Mile Square Books

Mile Square Books takes its name from Hoboken's famous nickname and packs an impressive amount of personality into its cozy Washington Street storefront. The store perfectly mirrors its neighborhood: young, energetic, and increasingly family-oriented. The board-book and early-reader section near the entrance acknowledges Hoboken's stroller-dense sidewalks, while the fiction section upstairs caters to the book-club phenomenon that has swept through the city's social scene. The business and career section serves the many professionals who commute to Manhattan but prefer to shop local. The upstairs reading area, with its views of the Manhattan skyline across the Hudson, is a reminder that Hoboken offers something the big city cannot: the warmth of a true neighborhood bookstore.