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If you've been to the Strand recently, you might have noticed the new candy counter by the registers. Strand owner Fred Bass tells the New York Daily News that the collection of Pixy Stix and Charleston Chews is his strategy to combat the recession, which has not exactly been kind to bookstores. It doesn't sound like the world's most ambitious plan, but apparently it's totally working: Bass says the candy is selling five times as fast as the impulse-buy books that used to occupy the space. [NYDN]