Strand Bookstore
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The Strand Bookstore is an independent bookstore located at 828 Broadway, at the corner of East 12th Street in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, two blocks south of Union Square.<ref name="strandhistory">"Strand History" Template:Webarchive on the Strand Bookstore website</ref><ref>Leopold, Todd (September 12, 2011) "The death and life of a great American bookstore", CNN</ref> In addition to the main location, there is another store on the Upper West Side on Columbus Ave between West 81st and 82nd Streets,<ref name="location&hours">"Hours & Locations" on the Strand Book Store website</ref> as well as kiosks in Central Park and Times Square, and a curated shelf at Moynihan Train Hall. The company's slogan is "18 Miles Of Books," as featured on its stickers, T-shirts, and other merchandise. In 2016, The New York Times called The Strand "the undisputed king of the city’s independent bookstores."<ref name="acorreal"/>
DescriptionEdit
The Strand is a family-owned business with more than 230 employees.<ref name=landmark>Template:Cite news</ref> Many notable New York City artists have worked at the store, including rock musicians of the 1970s: Patti Smith – who claimed not to have liked the experience because it "wasn't very friendly"<ref name="Patti Smith Discusses Her Influences">Milzoff, Rebecca (November 27, 2005) "Patti Smith Discusses Her Influences" New York</ref> – and Tom Verlaine,<ref name="TomVerlaine">Mengaziol, Peter (November 1981) "Tom Verlaine Plays with the Focus", Guitar World</ref> who was fond of the discount book carts sitting outside the store.<ref>Kim, Jane (ndg) Television on Print: "A literary conversation with Tom Verlaine", Dusted</ref> Other celebrity employees include Richard Hell,<ref name="TomVerlaine" /> Neil Winokur, Adam Bellow,<ref name="AdamBellow">Zoepf, Katherine (December 17, 2003) "Reading Room - In defense of nepotism"</ref> Sam Shepard, Mary Gaitskill, Burt Britton, Lucy Sante, Marvin Mondlin, Ken Schles, and Thomas Weatherly Jr.Template:Citation needed
The Strand has had a unionized workforce for over 35 years.<ref>Staff (March 16, 2012) "At the Strand Bookstore, a Retail Labor Struggle in the Age of Amazon and Occupy" Metrofocus (WNET)</ref> On April 5, 2012, unionized workers at the store rejected a new contract;<ref>Samuelson, Tracey (April 5, 2012) "Strand Bookstore Workers Reject Contract" Template:Webarchive WNYC blog</ref> on June 15, 2012, workers ratified a new contract.<ref>Krauthamer, Diane (July 18, 2012) "In New York Bookstore Contract Fight, Occupy Helped Workers Draw Energy, Media Spotlight " Truthout</ref>
Besides the main store and Central Park kiosk, an additional location called the "Strand Book Annex" opened in the 1980s and was originally located on Front Street in the South Street Seaport complex. It moved in 1996 to Fulton and Gold Streets in the Financial District, but finally closed on September 22, 2008, due to rent increases.<ref name="Stranded by construction">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A branch in the Flatiron District opened in 2013, and a summer kiosk in Times Square opened in 2016.<ref name=obit/> In 2020 The Strand's planned opening of its Upper West Side location was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref name="Strand Bookstore Finds A Way To Sell Online Amid Coronavirus">Quinn, Anna (April 27, 2020) "Strand Bookstore Finds A Way To Sell Online Amid Coronavirus" Patch.com</ref>
In 2005, the main store underwent a major renovation and expansion, with the addition of an elevator, air conditioning, and a re-organization of the floors to make browsing easier for shoppers. It also began to sell discounted new books and non-book merchandise.<ref name=obit />
The bookstore had 70,000 books in its early years, which increased by the mid-1960s to 500,000. By the 1990s it had 2.5 million books, which necessitated the renting of a warehouse in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. At that time, the oldest book for sale in the Strand was an edition of Magna Moralia, which was priced at $4,500. The most expensive book is a copy of James Joyce's Ulysses at $38,000.<ref name=wolfe/> While the store continues to boast the slogan, "18 miles of books," it now houses over "23 miles" of books.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
HistoryEdit
Benjamin Bass was an emigrant from Lithuania who came to the United States when he was 17. He worked as a messenger, salesman and subway construction worker before he came across the used-book district on Fourth Avenue between Astor Place and Union Square.<ref name=NYTBenObit>Template:Cite news</ref> His first bookstore was the Pelican Book Shop on Eighth Street near Greene Street. However, the store was not a success, and Bass<ref name=obit /> next opened the Strand – named after the street in London<ref name=wolfe /> – in 1927 with $300 in his own savings and $300 he borrowed; early on, he slept on a cot in the store.<ref name=obit /> The new store was able to survive the Depression by use of Bass's extensive network of contacts. Furthermore, his landlord was the last of the city's noted Stuyvesant family, which carried the store through its lean years when Bass could not pay his rent; Bass later paid back the debt, and agreed to a schedule of voluntary rent increases during rent controls which were instituted with World War II. After rent controls ended, the Stuyvesant interests doubled the rents on their other properties, but not on the Strand.<ref name=NYTBenObit />
The Strand was then located on Fourth Avenue, which had at the time 48 bookstores, in what was known as "Book Row", which was established as early as 1890.<ref name="acorreal">Correal, Annie (July 15, 2016) "Want to Work in 18 Miles of Books? First, the Quiz" The New York Times</ref> These started to disappear around the 1930s due to the Great Depression and again in the 1950s, due to rent increases.<ref name="wolfe">Wolfe, Jonathan (June 27, 2017) "New York Today: Celebrating the Strand" The New York Times</ref>
Benjamin Bass died in 1978.<ref name=NYTBenObit />
