The New Jersey Bookstore Crawl Returns June 5 – 7

Seventy of New Jersey’s independent bookstores have signed on to participate in the New Jersey Bookstore Crawl, held June 5-7, 2026.

During this three-day long event, participants can pick up a crawl guide at any participating bookstore or print one ahead of time from home. Each bookstore will mark the crawl guides, no purchase necessary, and each store visit counts as one entry to win a prize.

The crawl has no set itinerary, so readers can choose to participate however they’d like, whether by visiting one store or planning a road trip and cramming in as many stores as they can during the weekend.

This is the second New Jersey Bookstore Crawl. The first, held last June, exceeded organizer Kerri Sullivan’s expectations. “I thought maybe a few dozen people would be interested, but the event recorded over 4,000 bookstore visits from participants from 340 zip codes,” Sullivan said. “I hope that the New Jersey Bookstore Crawl will get people excited about our many wonderful indie bookstores, remind people of the value of shopping locally, and encourage them to check out some new-to-them stores in addition to supporting their favorite bookstores.”

In addition to serving as official crawl stops, some of the participating bookstores will host special events, have giveaways, or offer special discounts or chances to win door prizes. Information regarding any store events or incentives can be found at njbookstorecrawl.com/stores.

There are also a few official events happening during the weekend that offer additional opportunities to engage with each other. To kick off the weekend, participants can attend “Coffee, Coloring, and Crawl Guides” on Friday, June 5 from 10:00-1:00 at Cafe Willy in Rutherford, NJ. RAD Co. has created a bookstore crawl-themed coloring sheet and crawlers are invited to spend some time coloring while enjoying beverages from the cafe.

From June 5 through 7, the Jersey Collective sticker machine is popping up at House Finch, a suburban nature store in Collingswood, NJ, and those who visit can get exclusive book-themed designs by local artists for just four quarters. To close out the weekend, there will be an afterparty at 3BR Distillery in Keyport, NJ from 5:00-8:00. Full details about all of the weekend’s events are listed at njbookstorecrawl.com/events.

The New Jersey Bookstore Crawl is 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.

For more information, visit njbookstorecrawl.com or follow @njbookstorecrawl on Instagram.