Metro by metro
The leading bookstore chains in every New York metro area
Tracked bookstore chains ranked by consumer spend in each metro area, Q4 2025–Q3 2026. Barnes & Noble leads in all 7 metro areas with enough data. Against their share in New York as a whole, Barnes & Noble stands out in 5 metro areas.
By tracked consumer spend, Q4 2025–Q3 2026
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Barnes & Noble
Relative #1 in 5 metro areas
New York, NY (NY part) 0.6× · Rochester, NY 1.2× · Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY 1.4× · Syracuse, NY 1.2× · Kiryas Joel, NY 1.2×
Not enough tracked stores: Binghamton, NY · Elmira, NY · Glens Falls, NY · Ithaca, NY · Utica-Rome, NY · Watertown-Fort Drum, NY
No ranked chain with 5% of the metro area's spend and 3 stores there: Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY · Kingston, NY
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Barnes & Noble
#1 in all 7 metro areas
Not enough tracked stores: Binghamton, NY · Elmira, NY · Glens Falls, NY · Ithaca, NY · Utica-Rome, NY · Watertown-Fort Drum, NY
A metro area shows a ranking once it has at least 2 tracked bookstore chains and 10 tracked stores. Relative to New York compares a chain's share of the metro area's spend with its share in New York as a whole. It ranks the 7 biggest chains in New York and the chains that lead a metro area by spend, wherever a chain has at least 5% of the metro area's spend and 3 stores there. Metro areas are the Census Bureau's metropolitan statistical areas; the rest of New York is light gray. A metro area crossing the state line counts only its stores in New York. Colors match the store map; other tracked chains are gray.
Growth ranking
Fastest-growing tracked bookstore chains
Ranked by year-over-year growth of share of tracked local spend. Arrows show movement in the rankings since last year. Each dot in the chart is one tracked chain: bigger market position to the right, faster growth higher up, more tracked stores in a bigger dot. Colors match the store map below. Book Culture and Barnes & Noble sit in the high-growth half.
| Rank | Chain | Rank movement | YoY growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Book Culture | - | +13.2% |
| 2 | Barnes & Noble | - | -0.4% |
| 3 | McNally Jackson Books | - | -4.9% |
- Barnes & Noble
- Strand Book Store
- McNally Jackson Books
- Play the Game Read the Story
- Kinokuniya
- SUNY ESF College Bookstore
- Northshire Bookstore
- Other tracked chains
Store footprint
Store map
417 tracked store locations in New York. The 7 largest tracked chains are highlighted. The top 5 chains by store count run 80 of the 417 stores (19%); 323 of the 335 tracked chains have a single store here. 3% of the tracked retail stores here are bookstores, against 2% across the United States.
- Barnes & Noble (65)
- Strand Book Store (2)
- McNally Jackson Books (6)
- Play the Game Read the Story (1)
- Kinokuniya (2)
- SUNY ESF College Bookstore (1)
- Northshire Bookstore (1)
- Other tracked chains
Top tracked chains by store count
- 1 Barnes & Noble 65
- 2 McNally Jackson Books 6
- 3 Book Culture 5
- 4 The Corner Bookstore 2
- 5 The Astoria Bookshop 2
- 6 The Last Word 2
- 7 Greenlight Bookstore 2
- 8 Books Are Magic 2
- 9 Posman Books 2
- 10 Book Off 2
- 11 Kinokuniya 2
- 12 Strand Book Store 2
- 13 Galaxy Comics 1
- 14 Stanza Books 1
- 15 The Bookstore at New Paltz 1
- 16 Desert Island 1
- 17 Odyssey Bookstore 1
- 18 Lift Bridge Book Shop 1
- 19 Transom Bookshop 1
- 20 Inquiring Mind Bookstore 1
- 21 United Nations Bookshop 1
- 22 Old Saratoga Books 1
- 23 Human Relations 1
- 24 The Mysterious Bookshop 1
- 25 Aum Shanti Bookshop & Psychic Tarot Card Readings 1
- 26 Books End 1
- 27 Cyber News 1
- 28 dear friend books 1
- 29 Alfred University Bookstore 1
- 30 Dashwood Books 1
- 31 Bais Hasforim 1
- 32 Quimby's Bookstore 1
- 33 192 Books 1
- 34 Dog Ears Bookstore 1
- 35 Black Walnut Books 1
- 36 Alabaster Bookshop 1
- 37 Bookmarks 1
- 38 St Petersburg Bookstore 1
- 39 Books Of Wonder 1
- 40 The Comic Book Depot 1
- 41 Judaica World 1
- 42 Protagonist Books & Coffee 1
- 43 Kehot Publication Society 1
- 44 Fat Cat Comics 1
- 45 Owl Pen Books 1
- 46 M.O.S.S. Books & Other Provisions 1
- 47 SUNY Plattsburgh College Bookstore 1
- 48 Jak in the Box Comics 1
- 49 powerHouse Books 1
- 50 Albertine 1
More trends