Bass's son Fred – who started working in the store on weekends when he was 13 years old<ref name="obit">Grimes, William (January 3, 2018) "Fred Bass, Who Made the Strand Bookstore a Mecca, Dies at 89" The New York Times</ref> – took over the business in 1956 and the next year moved the store to the present location at the corner of East 12th Street and Broadway.<ref name="acorreal"/><ref name=obit/> The store expanded to the entire first floor of the building, and then first three floors in the 1970s.<ref name=obit /> In 1996 Bass bought the building at East 12th Street and Broadway for $8.2 million, by which time the Strand was the largest used bookstore in the world.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=obit /> The store now occupies three and a half floors, with another one and half floors for offices.<ref name="acorreal"/><ref name=wolfe/>
Strand also has two kiosks, one in Times Square and one in Central Park, and has a pop-up location in the Artists & Fleas market in Soho. They also participate in seasonal holiday markets in Union Square, Bryant Park, and Columbus Circle.<ref name="location&hours" />
Bass's daughter Nancy Bass Wyden, the current owner of the Strand, began helping in the store at age 6, sharpening pencils for staff.<ref name=strandweb>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At 16, she began taking phone requests, working the cash register, and managing the store's Central Park kiosks.<ref name=nypost>Template:Cite news</ref> After receiving her MBA from the University of Wisconsin and working briefly for Exxon, she returned to New York City to work for her father at The Strand.<ref name=obit /> Wyden officially joined The Strand as a manager in 1986. She established the store's Books by the Foot department, curating custom book collections and private libraries.<ref name=amny>Template:Cite news</ref> She spearheaded major renovations and expansions of the store in 2005, and supervised the rollout of The Strand's official bookish merchandise, including t-shirts and totes, which now account for over 15% of the business's revenue.<ref name=bizjournal>Template:Cite news</ref>
Wyden become the co-owner of the store on her father's retirement in November 2017. With her father's death in January 2018, she is now the sole owner.<ref name=obit />
Wyden is married to United States Senator for Oregon, Ron Wyden,<ref name=yourtango>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> whom she met while on a trip to Portland to see Powell's Books.<ref name=shelfaware>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
On December 22, 2021, Ben McFall, who had worked at the Strand since 1978, and was the longest-tenured bookseller there, died in his home as the result of a fall. McFall did not have an official position in the Strand's management, but was the only employee who had personal control over an entire section of the store, in his case the fiction section, and the only one with a desk designated for his own use.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Wyden referred to McFall as "the heart of the Strand."<ref>Traub, Alex (December 30, 2021) "Ben McFall, ‘the Heart of the Strand,’ Is Dead at 73" The New York Times</ref>
Fight against landmarkingEdit
In December 2018, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the topic of designating The Strand as a city landmark.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Owner Nancy Bass Wyden objected and campaigned heavily against the designation, citing regulatory barriers to proposed renovations and increased costs of running the business as obstacles to running her independent business; she also contrasted the treatment of her store to the reception of Amazon HQ2 in New York, saying "I’m not asking for money or a tax rebate, just leave me alone."<ref name=landmark /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The commission voted to landmark the building on June 11, stating that it had "lost very few buildings" to mismanagement.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The landmarking can be appealed to the New York City Council.
2020 controversiesEdit
In March 2020, the Strand laid off most of its employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> though in April it received a Paycheck Protection Program loan between $1 and $2 million intended to help maintain 212 jobs of which 188 had already been eliminated.<ref name="hanging">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Less than two dozen union jobs were restored.<ref name="salon" /> In July 2020, the Strand laid off 12 recently rehired employees.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On July 15, 2020, the Strand opened a new location on the Upper West Side, replacing Book Culture.<ref>Staff (July 9, 2020) "The Strand on Columbus Avenue to Open Next Week" West Side Rag</ref><ref>Telman, Nigel (February 6, 2020) "Strand bookstore replaces Book Culture at former Columbus Ave. location" Columbia Spectator</ref>
On October 23, 2020, Bass Wyden released a statement on Twitter saying the Strand was in danger of closing.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This plea for help, issued on a Friday, drew enormous sales in the following days, with 25,000 online orders placed over the following weekend.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, it also drew criticism from those who had followed the ongoing labor issues at the store.<ref name="salon">Template:Cite news</ref>
Bass Wyden also drew criticism for purchasing $115,000 in Amazon stock in April and May, and then $60,000 to $200,000 of the stock in June,<ref>Lin, Ed (July 7, 2020) "Owner of New York’s Strand Bookstore Buys More Amazon Stock" Barron's</ref> after having previously characterized the company as a threat to the Strand's survival.<ref name="hanging" />
In popular cultureEdit
- The Strand has been featured in films such as Six Degrees of Separation, Julie & Julia and Remember Me, starring Robert Pattinson, who played a Strand employee.<ref name="pattinson">Viernere, James (March 12, 2010) "Robert Pattinson’s romantic tale an affair to 'Remember'" Boston Herald</ref>
- The store and owner Nancy Bass Wyden were featured in the 2020 documentary The Booksellers, chronicling the antique book trade.<ref name="Landmarking New Yorker">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Template:Official website
- C-SPAN coverage of the Strand Bookstore
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