Books Stores
A list of the coolest books shops around.
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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!
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...
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...
Moe's Books
Telegraph - Berkeley, CA United StatesWhile a grand old piece of history itself, Moe's Books is a great steward of literary history as well. The four-storied bookstore is full of new, used and rare books. The used book section is the draw here. Lose yourself in the 100,000 or...
New Museum
Lower East Side - New York, NY United StatesWithout the space of more well-to-do cultural institutions, the New Museum shop aims for maximum impact. The main attraction is naturally the wall of art books and magazines. The cosmopolitan, thought-provoking selection is worth a long,...
Peter Miller
Downtown - Seattle, WA United StatesGo to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim, to Stockholm to see the "Twisting Torso." Then come to Peter Miller to learn who designed them, how they were built and why. The store stacks its shelves to the ceiling with books on architecture...
Powell's Books
Beaverton - Beaverton, OR United StatesReader Suggested: This is the first place out-of-towners go after getting off the airport. Powell's is said to be the largest bookstore in the US, maybe in the world. It sells both new and used books, so one can find almost everything desired. Browsing is encouraged and they have a nice coffee shop.
Powell's Books
PDX - Portland, OR United StatesReader Suggested: This is the first place out-of-towners go after getting off the airport. Powell's is said to be the largest bookstore in the US, maybe in the world. It sells both new and used books, so one can find almost everything desired. Browsing is encouraged and they have a nice coffee shop.
Powell's Books
Sunnyside - Portland, OR United StatesReader Suggested: This is the first place out-of-towners go after getting off the airport. Powell's is said to be the largest bookstore in the US, maybe in the world. It sells both new and used books, so one can find almost everything desired. Browsing is encouraged and they have a nice coffee shop.
Powell's Books for Home and Garden
Sunnyside - Portland, OR United StatesReader Suggested: This is the first place out-of-towners go after getting off the airport. Powell's is said to be the largest bookstore in the US, maybe in the world. It sells both new and used books, so one can find almost everything desired. Browsing is encouraged and they have a nice coffee shop.
Powell's City of Books
Old Town/Chinatown - Portland, OR United StatesReader Suggested: This is the first place out-of-towners go after getting off the airport. Powell's is said to be the largest bookstore in the US, maybe in the world. It sells both new and used books, so one can find almost everything desired. Browsing is encouraged and they have a nice coffee shop.
Powell's Technical Books
Old Town/Chinatown - Portland, OR United StatesReader Suggested: This is the first place out-of-towners go after getting off the airport. Powell's is said to be the largest bookstore in the US, maybe in the world. It sells both new and used books, so one can find almost everything desired. Browsing is encouraged and they have a nice coffee shop.
Quimby's
Bucktown - Chicago, IL United StatesBefore every high school and college student had a blog, zines were a favored form of expression for young people. At Quimby's, the zine gets its due credit and is honored for all that it can be. The alternative book retailer seeks out...
Second Story Books
Bethesda - Bethesda, MD United StatesSpecializing in rare and out-of-print titles, Second Story Books does not have that flea market feel of other used bookstores. Here, books past their prime are given their due TLC. Titles are meticulously organized and categorized, while truly rare titles are under lock and key. The store is...
Second Story Books
Dupont Circle - Washington, DC United StatesSpecializing in rare and out-of-print titles, Second Story Books does not have that flea market feel of other used bookstores. Here, books past their prime are given their due TLC. Titles are meticulously organized and categorized, while truly...
Second Story Books
Rockville - Rockville, MD United StatesSpecializing in rare and out-of-print titles, Second Story Books does not have that flea market feel of other used bookstores. Here, books past their prime are given their due TLC. Titles are meticulously organized and categorized, while truly rare titles are under lock and key. The store is...
Soap Plant/Wacko
Los Feliz - Los Angeles, CA United StatesSoap Plant/Wacko is the only kind of art gallery fit for La-La Land. Sure there are a few demure rooms of hardwood-floored, white-walled gallery space. But that is among a huge store of schizophrenic randomness. There are long, sprawling...
Spoonbill & Sugartown
Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY United StatesCompeting with superstores and online shops with impossibly large warehouses is useless if you're a small bookseller so Spoonbill & Sugartown did the only thing it could do: focus. Art and design in its many forms (film, photography,...
St. Mark's Bookshop
East Village - New York, NY United StatesIf you put a general bookstore in the hands of an artist, St. Mark's Bookshop is what you would get. Among the black shelving and exposed ducting are a nice selection of new fiction and nonfiction with a strong emphasis on design, art, and...