122 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ
Ever since New Jersey poet Cord Moreski told me about the store, I’ve been eager to make my way to Labyrinth Books in Princeton, NJ. Expansive in scope and style, Labyrinth is not just a gorgeous neighborhood bookstore but a destination worth going out of your way to visit. From vintage titles in the basement and great merch on the ground floor to wallet-friendly deals on new releases and artistic coffee table books, this place had it all.
Multiple tables of sale books stood outside the long windows beneath a blue awning and brick façade, the store name in a crisp, sans serif font on both. The sale tables had a good mix of new and classic titles, but I was too eager to get inside to linger long. More wheeled racks of used bargain books met me inside the door, along with numerous tables and displays with new releases, including biographies, philosophy, history, essays, literary journals, and much more. Other shelves up front had a huge selection of books written by (to no surprise) Princeton faculty. I mean, the university is only across the street after all. You’ll also find books about the town, the school, and the long history of the region and state.
Heading a little further back are more shelves for new fiction, a veritable rainbow of covers and spines set into white pine shelves, the matching floors gleaming bright and clean. The whole shop feels both clean and angular yet colorful and eclectic. It’s clear they take great care in presenting an organized shop. There were thoughtful staff picks, with many focusing on labor movements and clashes over social rights throughout America’s history. More genre fiction filled the shelves a little further back, mystery and horror, sci-fi and fantasy, YA and a very solid children’s section, poetry and drama, graphic novels and comics, and then rows and rows of language, travel, science, math, enough nonfiction to fill an 18-wheeler truck. A very long table beneath dangling yellow sculptures runs along the spine of the shop, filled with all manner of gorgeous titles, everything from oversized biographies on thinks and artists like Einstein and Vermeer to books by modern creators talking about process, inspiration, and productivity. My stack of books to bring home kept rising and falling, torn between all that I wanted to read and all I knew I’d have to carry across town back to my car.
In “Labyrinth Underground” in the basement, they display a large amount of vintage and rare titles, out-of-print editions, and hard to find classic. You’ll also find cookbooks, scholarly press titles, art books, and many more discounted titles across a vast swatch of subjects and genres. I made some quick passes through those areas because I’d already spent way too much time upstairs, but I can easily see how someone can spend half a day in the shop. There’s just so much to browse through. And that’s not even mentioning the merch: shirts, bags, pens, stationary, cards, games, puzzles, candles, notebooks, toys, on and on. The shop covers almost every base you could think of, and I cannot wait to go back.
Atmosphere — Brightly lit and smartly decorated, Labyrinth is no catacomb but an organized and robust store that will satisfy the artist, the academic, and the casual reader alike.
Quality — The books upstairs are clean and new (or like new) and the vintage titles downstairs are older editions (of course) but all in good shape.
Quantity — It’s a bigger shop than I expected, with two floors full of books. Get ready to browse for a while.
Diversity — This shop hits most of the usual categories, with plenty of fiction, art, socially-minded new releases, a nice poetry section, and a wide array of nonfiction.
Affordability — There were some good deals here in the discounted sections in the back.
Amenities — Plenty of merch and places to eat nearby!
Location — On the main drag in town, pretty much right across the street from Princeton University’s Firestone library.
Customer Service — The staff I met were all quick and helpful. And there were a lot of people around the shop helping folks or stocking shelves.
Overall — This shop is advertised, one of the best in the state and a real gem. Any trip to Princeton wouldn’t be complete without a long, casual browsing session in Labyrinth.
