Phaidon

It feels more like a gallery because:
1) the girls working in the bookstore were skinny. and their facial expression were similar to those Chelsea art gallery fairies.
2)The Phaidon bookstore hosted wonderful parties. I hated myself for missing free wines once… or twice.
3)It always looks so empty. Just like its neighborhood high fashion boutiques.
4) I interned with a woman from Phaidon headquarter this summer. We customized a new paper profile for a new graphic design books. She was relatively fun and technical (or professional).
5)I am not saying you guys are bad at work Phaidon girls. We will still love you as long as you keep looking great and intelligence as your books do.
Forget me for nonsense and typo.

Love coming into this store to browse their selection. Between Phaidon and Taschen I could spend hours just looking at books. Great selection including photography, design, architecture, and AWESOME COOKBOOKS! Always had a helpful, kind staff, and seemed to have a lot of interesting events (although I could never make it to any).
Sadly, they closed for the summer, and according to their facebook page will be reopening in the fall. Hopefully they stay in SoHo, but as long as they stay in the city, it’ll always be a destination I make time for.

I love Phaidon just not their bookstore. Seems highly pretentious and not worth the entire space. Seemed to act like a gallery space bookstore-I’ve been to better art bookstores in Texas (Domy Books). Domy is worth swooning over.

I can never pass up a bookstore. And this bookstore was so handsome and sleek, I immediately fell head over heels in love with it.
I came here during FNO 2011 and had a gay old time. They were serving cocktails in the back and I had a Pimm’s Cup. I like this rum and crushed ice business. Rum has been my liquor of choice lately. I sipped on my drink and browsed around the beautiful store. It is well lit, roomy and industrial. They have great art books and they are notorious for their travel guides.
Phaidon is a British book publisher. And as an Anglophile, I appreciate the aesthetics of this store. Sophisticated and with taste. Thanks Phaidon for satiating my bookworm needs.

Eh, I’ll stick with B&N…
seats are more comfortable there and they have a wider selection.

I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon this gem of a bookstore, but was surprised to find it empty and eerily quiet. The selection here is great; Phaidon is one of the few publishing houses that seems to consistently turn out exceptionally beautiful books. This store is well organized, making it easy to find what you’re looking for and pleasant to browse. Per usual I made a beeline straight to the cooking section, but managed to eventually tear myself away to browse a few of their many photography, architecture and tour guide offerings. The selection of photographs displayed (and for sale) on the walls is great, and adds a nice touch. I hope this store manages to drum up more business, and doesn’t go the way of many brick-​and-​mortar bookstores these days. I was reluctant to leave, theres something so peaceful about a well-​stocked bookstore.

I was in the SOHO store Sunday buying some books for friends and when I was at the checkout stand, the sales person made some inappropriate and tasteless joke about the Japanese earthquake disaster.
When he took down my information, he noticed I had a SF zip code. Then he started laughing and said «make sure you tell your people you should be prepare for emergencies. The world is coming to an end!!»
WTF is «you people?»
I was completely taken aback and offended. I have family in Japan and we were finally able to locate them. Having just gone through that and heard the careless comment by the sales person as if it were some sort of joke to him was complete tasteless and offensive to me.
I always loved the store and I would make a point to visit every time I come into NYC. Definitely NEVER AGAIN. I was so completely turned off by the comment.
Oh and I was so clearly offended and the salesperson kept joking on like people dying was just something you see on the movies.
MAJOR FAIL.

I’m really glad this pop-​up went permanent, because Phaidon prints in defiance of the «death of books» the largest, loveliest volumes of any publisher anywhere. Most of them are display items and door stoppers (or more properly speaking bank vault door stoppers), so you probably can’t buy too many at once, but it depends how many coffee tables you need to decorate and how much exercise you like to get while shopping. Still, the SoHo shop is great for browsing and, maybe even more, for people watching.
If you’re desperate for that 3000 page compendium of obscure Ukrainian block prints or photographs of fin de siecle Venezuelan canals, you’ll probably find better deals on
, but this store does have frequent sales that are DEFINITELY worth checking out. The marked down items tend to be damaged, but 80% off is pretty hard to resist because of a nicked binding or bent corners. Plus, they give you a neat canvas bag at checkout.
I am a particular fan of their cookbooks. The Silver Spoon, I Know How to Cook, Vera’s Kitchen, The India Cookbook, etc. All have this must-​own quality to them. And who cares if a cookbook is damaged?
Be advised: the long-​haired British (?) guy who manages the place is a bit of a dick. Long-​haired British (?) guy who manages this place, if you’re reading this, you’re a bit of a dick. Stop being so dickish. I spend money in your store. I could easily buy most of your inventory for less than retail on Amazon (see above). As far as I’m concerned, if you run a bookstore, you should kiss your customers’ arses. Curate us like you do your wares, and we’ll be more likely to get off our fat asses to come round the shoppe instead of going online so as to avoid your pretentious attitude. SoHo? So what. Thank you.

It was a cold, cold night, we were thirty minutes early for a dinner date, and we walked past Phaidon. It looked like paradise: a 30% sale on architecture books, and comfortable benches for sitting and reading (I love bookstores that remember that customers like to sit!). And when we went in, it was paradise indeed: a whole photography section, thousands of beautiful books filled with amazing reproductions, a kind and non-​pushy staff, and good music (Hope Sandoval!). Phaidon, I’ll be back.