The Best Independent Bookstores in New York City
Twenty-five shops across four boroughs where the staff picks are sharp, the readings are free and nobody minds if you browse for an hour and buy one paperback.
New York still has more good bookstores than any city in America, and that is not an accident. It is stubbornness. Rents went up, Amazon arrived, the chains came and mostly went, and the independents are still here, many of them better than ever. A great bookstore in this city is a curated argument about what is worth reading, a free event space, a warm place on a cold day and, often, the last room in the neighborhood where strangers talk to each other.
This list covers shops that are open in 2026 and that do something well: a point of view on the shelves, a staff that reads, a calendar of readings or a specialty you cannot find anywhere else. We checked every address against current listings. A few much-loved names are missing because they closed; Bluestockings, the collectively run radical bookstore on the Lower East Side, is among them.
The essentials
The Strand
East Village · 828 Broadway · $
The city's biggest independent bookstore, founded in 1927 and still family owned, with new, used and rare books on multiple floors and the famous dollar carts outside on 12th Street. The rare book room upstairs is worth a look even if you are not buying. The Strand also runs two Upper West Side shops, at 450 Columbus Avenue and at 2020 Broadway near Lincoln Center.
Go for: the dollar carts, then the staff picks tables on the ground floor. Know before you go: weekend afternoons are a crush; go on a weekday morning.
Three Lives & Company
Greenwich Village · 154 W 10th St · $$
A corner shop at Waverly Place with dark wood shelves, a front table that reads like a great syllabus and a staff that will hand-sell you a novel you have never heard of and be right about it. It returned to its original corner in 2022 after a temporary move. The quintessential Village bookstore.
Go for: asking a bookseller what to read next. Know before you go: it is small; do not bring a stroller on a Saturday.
McNally Jackson
Nolita, Seaport, Williamsburg, Midtown, Downtown Brooklyn · 134 Prince St and four other locations · $$
The most important new independent chain in the city, with five shops: the flagship at 134 Prince Street (it moved there from its original Prince Street address in 2023), the Seaport store in the 1811 Schermerhorn Row building at 4 Fulton Street, 76 N 4th Street in Williamsburg, a big Midtown store at 1 Rockefeller Plaza and 445 Albee Square West at City Point. The fiction is organized by region of the world, which is a small idea that changes how you browse.
Go for: the Seaport store, the most beautiful of the five. Know before you go: most locations host readings several nights a week.
Books Are Magic
Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights · 225 Smith St and 122 Montague St · $$
Opened in 2017 by the novelist Emma Straub, and now the center of gravity for Brooklyn's literary life. The Smith Street shop has a mural wall outside that has become a photo spot and a calendar with author events most nights. The Montague Street store opened in 2022.
Go for: an evening author event. Know before you go: big events are ticketed and sell out; the ticket usually includes the book.
Greenlight Bookstore
Fort Greene · 686 Fulton St · $$
A bright, well organized neighborhood bookstore near BAM with strong fiction, essays and a big children's section. It is the kind of store every neighborhood thinks it deserves.
Go for: a book before a BAM show. Know before you go: in-store events are free.
Manhattan
Albertine
Upper East Side · 972 Fifth Ave · $$
A French and English bookstore run by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, inside a Fifth Avenue mansion across from the Met. The second floor reading room has a ceiling painted with stars and constellations, and the store hosts talks and a literary festival every fall.
Go for: French literature in translation and the ceiling. Know before you go: hours are limited and it closes some weekdays; check before you go.
Rizzoli Bookstore
NoMad · 1133 Broadway · $$$
The grandest room on this list: chandeliers, dark wood and soaring ceilings in the St. James Building. Rizzoli specializes in art, architecture, fashion, photography and design books, plus a strong literature section. It runs book launches on most weeknights in the fall.
Go for: coffee table books you will actually open. Know before you go: it is a short walk from Madison Square Park.
Housing Works Bookstore Cafe
SoHo · 126 Crosby St · $
A used bookstore and cafe, largely staffed by volunteers, where all profits support Housing Works' work on homelessness and HIV/AIDS. The two story room with its wraparound balcony of shelves is one of the best places in the city to read for an afternoon, and it hosts readings and talks.
Go for: used fiction at excellent prices. Know before you go: the store sometimes closes early for private events.
192 Books
Chelsea · 192 Tenth Ave · $$
A small, carefully edited shop at 21st Street, strong on literary fiction, translation, art and poetry. It is the perfect stop at the end of a Chelsea gallery walk. See our gallery circuit guide.
Go for: art books and new fiction in translation. Know before you go: it is tiny; every shelf is a choice.
Printed Matter
Chelsea · 535 W 22nd St · $
A nonprofit devoted to artists' books, zines and publications, and the organizer of the NY Art Book Fair. If you want something no other bookstore carries, this is where it is.
Go for: a $10 zine. Know before you go: it sits among the Chelsea galleries, so pair them.
Mast Books, Codex and Dashwood Books
East Village and NoHo · 72 Avenue A, 1 Bleecker St and 33 Bond St · $$
Three small specialists within a short walk. Mast Books sells mostly used art, photography, music and fiction in a clean, well lit room. Codex, on Bleecker at the Bowery, mixes new and used literary fiction and art books. Dashwood is one of the best photobook shops in the world, with its own small press.
Go for: Dashwood if you care about photography at all. Know before you go: all three are small and keep shop hours, not late nights. Our East Village guide has the rest of the block.
Casa Magazines
West Village · 22 Eighth Ave · $$
A corner newsstand at 12th Street with thousands of international magazines stacked floor to ceiling. It added Casa Next Door, a small bookstore and coffee counter, in the same building in 2024.
