6 of the Best Bookstores in New York City for Visiting Book Lovers

A favourite family destination, we have been travelling to New York regularly for more than 15 years and, along with theatre, shopping for books is one of our favourite things to do on trips to New York City

These are my favourite bookstores in New York City including old favourites that we visit every time we’re in the city as well as new favourites that have been recently discovered. I have also included at the end a list of bookstores that I want to visit but haven’t yet – my ‘maybe next trip’ list!

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1. Strand Bookstore

828 Broadway (at 12th)

Founded in 1927, Strand Bookstore is an institution in New York City. The family run business located in Greenwich Village boasts 18 miles of new, used and rare books – that’s a lot of books!

Ben Bass opened the Strand as a used bookstore on 4th Avenue’s ‘Book Row‘ and named it after the street in London where avant-garde writers gathered and book publishers thrived. His son, Fred, moved the store around the corner to its current location in 1957 and today the store is managed by Fred’s daughter.

The Strand carries over 2.5 million new, used and rare books covering a wide range of topics as well as an array of literary goods and gifts. If you’re looking for a bargain then be sure to check out the dollar carts on the sidewalk outside the store!

Although we had visited New York City more than a dozen times, it wasn’t until our most recent trip that we visited the main location of Strand Bookstore on Broadway at 12th for the first time (and I was a little disappointed that the building was covered with scaffolding so I couldn’t get a photo of the iconic Strand sign).

My daughter loved the store but I found it a bit overwhelming – it’s a lot of books!! We spent about an hour browsing – I enjoyed the variety of display tables particularly the ‘Blind Date’ romance books and loved all the literary themed goods/gifts available. We will definitely shop here again!

Open every day 10am – 8pm.

Additional locations include: The Strand at 450 Columbus Avenue (between 81st and 82nd), The Strand Central Park Kiosk (60th and 5th), and The Strand at The Bowery Bay Shops (LaGuardia Airport).

2. The Drama Book Shop

266 W. 39th Street (at 8th Ave.)

The Drama Book Shop is an independent bookstore in the theatre district founded in 1917 by the Drama League that closed in 2019 due to rising rents. The theatre community rallied to save the beloved store and Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the music for In the Heights in the basement, subsequently purchased the shop with several Hamilton collaborators and reopened at a new location.

The shop has an incredible selection of scripts for plays and musicals, biographies and other books relating to theatre, a café and cozy seating areas – my daughter could literally spend hours here! There are also regular theatre-related events scheduled at the shop – check the website for details. The store has even won a Tony for “excellence in theatre”!

We loved the original shop but the new location is even better! The Drama Book Shop is one of our must-visit locations every time we visit New York City. In fact, we visit twice each trip – the first is a reconnaissance mission to browse and see what’s available and then back a second time to make purchases!

Open Monday to Saturday 10am – 7pm; Sunday 12pm – 7pm.

Read New York City for Theatre Lovers

3. Barnes & Noble (5th Avenue)

555 Fifth Avenue

Barnes & Noble might not be special to most of you but we’re Canadian and there aren’t any here so it’s a treat for us to be able to shop at B&N when we’re in the U.S. We frequent the one on 5th Avenue which has a great selection of books – we always find titles that we haven’t seen at home and the staff has always been very helpful with suggestions as well. Plus I can get Starbucks and browse with my latte!

Barnes & Noble’s flagship store in Manhattan is the one at Union Square (33 East 17th) which has four floors of books including a large children’s section.

Open 10 am – 8pm every day.

There are also Barnes & Noble stores located on the Upper East Side at 87th & 3rd and on the Upper West Side at 82nd & Broadway.

4. Rizzoli Bookstore

1133 Broadway (at 26th)

The Rizzoli Bookstore is another that we visited for the first time on our most recent trip to New York City. Located in the NoMad neighbourhood three blocks north of Madison Square Park (and not far from the Flatiron Building), Rizzoli has been a literary landmark in New York City for over 50 years although it has only been in this location since 2015. The store is on the ground floor of the St. James building – a Beaux Arts building constructed late in the 19th century.

Rizzoli is one of the country’s foremost independent booksellers and is known for its collection of illustrated books on architecture, fashion, interior design, art, photography etc. as well as foreign language books. There is also a great selection of both Fiction and Non-Fiction titles and a section of New York books that I loved. There’s even a cozy children’s section at the back of the store!

