Outside the Coffin: The Strand Bookstore

This is the magical place in New York City that I am dying to go to. It is the Strand Bookstore. It was opened in 1927 on Book Row. Book Row, which sounds amazing by the way, was located on Fourth avenue, covering six blocks and holding forty eight bookstores. They say that it is 18 miles of books which sounds like absolute heaven to me. Apparently, the store currently holds over 2.5 million books. They are new, used, rare, and out of print books.

I can imagine spending hours and hours in this store searching every shelf. However, I know that I would need a shopping cart or about 4 or 5 pack mules to carry all of the books that I will inevitably pick up. Also, I would end up completely poor after probably only one hour in this store. As soon as I saw the Strand I thought: 

and

Last year I took a trip to New York with my mom and completely forgot to go to The Strand. What makes it even worse is that I discovered that while I was walking I was only one block away but I turned the opposite way. :( I was so upset, I wanted to cry. I have such a passion for books and I know a lot of you do too. I know one day I will get to go to The Strand and I cannot wait until I do.

Question: Has anyone ever gone to The Strand? What was it like and what did you buy, if anything?

Also, check out The Strand website here