Miles of Books

"Surely operating out of one of those barns would be cheaper. 'Not with our formula,' says Bass firmly. 'We need the store. This business requires a lot of cash flow to operate,' and much of it comes in with the tourists. That funds the book-buying, which supplies the next cycle of inventory.

"Which requires this expensive retail space, and the renovation of 2003 did not just come from a desire to spiff up. It happened because of a specific event, one that probably saved the Strand: In 1996, after four decades of renting, the Basses bought the building. 'Frankly,' Fred says, 'for a while, I thought, This isn't going to work anymore.' He'd always negotiated the lease renewal with his landlord at the nearby Knickerbocker Bar & Grill—they once had to reconstruct their deal the next day, after knocking back one too many—and a bookstore would not have been able to hang on to 44,000 square feet for much longer. It took Bass two years to hammer out a price, but once he became his own tenant, he paid rent at a significant discount. 'When I want to negotiate my own lease,' he jokes, 'I have to go to the bar myself.'"

Christopher Bonanos in New York visits the Strand Bookstore.