Watchung Booksellers Named 2026 Bookstore of the Year by Publishers Weekly

Trade magazine Publishers Weekly has named Watchung Booksellers its 2026 Bookstore of the Year, as reported by The Montclair Pod. The publication selected the independent shop located at 54 Fairfield Street in Montclair over thousands of other independent bookstores across the United States. [1]

The Montclair Pod reported that the store operates as a civic institution, offering book clubs, story times, school book fairs, an author events program, and its own podcast. Its events program is large enough to fill a church sanctuary, and the business describes itself as the hometown bookstore for the community. [1]

Writing for the literary website Lit Hub, novelist Thomas Pluck noted that Watchung Booksellers is one of only two remaining survivors out of seven bookstores that previously operated in Montclair. [1]