The Strand used to be fantastic when it was just a gigantic used book store, but ever since it started focusing more on new books its become a shadow of its former self. So I can't say I'd miss it nearly as much now as I would have 20 years ago.
That said, it's a sad day when any bookstore goes out of business, especially one with a rich history like The Strand (despite most of that history being behind it now).
I'm a relatively new New Yorker (I've shopped at the Strand for 6 years). Can you expound on this a little bit more?
I've found that while the inventory on a given day might not be super stellar, the sheer volume of books that flow through their hands is the true value they provide to the ecosystem. I see them as more of a used book broker than a museum for used books.
As an example to explain what I mean, 2 years ago I added to my wishlist some obscure book, last printed in the 80s by a small midwestern university publisher. Two weeks ago, I received an email saying that they had just put it on the shelf! That evening, I walked in, found it more or less immediately, and wandered about looking for particular fiction authors, before finding a marvelously-illustrated classic in two volumes, that was printed in the 1940s. I left maybe $40 poorer. This story repeats itself every month or two.
While you might be able to find such things on Amazon, I find that the Strand both beckons you to search and rewards you for that search. I don't think anything in New York competes with them, pound for pound.
While, I agree that their branding and marketing focus has shifted a lot towards "trendy", newer material (i.e. where the real money is), I'm skeptical of the notion that the quality or range of their used goods have declined proportionally, if at all.
It's not just their branding and marketing that focuses on new books. They have devoted a significant amount of shelf space in the store to new books. Virtually all that shelf space used to be taken up by used books, so the selection of used books available there was both much broader and much deeper.
That fantastic selection of books did not make The Strand a used book museum but rather a world class used bookstore -- a position they've suffered a self-inflicted fall from, though they're still relatively good, but only because so many other used bookstores have either gone out of business or closed their brick and mortar shops and transitioned to selling completely online.
So kudos to them for surviving as a brick and mortar shop, but we should recognize the price they and we have had to pay for that survival.
Genuinely curious because I only know the last few years, but virtually all of the "shelf" space is still occupied with used books, and the only new books are on the islands.
Are you saying there were fewer islands and more stacks in the past? I can definitely empathize if that's the case; it seems like a solid 1/3 of the floor space is islands nowadays.
That being said, as you alluded to, I think it's a smart trade-off that's allowed them to stay afloat, seeing as the bulk of their revenue must come from new publications and the publisher events. However, I think I still hold on to my assertion that their selection remains deep and broad, but I willingly capitulate that it's been stretched over a wider span of time. The misplaced gems inevitably seem to surface there, given enough time.
I think that, as long as us good New Yorkers continue to sell our books to the Strand instead of Amazon, we'll be in decent shape. :)
> Are you saying there were fewer islands and more stacks in the past?
was never a newyorker but did briefly visit the strand in ~2002, and from my fuzzy recollection (wasn't in the market for a book at the time) it was pretty much entirely all giant stacks.
That said, it's a sad day when any bookstore goes out of business, especially one with a rich history like The Strand (despite most of that history being behind it now).