New York City’s most celebrated bookshop, the Strand, is a cultural landmark for locals and tourists alike, promising “18 miles of books” to its customers since 1927. But now the shop is battling attempts to make its landmark status official, saying the designation could destroy it.

Run by three generations of the Bass family since it opened, the shop at the corner of 12th Street and Broadway is the only survivor of what was once known as “Book Row”, home to 48 booksellers in the 1920s. New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission is keen to declare the Strand a city landmark, describing it as “a centre of literary life in Lower Manhattan” and “an internationally recognised bookstore and destination”. But at a public hearing on Tuesday, owner Nancy Bass Wyden begged the commission to reconsider.

“The Strand is the last of the great bookstores that were a hallmark of business development south of Union Square. We’re the last for a reason,” she said. “Please do not destroy the Strand by adding more bureaucracy and unnecessary expenses and restrictions, slowing us down just when we need to be our most impactive. In an attempt to preserve history, you may very well end up destroying a piece of the city.”

The Strand says it needs flexibility “to do future upgrades and change with the needs of the community”, and that the proposed status would mean every repair and upgrade “would have to go through the slow bureaucracy of the Landmarks Preservation Commission” and cost money.

Over the last 70 years, the number of bookshops in New York City has fallen drastically; the Strand says almost 80% have closed since 1950, falling from 368 to 79 today. “We are in a threatening retail and book environment, and are fighting to compete with Amazon. But unlike Amazon we have never asked for taxpayer-funded subsidies, tax breaks, or special favours,” it says on its website. “This designation would greatly limit our opportunities to survive as a tourist destination, host author discussions, put good books in the hands of readers … We just want to be here in the long run and to serve New York City and our community. Wouldn’t it be ironic if by landmarking the Strand, a community treasure already considered a landmark, you put it in peril?”

The Strand’s position has been backed by writers including Art Spiegelman and Gary Shteyngart, who spoke at Tuesday’s hearing in support of Wyden’s position.

“Without the Strand I would never have become a writer. The Strand is where I came to worship literature, to learn from literature … Those books made me a writer,” said Shteyngart. “It is a peerless cultural resource for New York City. It is a sanctuary. But like all remaining bricks-and-mortar bookstores, it is living in a fragile environment. If it doesn’t survive, the entire cultural ecosystem for downtown New York will be in danger.”

The commission will make its decision in early 2019, according to the New York Post. A spokesperson told the New York Times that while most landmark designations are approved, “it is not a given, and the public hearing, a critical part of the process, is an opportunity for the commission to hear other opinions”.