Books Stores
A list of the coolest books shops around.
Dog Eared Books
The Mission - San Francisco, CA United StatesPhoenix, Dog Eared, and Red Hill Books represent a type of bookstore that's fast fading into extinction. They're big, lively, a bit messy and generally a good place to spend an hour or two. They're consummate hosts to a variety of...
Equator Books
Abbot Kinney - Venice, CA United StatesEquator Books is one of the most beautiful bookstores you're likely to come across. The center of the tall, airy store includes a gallery wall featuring monthly exhibitions of original artwork. The gallery space is flanked on either side by...
Family
Fairfax - Los Angeles, CA United StatesThink of Family as the official library of a sprawling, makeshift family of artists from Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, or Tokyo. Here the staggering creative output of the talented group is cataloged and celebrated. Hard to come by art...
Flora & Fauna Books
Magnolia - Seattle, WA United StatesBecause we can't all have green thumbs. That appears to be the crying call of appropriately subterranean Flora & Fauna Books. For the horticulture enthusiast looking for more information or the novice that needs more than soil and seed...
Giant Robot
West LA - Los Angeles, CA United StatesIf Giant Robot the magazine began as an ode to Asian pop culture, then Giant Robot the store is now a mecca for the same. Alongside copies of the latest issue of GR you'll find all sorts of pop-y Asian items (and some American stuff that is...
Giant Robot
Haight - San Francisco, CA United StatesIf Giant Robot the magazine began as an ode to Asian pop culture, then Giant Robot the store is now a mecca for the same. Alongside copies of the latest issue of GR you'll find all sorts of pop-y Asian items (and some American stuff that is...
Giant Robot
Silverlake - Los Angeles, CA United StatesIf Giant Robot the magazine began as an ode to Asian pop culture, then Giant Robot the store is now a mecca for the same. Alongside copies of the latest issue of GR you'll find all sorts of pop-y Asian items (and some American stuff that is...
Giant Robot
East Village - New York, NY United StatesIf Giant Robot the magazine began as an ode to Asian pop culture, then Giant Robot the store is now a mecca for the same. Alongside copies of the latest issue of GR you'll find all sorts of pop-y Asian items (and some American stuff that is...
GR2
West LA - Los Angeles, CA United StatesIf Giant Robot the magazine began as an ode to Asian pop culture, then Giant Robot the store is now a mecca for the same. Alongside copies of the latest issue of GR you'll find all sorts of pop-y Asian items (and some American stuff that is...
Harvard Book Store
Harvard Square - Cambridge, MA United StatesWhen you open a book store across the street from the most heralded institution in American academics, it better be one damn fine shop. Fortunately, Harvard Book Store lives up to its high expectations. The store's high shelves stock a...
Hejfina
Wicker Park - Chicago, IL United StatesHejfina has elegant modern living down pat. For clothing expect avant-garde Japanese brands, ultra-exclusive New York brands, next to creative selections from Brazil, England and France. These are articles you certainly won't find anywhere...
Here
Stokes Croft - Bristol, United KingdomReader Suggested: Here Gallery showcases indie designers, zines and more. They also have a gallery that features many up and coming artists!
Housing Works Used Books Cafe
SoHo - New York, NY United StatesA used book store where all the books are donated and the proceeds go to charity, Housing Works Used Books Café is more posh than most for-profit book stores we've seen. Beautifully paneled in rich wood, the store carries thousands upon...
Idle Time Books
Adams Morgan - Washington, DC United StatesIdle Time Books is not the most extensive used book store you're going to find, but there's something about the cozy environs that draws you in and makes you want to linger. Its shelves are tightly packed but immaculately organized,...
König.Taschen
Berlin West - Berlin, GermanyBegun as a humble comic book store, Taschen has become an unrivaled publisher and seller or art and design books. Taschen's lavishly illustrated titles display a blatant disregard for how much the final product will cost and that's what makes them such worthy indulgences. The...
Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe
Dupont Circle - Washington, DC United StatesSure you can get a Mocha-soy-fritzo-latte at just about any bookstore, but how many serve bourbon? Kramerbooks & Afterwords does, its full bar squarely centered among its shelves. Oh, they have books too. A small, but well edited selection,...
Left Bank Books
Pike Place Market - Seattle, WA United StatesWhen the window display of a bookstore shows one book about the IWW and another about transsexuals, you know you've strayed far from the corporate bookstore path. No, Left Bank Books won't play classic music for and they don't...
Metsker Maps of Seattle
Pike Place Market - Seattle, WA United StatesIgnorant of the world. Self-centered. These are some of the many adjectives our friends from across the world use to describe Americans. If only they'd seen Metsker Maps of Seattle. The map and travel shop is nothing if not world aware....
Michael Thompson Books
Third Street - Los Angeles, CA United StatesAn old fashioned storefront in what has become a hectic fairway of furniture and fashion, Michael Thompson Books provides its customers a calm, comforting place to peruse rare and antiquarian books. Fashioned like a library, the warmly lit store...
Modern Times Bookstore
The Mission - San Francisco, CA United StatesBill O'Reilly's head would probably explode upon walking into Modern Times Bookstore and can we all agree that that's a good thing? The decades old bookshop fills it shelves with titles on globalization politics, sexuality and...