Books Stores
A list of the coolest books shops around.
Adobe Books
The Mission - San Francisco, CA United StatesWhen a local artist wanted to do an art installation by rearranging all the books in a bookstore by color, Adobe Books agreed and the result was magical. Can you imagine a corporate store ever agreeing to such a thing? The delightful bookstore...
Argonaut Book Shop
Union Square - San Francisco, CA United StatesBetween the Gold Rush and the 1906 earthquake, the Mexican American War and the OJ trial, we say California has had more history than some centuries-old nations. Argonaut Book Shop is the unofficial keep of said history. The antiquarian book...
Arundel
Mid City/Beverly - Los Angeles, CA United StatesDo you really need a 150,000 square foot mega-bookstore to have something for everybody? Arundel Books proves that you don't. The store stocks new, used and rare books but does so in way as to not artificially bulk up their shelves with any...
Arundel
Downtown - Seattle, WA United StatesDo you really need a 150,000 square foot mega-bookstore to have something for everybody? Arundel Books proves that you don't. The store stocks new, used and rare books but does so in way as to not artificially bulk up their shelves with any...
Ballenford Books on Architecture
The Annex - Toronto, ON CanadaWriting about music may be like dancing about architecture, but writing about architecture seems as natural as dancing to the music. At least if the sheer number of architecture titles as Ballenford Books on Architecture is any indication. What...
Black Oak Books
Gourmet Ghetto - Berkeley, CA United StatesIf you go to a bookstore to drink a caramel cinnamon super-moca-fraza-chino-mundo and peruse the magazine section then we just can't recommend Black Oak. It seems that the staff and clientele of Black Oak actually, shudder the thought, like...
BookCourt
Cobble Hill - Brooklyn, NY United StatesFor all its eat-or-get-eaten sensibility, New York is home to several neighborhood bookstores that are thriving despite the odds. BookCourt is one such establishment. The bench out front, the wide variety of books inside, and the independent...
BookPeople
West End - Austin, TX United StatesFrom the exterior, BookPeople looks just like a generic book chain. In the interior, all resemblance is lost. The 3-floored behemoth is not only the largest bookstore in Texas, but is also indepedent through and through. Rather than a subdued...
Book Soup
West Hollywood - West Hollywood, CA United StatesLest you think that Los Angeles is devoid of culture enter Book Soup, a heady, vibrant space that looks more like an expansive personal library than a retail book store. Floor to ceiling shelves house books on every topic imaginable, but stress...
Bound Together Books
Haight - San Francisco, CA United StatesHarkening back to Haight Ashbury's counter-culture roots Bound Together is a bookstore that does the '60s proud. The volunteer-run collective mainly stocks books, zines and other literature relating to anarchism, radical politics,...
Brattle Book Shop
Downtown - Boston, MA United StatesWhat would one of the oldest cities in America be without a nice used bookshop? Brattle Book Shop is not merely a nice shop, it is the oldest in the country, its proprietor Kenneth Glass an authority on antiquated books. Along with three levels...
Builders Booksource
Ghiradelli Square - San Francisco, CA United StatesWith the proliferation of home-improvement shows it seems that if you have a thousand dollars and a can of paint you can turn any room into a designer showroom. For anyone who is looking for a reality check or a house that doesn't involve MDF, stop by Builders Booksource. The aptly named...
Builders Booksource
Fourth Street - Berkeley, CA United StatesWith the proliferation of home-improvement shows it seems that if you have a thousand dollars and a can of paint you can turn any room into a designer showroom. For anyone who is looking for a reality check or a house that doesn't involve...
Capitol Hill Books
Capitol Hill - Washington, DC United StatesDewey (think decimal system) would like have a coronary if he ever found his way to Capitol Hill Books. The cozy two-story house is overrun with books, with no nook left unfilled. The books are categorized using small scraps of paper, by...
City Lights
North Beach - San Francisco, CA United StatesWhen is a store not just a store? When it plays a pivotal role in a major American literary movement. Opened in 1953 by poet Louis Ferlinghetti, City Lights quickly became a favorite hangout of Beat writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg....
Crawford Doyle
Upper East Side - New York, NY United StatesCrawford Doyle is the type of general-purpose bookstore that you might expect to have been put of out business by the national mega chains. But the feisty store has persevered by preserving a calm, sophisticated atmosphere. The store carries a...
Dashwood Books
NoHo - New York, NY United StatesDashwood Books covers the world of photography books in unparalleled depth. Young Japanese photographers, classic American photo-journalism, avant-garde German artists, if it's not at Dashwood Books then ask and they can probably find it...
David Mirvish Books
The Annex - Toronto, ON CanadaThere's a subtle art to picking the perfect coffee table book--it must be substantive, but easy to digest, intriguing, yet relatable. David Mirvish Books has about a thousand iterations of the perfect coffee table book. For those in the art...
Diesel
Rockridge - Oakland, CA United StatesFor those that are used to independent bookstores of the cramped and cluttered variety, Diesel is a breath of fresh air. The design conscious, fiercely independent bookstore stocks new and used books of all genres and is host to author readings,...
Diesel
Malibu - Malibu, CA United StatesFor those that are used to independent bookstores of the cramped and cluttered variety, Diesel is a breath of fresh air. The design conscious, fiercely independent bookstore stocks new and used books of all genres and is host to author readings, language classes and reading groups.
Elsewhere
Sites we dig
Sites
- Hint Mag
- IHT Style
- JC Report
- LA.com Shopping
- Men.Style.com
- NY Mag Fashion
- NY Times Fashion & Style
- Refinery 29
- Style.com
- Superfuture