Nothing like coming across an old gem that you never knew about. And while I use Amazon a lot, nothing beats browsing.

They reopened???? Where? When?

I fondly remember their presence on 57th Street, and then they moved across from Bryant Park.

http://www.coliseumbooks.com/

http://www.strandbooks.com/

And here is a good web-only site for used books:

http://www.alibris.com/

http://www.rocpic.com/hog/hog.html

Alex - you da man today. Salami and used book stores all in one day? Gotta be a big Yankee win tonight. Just too much good karma in the air for anything else.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25145431/

The Coliseum on 57th street was a great store, and memorable for me because when I was a kid, only that place and Shakespeare and company on the Upper West Side were open late. When they moved across the street from Bryant Park, they lost all their personality and just became another store--they were always pricey to boot.

I once went to an overpriced record store in a New England college town, and the heads there were mad snotty. All their stock was too expensive. They didn't have but a few rap records, but I found a sealed copy of "Description of a Fool," a single from A Tribe Called Quest's first album, for five bucks. My eyes almost bugged out of my head. I steadied myself, paid for it, and resisted the urge to dance up and down and go "In Your Face Jerky Record Store Dorks!"

Then, I flipped it for $40 bucks back in NYC.

Not a big fan of wrecka stows, but give me a Salvation Army, or any other thrift shop (Volunteers of America), and I'll spend the better part of a day diggin through the crates. Scored a beautiful copy of "Mr Magic's Rap Attack" vols 1 AND 2.

And next month I'm going to Portland OR for a few days -- Powells Books is an amazing store, a damn near rival for Strand.