WE ARE NEW YORK INDIE BOOKSELLERS
Every indie bookstore has a personality and every individual can find one whose character suits him. Not just the books themselves and the authors, but the very bookstore itself. It is, in a sense, finding oneself in a place where one can discover a community. Books provide bridges between people. These booksellers’ portraits are a reflection of their customers and ultimately of their neighborhoods, and collectively make a portrait of New York City.
Historically the City has had a wealth of indie bookstores, but the recent past has seen a serious decline in those numbers, in part due to bargain megastores, internet retailers, the ascension of the e-book, not to mention the spectacular rise of their monthly rents. Today there is a revival in indie bookstores, mostly in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Their diversity is extraordinary, specializing in biography, travel, mystery fiction, stories for children, gender, poetry, collectible, academic, African-American literature, Hispanic culture, cooking and much more. And their spaces too are so different, from a container in Bushwick to a prestigious building in midtown Manhattan. Nevertheless, the booksellers are all looking for one thing--sharing their passion for books; new, used, bargained or rare.
James Drougas at Unoppressive Non-Imperialist Bargain Books, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, 2017
Corey Farach at Bluestockings, Lower East Side, Manhattan, 2017
Ben Lowry, Naomi Hample, Adina Cohen and Judith Lowry at Argosy Bookstore, Upper East Side, Manhattan, 2017
Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, East Village, Manhattan, 2017
David Morse at Book Row, Bushwick, Brooklyn, 2017
Heather O'Donnell at Honey and wax books, Gowanus, Brooklyn, 2017
Janifer P. Wilson at Sisters Uptown Bookstore, Harlem, Manhattan, 2017
Joseph Koch at Joseph Koch's Comic Book Warehouse, Sunset Park, Brooklyn, NY, 2017
Justin Shock, Hayley Blatte, Monica Yi at Troll Hole, Bushwick, Brooklyn, 2017
Dimitrios Fragiskatos at Anyone’s Comic, Crown Heights Brooklyn, 2017
Matt Winn at Molasses Books, Bushwick, Brooklyn, 2017
Michael Seidenberg at Brazened Books, Somewhere in Manhattan, 2017
Nick Chase at The Corner Bookstore, Upper East Side, Manhattan, 2017
Otto Pentzler at The Mysterious Bookstore, TriBeCa, Manhattan, 2017
Peter Miller at Freebird bookstore, Red Hook, Brooklyn, 2017
Steven Svymbersky, Quimby’s Bookstore, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 2017
Toby Cox at Three Lives & Company, West Village, Manhattan, 2017
Veronica Liu at Word Up Community Bookshop, Washington Heights, Manhattan, 2017
Wayne Conti at Mercer Books, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, 2017
Maggie Pouncey and Matt Miller at Stories Bookshop + Storytelling Lab, Bergen Street, Brooklyn, 2017
Jared White at Perl's at Brooklyn Poetry Shop, Dumbo, Brooklyn, 2017
Jennifer Fischer, Street Bookseller, St. Marks Place, East Village, Manhattan, 2017
Chris Doeblin at Book Culture, Upper West Side, Manhattan, 2017
