The Strand Bookstore is opening a brand-new location on the Upper West Side

The city's biggest and most famous indie bookshop, The Strand, known for boasting 18 miles worth of books, just signed a lease to open a second location on Columbus Avenue between 81st and 82nd Streets.

The Strand at Columbus Avenue is set to open this March with a mammoth collection of used, new, rare books, as well as other nifty items for book lovers. The new location will also expand its event series, which presently puts on loads of programs each year, which have included author talks from David Foster Wallace, Jhumpa Lahiri, David Sedaris, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Jeff Koons, and children’s story-time on weekends too. 

"We are so excited to expand The Strand and engage the community of the Upper West Side," said owner Nancy Bass Wyden in a tweet on the store’s official Twitter account. "We aim to continue the legacy of my father, and his father before him, by bringing the joy of books to everyone."

The Upper West Side space was previously home to another popular indie bookshop, Book Culture, which closed its doors this past June due to unpaid vendor debts and loans. "We are proud to continue the literary legacy of the space, previously home to indie bookshops Endicott Books and Book Culture," The Strand wrote in a statement.

For the uninitiated, Benjamin Bass opened The Strand in 1927 on Broadway and 12th Street—an area that was considered "Book Row" (stretching between Union Square and Astor Place). It once held close to 50 independently-owned bookstores. Today, The Strand is one of the only ones still standing.