Profile

Though her store once shared a name with McNally Robinson, a large Canadian chain owned by her parents, Sarah McNally’s Nolita bookstore has always been a completely independent—and personal—venture. In order to keep the selection relevant, her shop’s general-interest stock is curated with the goal of having every book a customer could want and not a single one more. As a result, the bi-level store is comprehensive but not sprawling. Periodicals are heavy on literary and art publications and tend to be read in the twenty-seat on-site tea house; plants are scattered throughout; paintings and photographs, largely by McNally’s friends, grace the walls. The personal touch extends to the events as well. McNally Jackson hosts several readings, signings, and discussions each week; Margaret Atwood once demonstrated a remote-controlled pen that she had invented, authors have been known to read works by their favorites, and an ongoing series couples writers and their editors. (The first installment featured a pre-scandal James Frey.) — Joe DeLessio

Related Stories

Featured In

• Ask a Clerk at McNally Robinson Booksellers (10/9/06)
• Tea Town (1/24/05)