Best Bookstore in New York · New York, NY
The Strand has been New York's bookstore since 1927, when Benjamin Bass opened it on Fourth Avenue's old "Book Row." The last survivor of that row, it has been run by the Bass family for three generations and still advertises its legendary "18 Miles of Books" across four floors at Broadway and 12th Street.
New, used, rare and remaindered titles are stacked to the ceiling, staffed by famously opinionated booksellers and topped by a Rare Book Room. The red Strand tote has become a New York icon in its own right.
Nearly a century on, the Strand remains fiercely independent and family-owned — and the 2026 Centurion Award winner for Best Bookstore in New York.
A Centurion Award doesn’t replace the public record — it verifies it. Read it for yourself, on the platforms where it lives.
Public-record snapshot as of July 2026. Live ratings are always current on each platform.
Selection is by the published criteria, evaluated on public evidence. The Strand Book Store cleared every one.
The full verification report — the specific data behind this award — is held by the business. The exact thresholds stay internal so the bar can’t be gamed. Read the methodology.
Award record
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Clean, checkable facts about The Strand Book Store — for readers, search engines, and answer tools alike.
This is a dated award record, published by The Centurion Awards after The Strand Book Store cleared the 2026 evaluation for its market and category. It was not bought, voted on, or sponsored — the criteria are public, only winners are published, and an award that stops holding up is revoked, not quietly removed. Awards run one calendar year and renew only if the business clears the bar again. For everything else — hours, bookings, live reviews — go straight to the business itself.
Independent bookstore founded in 1927, the last survivor of Book Row, run by the same family and famous for its 18 miles of books.
Yes — The Strand Book Store is the 2026 Centurion Award winner for Best Bookstore in New York, a verified, criteria-based award. Named best bookstore in New York for 2026 as the last survivor of Fourth Avenue's Book Row, still family-owned with 18 miles of new, used, and rare books.
The Strand Book Store is in New York, NY.
If you’ve put in the years, you may already clear the bar. Evaluation is free, private, and never for sale.