A few weeks back, when Strand Books announced the closing of their downtown Manhattan annex, I mentioned the 20 percent discount that had been applied to everything in the store, and speculated that the cuts might go deeper before the store was shuttered forever at the end of August. That time has come: As of today, prices at the Fulton Street branch—the last used bookstore in lower Manhattan—have been reduced by 50 percent.

(photo: Downtown Express—which explains the combination of neighborhood construction and enormous rent increases that led to the closure)