A Guide to New York City’s Best Bookstores

With its iconoclastic, shocking pink packaging, minimalist chic storefront, and tightly curated, unexpected selection, Climax Books stands out as a must-visit contemporary one-stop for print and visual media discovery. The New York outpost (a London shop came first) opened in 2024 and was founded by Isabella Burley, former editor-in-chief of Dazed. The shelves house everything from rare John Waters movie pamphlets to first-edition tomes by famed photographers such as Nobuyoshi Araki or Nan Goldin.

This by-appointment-only treasure trove has become one of the most popular and unusual bookshops in recent New York history. Bill Hall runs the operation out of his apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where hundreds of vintage fashion, design, and art books overflow the main entry living room, and thousands of back-issue magazines and auction catalogs are stacked in a cavernous basement packed full of fashion fanatics and students alike who explore the aisles for hours at a time. The inventory is never-ending—and you never know what you’ll find once inside.

A well-loved classic for decades, Three Lives & Company stands on the corner of West 10th Street and Waverly Place in the heart of Greenwich Village. The neighborhood favorite has a small town, old New York feel with ample charm, allowing even the busiest of New Yorkers to get lost within the stacks of literary classics, niche translations, and up-and-coming contemporary talent.