Visit participating New Jersey independent bookstores!
Enter to win prizes!
June 7 + 8, 2025

Participating Bookstores

Map view

Print your crawl guide

Participating stores will have a limited number of printed guides on hand, so we advise you to print it out ahead of time if you can!

Log your visits

After your crawl, use this form to log your visits and give us feedback—this serves as your official entry to win prizes!

Have another question?

How do I participate? Do I need to participate on both days?

On June 7th and/or 8th, visit any of the participating bookstores and have a staff member mark your guide. Each visit earns you one entry to win one of several great prize bundles. You do not need to participate on both days!

What happens if I lose my guide, or if the first store I visit runs out of copies?

Don’t worry–you can still log your visits on our online form, and if you’re selected as a winner, you will just have to show some type of proof that you visited those stores: photos taken at each location, any receipts you might have, whatever you’ve got.

Why does my GPS say a store is closed during the crawl? Why is the location different?

If your GPS says a store is closed but our map lists open hours, follow our info. We have been in touch with all of the participating stores, and some of them are having special hours for the weekend of June 7 & 8.

Also, a few stores moved between the time we announced this event and its occurrence. If you type a name into your GPS and are getting the wrong listing, again, go off of our website.

When in doubt: check the stores’ social media, website, or give them a call first!

Do I have to buy something at each store in order for my visit to count?

No, but we certainly hope you will want to! This event is all about supporting bookstores, so if you can’t make a purchase, your foot traffic, social media posts and follows, and future purchases are still great ways to support to NJ’s indie bookstores.

Are any of the stores having special events or promos that weekend?

If a store is doing something special, the best place to find out is on their websites or social media. We are sharing any info we have on our Instagram, and saving those posts to a story highlight. We’ll also include any special promotions or events on our map.

I can’t make it! When’s the next one?

Every day is a great day to support your local bookstores: you don’t need to wait for us! But feel free to use the resources we compiled here–the list of stores and the map–and plan your own DIY crawl. Grab your friends and hit up a few stores in one day, or use our list as a guide and visit a new-to-you store every month.

If all goes well, we hope to make this an annual tradition.

How do I get a crawl guide?

Download and print one (linked above), or pick one up at your first stop, while supplies last. We are dropping off a limited number of guides at each store and have no idea what the demand will be, so if you’re able to print one out ahead of time, please do! Keep an eye on our Instagram for other opportunities to pick up a guide before the crawl.


What are the prizes? How do I log my visits to enter?

Follow us on Instagram to see all the prize packs, or read this issue of our newsletter. Scroll down to see all of the prize donors!

Use this form to log your visits and enter to win!

Is this a definitive list of every bookstore in New Jersey?

Nope! We made every effort to include any store that wanted to join us, but we are a small team and didn’t successfully make contact with every possible store in time for our print deadline. We hope to include even more stores next time! Please do visit stores not listed on our crawl during the weekend—while they may not check a box on your guide, they’ll still appreciate the extra traffic, and that’s what this is all about at the end of the day!

Crawl organizers & co-sponsors

The New Jersey Bookstore Crawl was organized by Kerri Sullivan of Jersey Collective, a librarian and the editor of the book New Jersey Fan Club. Additional co-organizers who provided support and sponsorship include Hello Art Design and Rutgers University Press.