New York City loves its independent bookstores. It eulogizes those that have faded and celebrates when new ventures are launched. And while the historic Book Row may have passed away in the 80s, there are still many indie bookstores dotting the map, across all five boroughs. Here, I have attempted to collect all of the currently-open general-interest independent booksellers in NYC. Any store with regular-ish hours (excluding religious booksellers and appointment-only rare book sellers) is included.
While Manhattan and Brooklyn still lead the pack, Queens has a respectable number of stores, and all five boroughs are represented, with the Bronx and Staten Island both hosting lone independent stores. Lower Manhattan has the highest density of booksellers.
The listings here are kept up-to-date to the best of my ability; however, I make no promises about either the accuracy or reliability of the information. If you spot an error, or I've missed a shop, please let me know by email, mastodon, or twitter. Originally based on the "Hack Spots" website by @jllord (although I don't believe any of the actual underlying code still survives at this point).
There are currently 111 stores indexed on this page. Last updated March 7, 2023.
| 1804 Books | 320 W 37th Street, New York |
| 192 Books | 192 10th Ave, New York |
| Adanne | 234 Water Street, Brooklyn |
| Aeon Bookstore | 151 East Broadway, New York |
| Alabaster Bookshop | 122 4th Ave, New York |
| Albertine Books | 972 Fifth Ave, New York |
| Archestratus | 160 Huron St, Brooklyn |
| Argosy Books | 116 East 59th St, New York |
| Astoria Bookshop | 31-29 31st St, Astoria |
| Avoid The Day Bookstore & Cafe | 99-04 A Rockaway Beach Blvd, Rockaway Park |
| Berl's Brooklyn Poetry Shop | 126A Front St, Brooklyn |
| Better Read Than Dead | 867 Broadway, Brooklyn |
| Better Read Than Dead & Burly Coffee | 90 Kosciuszko St, Brooklyn |
| Bluestockings Cooperative | 116 Suffolk Street, New York |
| Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks | 28 East 2nd St, New York |
| Book Club Bar | 197 E 3rd St, New York |
| Book Culture | 536 W 112th St, New York |
| Book Culture LIC | 26-09 Jackson Ave, Queens |
| Book Culture on Broadway | 2915 Broadway, New York |
| Book Thug Nation | 100 North 3rd St, Brooklyn |
| Bookmarc | 400 Bleecker St, New York |
| BookMark Shoppe | 8415 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn |
| Bookoff | 49 W 45nd St, New York |
| Bookoff Brooklyn | 934 3rd Ave, Brooklyn |
| Books Are Magic (Montague St.) | 122 Montague St, Brooklyn |
| Books Are Magic (Smith St.) | 225 Smith St, Brooklyn |
| Books Of Wonder | 42 West 17th St, New York |
| Boulevard Books | 7518 13th Ave, Brooklyn |
| Bravo's Book Nook | 115 MacDougal St, New York |
| Burnt Books | 1014 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn |
| Cafe con Libros | 724 Prospect Place, Brooklyn |
| Catland | 987 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn |
| Chartwell Booksellers | 55 E 52nd St, New York |
| Codex Books | 1 Bleecker St, New York |
| Community Bookstore | 143 7th Ave, Brooklyn |
| Cups and Books | 2024 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn |
| Dashwood Books | 33 Bond St, New York |
| Dear Friend Books | 343A Tompkins Avenue, Brooklyn |
| Desert Island Comics | 540 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn |
| East Village Books | 99 St. Mark's Place, New York |
| ETG Book Cafe | 208 Bay St, Staten Island |
| Freebird Books | 123 Columbia St, Brooklyn |
| Greenlight Bookstore | 686 Fulton St, Brooklyn |
| Greenlight Bookstore (Prospect Lefferts Gardens) | 632 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn |
| Here's A Book Store | 1964 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn |
