Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across all 50 U.S. states.
The Strand Bookstore is an independent bookstore located at 828 Broadway, at the corner of East 12th Street in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, two blocks south of Union Square. In addition to the main location, there is another store on the Upper West Side on Columbus Ave between West 81st and 82nd Streets, as well as kiosks in Central Park and Times Square, and a curated shelf at Moynihan Train Hall. The company's slogan is "18 Miles Of Books," as featured on its stickers, T-shirts, and other merchandise. In 2016, The New York Times called The Strand "the undisputed king of the city’s independent bookstores."
Giovanni Maria "Gianni" Versace was an Italian fashion designer, socialite and businessman. He was the founder of Versace, an international luxury-fashion house that produces accessories, fragrances, make-up, home furnishings and clothes. He also designed costumes for theatre and films. As a friend of Eric Clapton, Princess Diana, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Madonna, Elton John, Tupac Shakur, Joan Collins and many other celebrities, he was one of the first designers to link fashion to the music world. He and his partner Antonio D'Amico were regulars on the international party scene. The place where he was born and raised, Reggio di Calabria, greatly influenced his career.
Donatella Francesca Versace, sometimes simply referred to mononymously as Donatella, is an Italian fashion designer, Grand Ufficiale dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana and businesswoman, socialite, and model. She is the sister of Gianni Versace, founder of the luxury fashion company Versace, with whom she worked closely on the development of the brand and in particular its combining of Italian luxury with pop culture and celebrity.
Gianni Versace S.r.l., usually referred to as Versace, is an Italian luxury fashion company founded by Gianni Versace in 1978. The company produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as well as haute couture under its Atelier Versace brand and licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear. Gianni Versace being a native of Calabria, in the ancient Magna Grecia, the company logo is inspired by Medusa, a figure from Greek mythology.
Bookstore tourism is a type of cultural tourism that promotes independent bookstores as a group travel destination. It started as a grassroots effort to support locally owned and operated bookshops, many of which have struggled to compete with large bookstore chains and online retailers.
An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned. Usually, independent stores consist of only a single actual store. They may be structured as sole proprietorships, closely held corporations or partnerships, cooperatives, or nonprofits. Independent stores can be contrasted with chain bookstores, which have many locations and are owned by corporations which often have divisions in other lines besides bookselling. Specialty stores such as comic book shops tend to be independent.
B. Dalton Bookseller was an American retail bookstore chain founded in 1966 by Bruce Dayton, a member of the same family that operated the Dayton's department store chain. B. Dalton expanded to become the largest retailer of hardcover books in the United States, with 779 stores at the peak of the chain's success. Located mainly at indoor shopping malls, B. Dalton competed primarily with Waldenbooks. Barnes & Noble acquired the chain from Dayton's in 1987 and continued to operate it until a late 2009 announcement that the last 50 stores would be liquidated by January 2010. B. Dalton was later revived by rebranding a Barnes & Noble location in 2022.
J. Levine Books and Judaica is an independent bookstore located in Midtown Manhattan. J. Levine is a fifth-generation family business and one of the oldest standing Judaica stores in United States since it opened in 1905.
The Gotham Book Mart was a famous Midtown Manhattan bookstore and cultural landmark that operated from 1920 to 2007. The business was located first in a small basement space on West 45th Street near the Theater District, then moved to 51 West 47th Street, then spent many years at 41 West 47th Street within the Diamond District in Manhattan, New York City, before finally moving to 16 East 46th Street. Beyond merely selling books, the store virtually played as a literary salon, hosting meetings of the Finnegans Wake Society, the James Joyce Society, poetry and author readings, art exhibits, and more. It was known for its distinctive sign above the door which read, "Wise Men Fish Here". The store specialized in poetry, literature, books about theater, art, music and dance. It sold both new books as well as out-of-print and rare books.
Weiser Antiquarian Books is the oldest occult bookstore in the United States. It specialises in books on Aleister Crowley and his circle, magic, mysticism, eastern religions and alternative spirituality. Its earlier New York incarnation, The Weiser Bookshop, was described by Leslie A. Shepherd as "perhaps the most famous occult bookstore in the U.S."
Fahrenheit 451 Books was a bookstore, formerly located on 509 South Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, California. It was described by the Los Angeles Times as a "literary landmark" of the region. It closed in 1994.
John K. King Used & Rare Books is an independent bookseller in Michigan.
Rizzoli Bookstore is a general interest bookstore, located in the St. James Building, 1133 Broadway in New York City, that primarily specializes in illustrated books and foreign language titles. Its previous location at 31 W. 57th Street was noted for its beautiful interior. After Rizzoli's lease expired in April 2014, the 57th St. building was demolished. Rizzoli moved to its current NoMad location on July 27, 2015. The Rizzoli Bookstore is indirectly owned by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, an Italian multimedia company, having acquired the books division from RCS MediaGroup. The direct parent company of the bookstore is Rizzoli International Publications, also known as Rizzoli New York.
Book Row was a district in New York City from the 1890s to the 1960s composed of six city blocks which, at its peak, contained over three dozen bookstores. Many – if not most – of the places were used bookstores. In its heyday, Book Row spanned the stretch of Fourth Avenue between Union Square and Astor Place. Other names for it included "Booksellers' Row" and "Second-Hand Row."
Bookshop.org is an online book marketplace launched in January 2020. Its stated mission is "to financially support local, independent bookstores."
The Booksellers is a 2019 American documentary film that was directed, edited, and produced by D.W. Young. It was executive produced by Parker Posey, who also provides narration in the film. The film explores the world of antiquarian and rare book dealers and their bookstores. It focuses primarily on booksellers in New York City, including Adina Cohen, Naomi Hample and Judith Lowry, the three sisters of the Argosy Book Store; Stephen Massey, founder of Christie’s NY Book Department; and Nancy Bass Wyden, owner of the Strand Bookstore. Other prominent people featured in the film include Fran Lebowitz, Gay Talese, Justin Croft, Zack Hample, Susan Orlean, William S. Reese, A. S. W. Rosenbach, Jay S. Walker, and Kevin Young.
Elliott Bay Book Company is an independent bookstore located at 1521 10th Avenue in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. The Seattle Times described the store as the "region's premier independent bookstore" and the Associated Press referred to the bookstore as "a literary landmark." The New York Times claimed in 1999 that "most Seattleites would agree" that Elliott Bay Book Company was the "bookish heart" of the city. The bookstore opened in 1973 in the Pioneer Square neighborhood and moved to Capitol Hill in 2010.
Books of Wonder is an independent bookstore and publisher based in Manhattan. It was established in 1980 by Peter Glassman and James Carey and is focused on selling antique, classic and new children's books. It has been called "New York City's oldest children's-only bookstore" still in activity.
