That's very sad. It's a landmark and a wonderful place.
Though I'll admit I never understood how it lasted as long as it did. Its "miles of books" stand on some very expensive land. As I understand it, a lot of its business came from providing books in bulk to designers, theaters, etc. who want books for looking at rather than reading.
It's the place an interior decorator could go to fill a bookshelf in your SoHo apartment with white books. Which is a niche that needs filling, but it could be filled almost as well from a cheap warehouse in Jersey.
It's also a wonderful place to go, both as a regular bookstore and for browsing those miles of mildewy stacks. I highly recommend its rare book room (which I suspect will survive separately, but perhaps no longer be quite so accessible as it is now). So good luck, Strand.
Though I'll admit I never understood how it lasted as long as it did. Its "miles of books" stand on some very expensive land. As I understand it, a lot of its business came from providing books in bulk to designers, theaters, etc. who want books for looking at rather than reading.
It's the place an interior decorator could go to fill a bookshelf in your SoHo apartment with white books. Which is a niche that needs filling, but it could be filled almost as well from a cheap warehouse in Jersey.
It's also a wonderful place to go, both as a regular bookstore and for browsing those miles of mildewy stacks. I highly recommend its rare book room (which I suspect will survive separately, but perhaps no longer be quite so accessible as it is now). So good luck, Strand.