With more hot weather just around the corner, it’s time to cool off with a good read—better still, a cool afternoon or evening in a welcoming independent bookstore. So this week we are expanding the DART indie bookstore list, a few at a time. The good news is that post-pandemic retail vacancies have made even more room for indies, and the results are inspiring. This feature originated over ten years ago and has grown steadily as more and more adventurous booksellers have stood up to the big boxes and the online opportunities that continue to proliferate. Please send your updates as you see more new indies opening near you! Above: Center for Fiction, in downtown Brooklyn

Codex, 1 Bleecker Street, New York, NY

Codex sells used and new books of all kinds, with an emphasis on literary fiction and art books.  From the NYTimes: “The visual artist Robin Treadwell previously managed Williamsburg’s Book Thug Nation, a leftist bookstore specializing in cheap literary fiction paperbacks. But she and the four other co-owners had a more specific goal: ‘We wanted to show that one could open a used bookstore in Manhattan without specializing in some terribly recherché niche,’ Treadwell explains. So they opened Codex (Latin for book) on the corner of the Bowery and Bleecker Street, attached to Think Coffee, a popular destination for N.Y.U. students. The store focuses on literary fiction, with a mix of NYRB Classics, New Directions and old Grove Press books, and other sections are devoted to art, cinema and philosophy. The shelves house many obscure titles that have been overlooked or are uncategorizable. The store also buys gently used books Contact: book@codexbooks.info

The Nonbinarian Bookstore, 1130 President Street, Brooklyn, NY

The Nonbinarian Bookstore [est. 2022] is a trans+ led volunteer-powered exclusively queer bookstore & community space, carrying new, used, & free books, gifts, & resources. Book Bike season is Apr-Sept. 

Many young queer people do not have the funds or access to these books. With the rise of these titles being pulled & banned from schools & public libraries, free resources for queer & trans youth are becoming more & more scarce. Providing these books to the folks that need them most directly affirms & empowers queer people of all ages at a time when we need it most. 

Through solidarity, not charity - trade exchange, volunteers, & partners. Both the book bike & the bookstore are entirely community funded & collectively sourced. Powered by people - for us, by us.

Better Read Than Dead, 90 Kosciuszko Street, Brooklyn, NY

Better Read Than Dead has been selling books in New York City since 2012 – first as a few friends selling paperbacks on the sidewalk in Brooklyn before our first storefront in a converted shipping container nearby. In the decade (+) since, we have expanded our operations with considerable physical fluctuation: after multiple open storefronts and an auxiliary warehouse space, we currently headquarter exclusively out of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, and are available for visit only by appointment.

We welcome appointments and travel widely for new acquisitions – if you would like to buy from or sell to us, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We are constantly maintaining thousands of books that are either not listed online or available in our spaces, so please also get in touch with specific requests or queries.

Everything Goes Book Café, 208 Bay Street, Staten Island, NY

ETG is a well-organized treasure trove of unique, affordable, mostly used merchandise. There is cafe seating in our large front room, as well  in the back garden and out front on the sidewalk. The front room is the largest room; most events take place there.  The second room is jam-packed with books, organized by category.  The third room holds our record department and includes a listening station.  And more books! Lots of beautiful cookbooks & art books as well as dictionaries, and books on music, theater,  photography,  DIY topics, and more. Tonight, from 7:00-8:30, ETG hosts Liberation Open Mic, with a Zine workshop and other events coming up -- Info

From the main feature: Downtown

Yu & Me Books, bookstore/café/bar at 44 Mulberry Street. Here you will find fiction, non-fiction, poetry, graphic novels, and works sourced from the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, as well as a rotating selection of local art for sale.

The Mysterious Bookshop, 55 Warren Street, NY, NY Mystery fiction in all its genres, and British imports.

The ICP Bookstore, 79 Essex Street, NY, NY

Tenement Museum Shop, 97 Orchard Street, NY, NY. Well chosen array of books about New York and New York-themed gifts.

Bluestockings Bookstore, 172 Allen Street, NY, NY. Politics, feminism, gender-bending titles, café, and events.

The Drawing Center Bookstore, 35 Wooster Street, NY, NY. Small, highly eclectic.

Codex, 1 Bleecker Street, NY, NY. Used books bought and sold, specializing in literary fiction and art books; live music, and poetry readings.

Clic Bookstore & Gallery, 255 Centre Street, NY, NY. Photography, art, fashion, and celebrities; author events.

New Museum, 235 Bowery, opposite Prince Street, NY, NY. Books, objects, gift items.

Bungee Space, 13 Stanton Street, NY, NY (above], just around the corner from the New Museum, probably epitomizes what it is to be hybrid. With two seats for sipping an exceptional cup coffee, it’s a café. With a selection of vintage [think Comme des Garcons, Vivienne Westwood] and bespoke clothing [from the UK and elsewhere], it’s a boutique. With book bags of every possible description and price, it’s a utilitarian shop for carting away a selection of self-published books, zines and other printed matter, so it’s a bookstore. If the offerings are at first a bit overwhelming, check out the staff picks table, or ask anyone on duty.

Perrotin Store, 130 Orchard Street, NY, NY. Ed. Note: In my Pantheon of beautiful artbook stores (above). Art books, limited editions and artists multiples.

Dashwood Books, 33 Bond Street, between Bowery and Lafayette, NY, NY. Photography, including rare editions; author events, Dashwood Books imprint. 

Mercer Street Books & Records, 206 Mercer Street, NY, NY. Out-of-print art books and vinyl LPs.

UNAGE

Housing Works Bookstore Café, 126 Crosby Street, NY, NY.Used books, movies, music, special events; great coffee and sweets.

Karma Gallery Bookstore, 136 East 3rd Street, NY, NY Artists books, art periodicals and catalogues

Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, 28 East Second Street, NY, NY. Cookbooks, memoirs, and the occasional tasting.

Mast Books, 66 Avenue A, NY, NY. Bright and clean neighborhood bookstore, with affordable used paperbacks along with high-priced out-of-print art books.

Whitney Museum Bookstore, 99 Gansevoort Street, NY, NY. Modern and contemporary American art, gifts.

McNally Jackson Books (above), 52 Prince Street. Regular author events. Also in the lobby at The Shed, 545 West 30th Street. 

192 Books, 192 10th Avenue at 21st Street, NY, NY. Serious reading, art and photography, author events.

Bookmarc, 400 Bleecker Street, New York, NY. “The books fight for space with branded Marc Jacobs tchotchkes: pens, tote bags, sparkly key fobs. It’s tempting to scoff at the idea of books as cool-factor design objects, but I always leave wanting to own everything in the joint.” —Michael Schulman, The New Yorker

To read the complete list, please go here

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