I had Rizzoli on my wish list of bookshops that I wanted to visit on our most recent trip to New York but, as is typical, we had more things to do than hours in the day so I thought it would have to wait for another time. We decided to walk to the Strand on our last day, however, and we serendipitiously happened upon the Rizzoli while wandering back to our Times Square hotel.

The bookstore has an elegant, European feel with high ceilings, a black and white stone floor, dark wood shelves, chandeliers, and wallpaper murals. This is a gorgeous bookstore and worth a visit for that reason alone – we will definitely go back!

Open Monday to Saturday 11am – 8pm; Sunday 11am – 7pm.

5. McNally Jackson at Rockefeller Center

1 Rockefeller Plaza

McNally Jackson is another independent bookstore which has several locations in New York City. Founded in the trendy Nolita (North of Little Italy) neighbourhood by Sarah McNally in 2004, McNally Jackson offers a unique selection of books from around the world, fine stationery and a programme of events featuring award-winning authors.

We have only visited the one in the Rockefeller Center in midtown which is very convenient if you’re sightseeing in the neighbourhood. I love the displays and the staff picks here and am in book lover heaven finding books to buy that are new to me particularly those written by international authors.

Open daily 10am – 8pm.

There are also McNally Jackson bookstores at these additional locations: Soho (134 Prince Street); Seaport (4 Fulton Street); Downtown Brooklyn (445 Albee Square); Williamsburg (76 N. 4th Street).

6. Tenement Museum Gift Shop

103 Orchard Street (at the corner of Delancey Street)

Not technically a bookshop, however, we visited the gift shop at the Tenement Museum after one of their tours and I was very impressed by the selection of books that they had available.

The museum offers neighbourhood walking tours as well as guided tours of the apartments in two tenement buildings to provide a glimpse into the lives of the people who lived there. The tours are in furtherance of the museum’s mission of fostering a society that embraces and values the role that immigration has played in American identity.

The museum’s gift shop has a large selection of books and other items relating to New York City and to the immigrant experience in the US so is definitely worth a visit if you’re taking one of their tours or if you’re interested in books of that sort.

Additional Bookstores

I haven’t yet had an opportunity to visit all of the bookstores that I would like to in New York City. In fact, on our most recent visit to New York, I purchased A Booklover’s Guide to New York by Cleo Le-Tan at the gift shop of the Morgan Library and Museum and have been perusing it adding literary locations and bookshops to my list for future visits.

These are the New York City book shops that are on my wishlist:

Albertine (972 Fifth Avenue between 78th and 79th) – Located on the Upper East Side, the Albertine is part of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and is the only bookshop in New York City devoted solely to books in French and English.

Argosy Book Store (116 E. 59th) – Founded in 1925, a six story bookshop in midtown Manhattan stocking antiquarian and out-of-print books.

Books Are Magic (225 Smith St. and 122 Montague St., Brooklyn) – This independent bookstore owned by bestselling author Emma Straub and her husband has two locations in Brooklyn in the Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens and Brooklyn Heights neighbourhoods. The store has a large pink mural on the outside of the building that you might recognize if you scroll ‘bookstagram’ – perfect for photos!

Books of Wonder (42 West 17th) – A children’s bookstore in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighbourhood that features a carefully curated selection of the finest books currently available for young readers as well as vintage, old, rare, and collectible editions. There is also a gallery of original children’s book art and limited edition prints.

I no longer have young children to buy books for but would love to see this store because Nora Ephron was a longtime customer and it served as her inspiration for the book shop that Meg Ryan owned in You’ve Got Mail – one of my favourite movies!

The Corner Bookstore (1313 Madison Ave. at 93rd) – Located in the Carnegie Hill neighbourhood of Manhattan, The Corner Bookstore has been selling “only the best of the best” since 1978.

Shakespeare & Co. (939 Lexington Ave.) – Founded in Manhattan in 1983, this bookshop is not related to the famous Parisian shop of the same name but has been a fixture on the Upper East Side since opening. There are now also two additional locations on the Upper West Side. A neighbourhood bookstore with a great selection of books and a café – but, honestly, I want to visit mostly because of the name!

Do you have a favourite bookstore in New York City that you think I should plan to visit? Let me know in the comments!