| Hey Kids! Comics | 157 Huron St, Brooklyn |
| Housing Works Bookstore Café | 126 Crosby St, New York |
| Human Relations Books | 1067 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn |
| Idlewild Books | 170 7th Avenue S, New York |
| James Cummins Bookseller | 699 Madison Ave, 7th Floor, New York |
| Joanne Hendricks Cookbooks | 488 Greenwich St, New York |
| Karma Bookstore | 136 East Third St, New York |
| Kew & Willow Books | 81-63 Lefferts Boulevard, New York |
| Kinokunya | 1073 Avenue of the Americas, New York |
| Kitchen Arts & Letters | 1435 Lexington Ave, New York |
| Leaves Bookstore | 140 Nassau Ave, Brooklyn |
| Left Bank Books | 41 Perry Street, New York |
| Logos Bookstore | 1575 York Ave, New York |
| Mast Books | 72 Avenue A, New York |
| McNally Jackson Books | 52 Prince St, New York |
| McNally Jackson Books City Point | 445 Albee Square W, Unit G112, Brooklyn |
| McNally Jackson Books Seaport | 4 Fulton St, New York |
| McNally Jackson Books Williamsburg | 76 North 4th St, Brooklyn |
| McNally Jackson Rockefeller Center | 1 Rockefeller Plaza, New York |
| Melville House Publishers | 46 John St, Brooklyn |
| Mercer Street Books & Records | 206 Mercer St, New York |
| Mil Mundos Books | 323 Linden St, Brooklyn |
| Molasses Books | 770 Hart St, Brooklyn |
| Namaste Bookshop | 2 W 14th St, New York |
| P&T Knitwear | 180 Orchard Street, New York |
| Pillow-Cat Books | 328 East 9th St, New York |
| Posman Books Chelsea Market | 75 9th Avenue, New York |
| POWERHOUSE @ IC | 220 36th Street, Building #2, Brooklyn |
| POWERHOUSE Arena | 28 Adams St, Brooklyn |
| POWERHOUSE on 8th | 1111 8th Ave, Brooklyn |
| Printed Matter | 231 11th Ave, New York |
| Printed Matter St. Marks | 38 St. Marks Pl, New York |
| Quest Bookshop | 240 E 53rd St, New York |
| Quimby's Bookstore | 536 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn |
| Recirculation | 876 Riverside Dr, New York |
| Respect For Life Books-N-Things | 537 Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn |
| Revolution Books | 437 Malcolm X Blvd, New York |
| Rizzoli Bookstore | 1133 Broadway, New York |
| Shakespeare & Company | 939 Lexington Ave, New York |
| Shakespeare & Company (Upper West Side) | 2020 Broadway, New York |
| Sister's Uptown Bookstore | 1942 Amsterdam Ave, New York |
| Spoonbill & Sugartown, Booksellers | 218 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn |
| Standards Manual | 212 Franklin Street, Brooklyn |
| Strand Bookstore | 828 Broadway, New York |
| Sweet Pickle Books | 47 Orchard St, New York |
| Terrace Books | 242 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn |
| The Austin Book Shop | 104-29 Jamaica Ave, Richmond Hill |
| The Book Cellar | 1465 York Ave, New York |
| The Center for Fiction | 15 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn |
| The Corner Bookstore | 1313 Madison Ave, New York |
| The Drama Book Shop | 266 W 39th St, New York |
| The Lit. Bar | 131 Alexander Ave, Bronx |
| The Mysterious Bookshop | 58 Warren St, New York |
| The Strand At Columbus Ave | 450 Columbus Avenue, New York |
| The Word Is Change | 368 Tompkins Avenue, Brooklyn |
| Three Lives & Company | 238 West 10th St, New York |
| Topos Bookstore Cafe | 788 Woodward Ave, Brooklyn |
| Troubled Sleep Books | 129 6th Ave, Brooklyn |
| Turn The Page... Again | 39-15a Bell Blvd, Flushing |
| Unnameable Books | 600 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn |
| Ursus Books | 50 East 78th St, Suite 1C, New York |
| Westsider Rare & Used Books | 2246 Broadway, New York |
| Westsider Records | 233 West 72nd St, New York |
| Word Bookstore | 126 Franklin St, Brooklyn |
| Word Up Books | 2113 Amsterdam Ave, New York |
| Yu and Me Books | 44 Mulberry St, New York |