In August, Harry Styles stopped by Sweet Pickle Books, an independent store in New York City that sells both pickles and books. He bought pickles, a T-shirt, and a hat. Photos of Styles inside the boutique spread fast on social media. Word of his visit spread to TikTok, where videos of the singer routinely get hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of views. (His own song “As It Was” has become one of the app’s most used songs.)
Leigh Altshuler, who opened Sweet Pickle Books two years ago after losing her job during the coronavirus pandemic, says Styles’s visit was life-changing for her business. “That’s the best thing I could have asked for,” she tells The Independent during a phone call in October. “And I couldn’t even have asked for it, because there’s no language to say, ‘I wish the biggest pop star in the world would come to my store.’”
