$1 Books at the Strand: The Value of a Good Book

The Strand Bookstore -- 828 Broadway, New York, NY

For $13 you could go see the top box-office movie at Regal Union Square Stadium 14 off of Broadway. A “footlong” sandwich from a Subway would cost you $5, as long as you choose from the five combinations of the month. And, for $1.29, you could buy the most downloaded song of the day from iTunes: Today, the chart-topper is S&M Remix by Rihanna -- 4 minutes and 17 seconds of entertainment. 

Or, for $1, you could buy a book from the Strand. The choice, according to everyone interviewed, was simple. 

“In a price-conscious economy, you don’t find these deals every day,” said Eric S. as he perused the books lining the north side of 12th Street. At 11 a.m., Eric was one of seven souls braving the rain, in search of a deal for $1. In his hands, he held three hardcovers, and he was still searching for more. “I find amazing things out here,” he said.

And it’s true: An amazing deal is exactly what buying a $1 book from the Strand is. Take, for instance, the hardcover copy of Speech-less by Matt Latimer -- $1 at the Strand, $17.50 from Barnes and Noble. Or Notes Left Behind by Brooke and Keith Desserich -- the Strand’s $1 vs. Barnes and Noble’s $14.12. 

At the Strand, $10 savings are not unusual. For Henry Ludmer, these deals are expected. 

Ludmer, a book collector, buys hundreds of books each year. “I couldn’t afford to do that anywhere else,” he said. 

Ludmer, who lives in the West Village, doesn’t think it’s fun to look inside the store: The hunt through the carts, for him, is the best part of the experience. “I’ve been coming here since the 1970s,” he said, “And I plan to buy a book a day ‘till I die.”

For $1, a book a day does not sound unreasonable. Like Ludmer, Ging Wong is willing to pay the Strand’s price. “I don’t like going to the library,” Wong explained, leafing through a paperback. “[At the library] you have to return a book even if you’re not done. For $1 I can keep my book. 

Like many of the Strand’s customers, Wong and Ludmer both remember a time when walking down Broadway and 12th Street meant walking through Book Row. The Stand was then one of 48 bookshops between Union Square and Astor Place. Today, however, the Strand is, according to its website, the last of this tradition. 

The $1 carts have been a feature offered by the Strand since it opened in 1927, said Zach Barocas, one of the managers at the Strand. Every morning, Strand employees restock the outdoor shelves, filling them with “the other books,” or books that don’t sell at full price or have been damaged. These, said to Barocas, are the books other stores would throw away. But for $1, shoppers at the Strand are willing to make the purchase. 

“For $1,” Barocas said, “I can deal with a coffee stain.” 

Like many customers, Barocas is a big fan of the carts. When browsing, he tends to look for books of poetry or hard fiction. His favorite find, so far, was a hardcover copy of Thomas McGrath’s Letter to an Imaginary Friend. The same book is sold used on Amazon.com. The price, however, started at $24.99. 

“Everything is out there,” Barocas said. “You just start at one end and move to the other, and see what you come up with.”