bookstore has the added perk of having a large section of $1 books. In addition to having so many low-priced books, the store also has an entire floor dedicated to anime and manga, and another floor for DVDs, games, records, old technology and figures from pop culture. Rachel Quan (CD, ‘24) sums up the feeling of Bookoff saying, “It’s sort of like digging around for treasure, and it feels exhilarating when I spot something I want. Sometimes I see annotations and it makes me want to buy a book more. It’s like the books there are living many lives.”

While shopping for books at places like Barnes & Noble and Amazon may be more convenient most of the time, you’re missing out on the experience of finding a book and flipping through its pages. In a world full of digitized content and instant delivery, small bookstores offer us a chance to slow down and appreciate longer forms of entertainment. Barnes & Noble and Amazon are expensive and commercial, and they lack the charm and history of local bookstores. Strand is a better and cheaper alternative (sometimes) as well, but even they have become a bit of a branded tourist attraction. New York City is a city of small businesses, so take advantage of that and find new hidden gems to support!

Illustration by Norberto Perez.