Westsider Rare & Used Books Inc. — Attraction in New York

I have been to this book store twice now. The first time was perfect with respectful and polite staff, the second time not so much. The staff were rude and unhelpful. My friend was having a glance for his fathers book collection in the upstairs rare book section when we were interrupted by an employee who rudely told us to leave. He rudely pointed at the stairs indicating we had to leave. My friend was of colour and i’m not sure if that had anything to do with it. Nevertheless, my friend posted a review saying we were kicked out for no reason and what i’m assuming was the same employee replied, quite arrogantly, that kids aren’t allowed in the upstairs section, and that it was closed on sundays. This makes no sense as there were other people on the upstairs section and i have been before and haven’t been denied access to this section due to my age. The bookstore had a good selection but i was very unhappy with the staff, hopefully this can change. Following is a personal message for the man that kicked us out: Dear sir, arrogance and rudeness will lead you nowhere in life, perhaps this attitude is the reason you work in a bookstore, in future, i hope you realise the wrongs of your ways and aim to change them. I have seen that this isn’t a one off as i have seen reviews in the dozens complaining about staff rudeness. I apologise to all the kind staff and the kind woman that served me upon my first visit to this bookstore and i hope you don’t have to deal with such arrogance for longer. All in all, visiting this bookstore isn’t worth it as there is a better one just 1 block down the road. PS: Notice how the majority of 1 star reviews are complaining about the owner. Please, if you see an old man with gray hair working whilst you’re about to enter,...

This is the platonic ideal of a used bookstore.

I've been coming here for over a decade, and I'm blown away by the selection every single time. It's very rare that I don't walk away with an incredible find: the (very affordable!) used books inside are often difficult to come across elsewhere.

There's a few cheap secondhand shelves on the street, and sometimes you can find a decent book or two for a few bucks.

The real meat is on the inside, where books are stacked all the way up to a high ceiling in this railroad-, deep and high hole in the wall style store. It's an incredibly cozy, warm atmosphere, especially in the winter, and unparalleled to anything else in the city. In a very real sense, this is the stuff of dreams. There's a wide range of choices, from poetry, fiction, criticism, architecture, philosophy, religion, political science, and history, along with a selection of records, comic books, and photo books. Anyone can find a book for them hidden away somewhere on these shelves—browsing them is its own reward. I gravitate towards the history section, where I've been able to score hard to find. At one point they were selling the collected edition of Braudel's Civilization and Capitalism at a severe discount, and I still regret not picking it up. No worries — I walked away with three books just the other day.

On the second floor you'll find the collector's rare and unique books, worth seeing at least once.

Westsider is tight for space, but I'm very happy they have the one or two stools available to fine tune selections before purchase!

Staff has always been extremely courteous, helpful, and at times very funny.

A real...

My copy of Robert A Heinlein's Folio Society Edition of Stranger in a Strange Land has just arrived and I just had to comment.

First off, it was extremely well packaged which kept the book in immaculate condition on its long journey from New York to the UK.

Secondly, as mentioned the book is in immaculate condition, totally as new, it looks like its never been opened.

Thirdly, the little touches they added, their book mark (always welcome) as well as wrapping the book in one of their T-shirts - sure its free advertising but its the right size and I'll happily wear it.

It did seem to take forever for the package to arrive (even though it was well within the timescales they advertised) but that was probably more the eager anticipation to get a book I've loved for so many years in such a special edition.

Thank you Westsider Rare & Used team. I can certainly recommend you whole heartedly, and hope to be able to visit your store if I ever get back...