For decades, book lovers and tourists alike have flocked to the Strand Bookstore in New York’s Greenwich Village to marvel at the 23 miles of rare, used and new books that line the shelves of the historic destination. or to get a Strand branded tote bag. . It would be far from an exaggeration to say that the Strand is deeply rooted in the city’s vast literary legend.

Like many bookstores, the Strand has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. With the loss of New York tourists, foot traffic and hundreds of in-store events per year, Strand owner Nancy Bass Wyden claimed the store lost 70% of its expected revenue from 2019 – a loss that she claimed to be unbearable for the book trade.

“I will do everything to continue to share our mutual love of the written word”, Bass Wyden wrote in an open letter to clients on October 23. “For the first time in The Strand’s 93-year history, we need to mobilize our community to buy from us so that we can keep our doors open until there is a vaccine.”

Immediately, loyal customers and other Strand supporters were motivated by Bass Wyden’s call to #SaveTheStrand. Long queues have filled the previously empty storefront and the Strand’s website crashed due to heavy traffic. They received 25,000 orders and made $ 170,550 in sales the weekend after Bass Wyden’s post.

For all of its appeal to the masses, however, the Strand is not the independent, community-driven bookstore it claims to be. The New York-based institution has long been at the center of controversy for its failure to commit to the ideals of hard work and resilience that Wyden cites as the store’s historic strengths. In 2014, this dissonance was highlighted with reports that the store was using its sprinklers to disperse homeless people trying to sleep under the awnings of the store. Prior to that, in 2012, the store was the target a worker-led picket line on allegations of union breakdown and unfair contracts by Bass Wyden and his father, then co-owner Fred Bass.

This year, just weeks before applying for and receiving a PPP loan, millionaire Bass Wyden laid off the majority of Strand’s 212 employees – 170 of whom were unionized – despite accepting the $ 1 million to $ 2 million loan. dollars on the condition that they keep their staff. At the end of June, the Strand rehired 33 of those workers, bringing the total to 57 before laying off 12 workers again via email two weeks later. In a declaration, the United Auto Workers Union, of which some Strand workers are a part, called the layoffs “an escalation of Bass Wyden’s long-standing model of blind disregard for the physical, mental and financial well-being of his employees.”

Bass Wyden has since claimed the layoffs were the result of the Strand’s drastic cuts to finances amid the pandemic – but it was the very purpose of securing a PPP loan. Meanwhile, Bass Wyden has personally invested $ 160,000 to $ 400,000 in shares of Amazon, the very company that she says has harmed the independent bookstore in the past. She made those purchases around the same time she laid off the Strand employees.

The importance of The Strand in New York literary history is not in doubt, but that does not mean that the institution as it currently exists – an institution that appears to favor profit over workers and public image in relation to community members – must be saved. We don’t need to hold on to these historical vestiges of the past if they no longer serve us. We can do better.

Yes, the pandemic has hurt independent bookstores, but the Strand is already taken by a multimillionaire owner and a massive platform provided by the store’s position as a historic landmark. In all likelihood, the Strand isn’t going anywhere, and if it is, maybe it is better that way. Here are some other independent BIPOC-owned bookstores that you can support and order online instead:

Frugal Bookstore, Boston, MA

Cafe with Libros, Brooklyn, NY

The bed. Bar, Bronx, New York

Harriet Bookstore, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

For Keeps Books, Atlanta, GA

Altamira Libros, Miami, Florida

Culture books, St. Petersburg, Florida

Semicolon Bookstore and Gallery, Chicago, IL

Source Bookstore, Detroit, MI

Release Station, Durham, North Carolina

Other books, Los Angeles, California

Repair Club, Los Angeles, California

Fulton Street Books and Coffee, Tulsa, OK

People are preparing books, New Haven, CT

Black Pearl Bookstore, Austin, Texas

Harambee Books, Alexandria, Virginia

– Editor Sofia Andrade can be contacted at sofia.andrade@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @SofiaAndrade__.