Go for: a magazine from a country you have never visited. Know before you go: it is cramped; that is part of it.
Kinokuniya
Midtown · 1073 Avenue of the Americas · $$
The American flagship of the Japanese chain, across from Bryant Park, with three floors of books in English and Japanese, a huge manga and graphic novel section, stationery and a cafe.
Go for: manga and Japanese stationery. Know before you go: skip the bestseller tables and head straight for the specialty floors.
P&T Knitwear
Lower East Side · 180 Orchard St · $$
A bookstore, cafe and community space with seating, outlets and a free podcast studio. It hosts book launches, readings and a monthly storytelling salon.
Go for: an afternoon of reading with coffee. Know before you go: it doubles as a workspace during the day. Our Lower East Side guide covers the neighborhood.
Yu and Me Books
Chinatown · 44 Mulberry St · $$
An Asian American woman owned bookstore focused on immigrant stories and writers of color, with a cafe and bar. It is small, warm and full of books you will not see on the front tables elsewhere. See our Chinatown guide.
Go for: the curated tables by theme. Know before you go: evening hours include drinks.
Book Culture
Morningside Heights · 536 W 112th St · $$
The Columbia neighborhood's academic bookstore, strong on philosophy, history, criticism and theory, plus fiction and a children's section. Its old Columbus Avenue shop closed, and the Strand now occupies that space.
Go for: university press books and serious nonfiction. Know before you go: early September is textbook chaos.
Sister's Uptown Bookstore
Washington Heights · 1942 Amsterdam Ave · $
Harlem's longest running Black-owned bookstore, founded in 2000, and a community cultural center with book clubs, readings and youth programs.
Go for: the community events. Know before you go: hours are limited; check ahead.
Argosy Book Store
Midtown East · 116 E 59th St · $$ to $$$$
Founded in 1925 and generally called the oldest independent bookstore in the city, now in its third generation of family ownership. Six floors of antiquarian and out of print books, maps, prints and autographs.
Go for: an old map as a gift. Know before you go: the carts out front have the bargains.
Brooklyn and the Bronx
Community Bookstore
Park Slope · 143 Seventh Ave · $$
Brooklyn's oldest bookstore, founded in 1971, with a deep bench of fiction and a busy calendar of readings, often built around local writers and translation.
Go for: a weeknight reading. Know before you go: there is usually a store cat.
WORD
Greenpoint · 126 Franklin St · $$
A neighborhood bookstore that has anchored Franklin Street since 2007, with sharp fiction and cookbooks, a writers group and literary trivia nights.
Go for: trivia night. Know before you go: Franklin Street has plenty to do after.
Unnameable Books
Prospect Heights · 615 Vanderbilt Ave · $
A narrow new and used shop with the best poetry and small press section in Brooklyn. It is the kind of place you go in for ten minutes and come out an hour later.
Go for: the poetry section. Know before you go: the used stock turns over fast, so buy it when you see it.
Molasses Books and Human Relations
Bushwick · 770 Hart St and 1067 Flushing Ave · $
Two used bookstores that define Bushwick reading. Molasses is a bookshop, cafe and bar that stays open late and lets you trade books for coffee or a drink. Human Relations, on Flushing Avenue, is stacked with used fiction, philosophy, film and politics. See our Bushwick guide.
Go for: a paperback and a beer at Molasses. Know before you go: both buy used books; bring your culls.
The Center for Fiction
Fort Greene · 15 Lafayette Ave · $$
A nonprofit devoted to fiction, with a bookstore, cafe and bar on the ground floor and a busy events calendar in its auditorium. It is one block from BAM and two from Greenlight.
Go for: a ticketed conversation with a novelist. Know before you go: the members' reading room upstairs requires membership.
Cafe con Libros
Crown Heights · 724 Prospect Pl · $
An intersectional feminist community bookstore and coffee shop, Afro-Latine and woman owned, with book clubs and a tight, purposeful selection.
Go for: the staff picks. Know before you go: it is small; order ahead for specific titles.
The Lit. Bar
Mott Haven · 131 Alexander Ave · $$
The Bronx's only independent general bookstore, which is also a wine bar. It hosts author events, book clubs and children's programs, and it is a genuinely great hang.
Go for: a glass of wine and a new release. Know before you go: evenings get lively.
How to use this list
Build a loop instead of a single stop. Downtown, walk from Three Lives to the Strand to Housing Works to McNally Jackson on Prince Street, with Codex and Mast Books as detours. In Brooklyn, do Books Are Magic in the afternoon, then Greenlight and the Center for Fiction before an evening event. Buy something at every store, even if it is a paperback or a tote. That is how they stay open. And for readings, see our guide to where to hear writers read in New York.
Questions, answered.
- What is the most famous bookstore in New York City?
- The Strand, at 828 Broadway near Union Square, is the best known. It sells new, used and rare books across several floors, famously advertises 18 miles of books and has dollar carts on the sidewalk outside.
- What is the oldest bookstore in New York City?
- Argosy Book Store on East 59th Street, founded in 1925, is generally called the city's oldest independent bookstore. It is still family run and specializes in antiquarian books, maps and prints.
- Which neighborhood has the most bookstores?
- Downtown Manhattan, from the Village to Nolita, has the thickest cluster: Three Lives, the Strand, McNally Jackson, Housing Works, Codex and Mast Books are all within a long walk. In Brooklyn, Fort Greene, Cobble Hill and Park Slope form a similar loop.
- Are bookstore readings in New York free?
- Most in-store readings are free, though popular author events at shops like Books Are Magic and McNally Jackson sometimes require a ticket that includes a copy of the book. Check the store's events page and RSVP.
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