Savvy travelers know where to find the best deals on accommodations and the yummiest local foods. But when savvy book lovers set food on new land, the local bookstore is as much an attraction as a world-class museum.
Whether you’re looking for a picturesque reading nook for your Bookstagram or the largest collection of used books, there are booklovers’ paradises to be found all over the globe, and we’ve rounded up some of the most iconic spots for you to add to your bucket list.
Famous Bookstores Around the World
If lockdown orders from past year has kept you homebound, let this literary trek around the globe serve as inspiration for your next adventure.
1. Shakespeare and Company (Paris)
The original Shakespeare and Company was opened by Sylvia Beach, an American-born bookseller and publisher, in 1919 on the rue Dupuytren. In 1922, Beach moved the shop to the rue de l’Odéon for more space.
It was there that Beach published James Joyce’s Ulysses, and where Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, and the like hung out and even crashed from time to time. Hemingway even wrote about the store and Ms. Beach in A Moveable Feast:
In those days there was no money to buy books. Books you borrowed from the rental library of Shakespeare and Company, which was the library and bookstore of Sylvia Beach at 12 rue de l’Odéon. On a cold windswept street, this was a lovely, warm, cheerful place with a big stove in winter, tables and shelves of books, new books in the window, and photographs on the wall of famous writers both dead and living…
I was very shy when I first went into the bookshop and I did not have enough money on me to join the rental library. She told me I could pay the deposit any time I had the money and made me out a card and said I could take as many books as I wished. There was no reason for her to trust me… But she was delightful and charming and welcoming and behind her, as high as the wall and stretching out into the back room which gave onto the inner court of the building, were the shelves and shelves of the richness of the library.”
But the bookstore closed during the Nazi occupation of Paris during WWII, as Beach refused to sell books to Nazis. Beach would never reopen, but in 1951, American George Whitman opened Le Mistral, which he later renamed to honor Beach (and the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth). The store is currently located at 37 rue de la Bûcherie.
It is said that more than 30,000 people have slept in the beds found tucked between bookshelves since 1951, in exchange for a few hours’ work and a mandatory one-page autobiography.
2. Strand (New York City)
Founded by Lithuanian immigrant Benjamin Bass in 1927, Strand boasts a whopping 18 miles of books. Originally located at Fourth Avenue, the shop was moved to its current location at 828 Broadway by Bass’s son, Fred, in 1956.
The store got its name from the famed street in London, and for years was the largest used bookstore in the world (until being surpassed by Powell’s in Portland).
Strand also has two kiosks, one in Times Square and one in Central Park, and a pop-up location in the Artists & Fleas market in Soho.
In October of 2020, Nancy Bass Wyden (the current owner) released a statement on Twitter saying Strand was in danger of closing as a result of closures related to the coronavirus pandemic. This plea attracted over 25,000 online orders placed over the following weekend.
3. Libreria Acqua Alta (Venice)
One of the most uniquely positioned bookstores in the world, Libreria Acqua Alta sits right on the canals of Venice, earning it the nickname of the “floating bookstore.”
Founded by Luigi Frizzo in 2004, Acqua Alta features bathtubs, rowboats, plastic bins, and even a full-size gondola full of books.
Why? So when the actual acqua alta (“high water”) season in Venice commences, the books will float undamaged, should the store become flooded (as it frequently has).
This store sells classic volumes of American and Italian books, and the back of the store opens up right onto the canal.
4. Atlantis Books (Santorini)
The idea for Atlantis Books was born in 2002, when two American college students visited Santorini and, upon running out of reading material, realized the island lacked a bookstore
Over wine, Craig Walzer and Oliver Wise decided they should move there and open one. (Are you smacking your forehead right now wishing you’d gotten there first? I am.)
With the help of some partners, they built their own bookshelves out of wood and gave the world this colorful, inspiring haven for book lovers that sits dreamily on the cliffs of Oía. Inspired by Shakespeare and Company, the store the beautiful store features beds where the rotating staff members sleep.
In case you needed any other reason to visit Santorini, this should be enough.
5. Powell’s Books (Portland)
Formerly a car dealership, Powell’s in Portland, Oregon holds the title of the largest independent bookstore in the world.
The store takes up an entire city block and boasts over one million books. Uniquely, the family business was started by a son (Michael Powell), who opened his first bookstore in Chicago in 1970.
After working with his son for a summer, Michael’s father, Walter, was inspired to open his own store in Portland. Michael eventually joined his father, and today the shop is run by Michael’s daughter, Emily.
6. El Ateneo Grand Splendid (Buenos Aires)
According to The Guardian, as of 2015, Buenos Aires was the “bookshop capital” of the world, boasting more bookstores per capita than any other city in the world.
One of the most beautiful and famous of those bookstores is El Ateneo Grand Splendid, which first opened as a theater in 1919 for tango performances. It was converted to a cinema 10 years later.
But when it was in danger of demolition in 2000, it was bought by Grupo Ilhsa, refurbished, and reopened as a bookstore, with the original boxes and ceiling frescoes still intact.
7. Cafebrería El Péndulo (Mexico City)
Cafebrería El Péndulo is a bar-cafe-bookstore that offers abundant space for reading, lounging, and enjoying the many living plants that decorate the interior, which features spiral staircases and beautiful arched windows.
El Péndulo also features a cafeteria that serves food such as fruit salads and chilaquiles. The store offers live music in the afternoons from Thursday to Saturday, as well as “Musical Breakfasts” during the weekends and book presentations about once per week.
8. The Last Bookstore (Los Angeles)
Spanning 22,000 square feet, The Last Bookstore features a a softly-lit maze of books and records, with space for literary, musical, and theatrical events.
Located in downtown Los Angeles, they claim to be the largest new and used bookstore in California. Of course, given its labyrinthine displays and elaborate spaces, you’re likely to encounter just as many Instagrammers as you are bookworms.
This, the owners say, is by design, in an effort to “convert Instagram visitors into book purchasers.”
9. Honesty Bookshop (Wales)
The Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye, home to the Honesty Bookshop, is also home to some 40 bookstores (and the town has 1,400 residents!).
It’s also where you’ll find the annual Hay-on-Wye literary festival, but the real attraction is the Honesty Bookshop, which has been around in various forms since the 1960s.
This huge outdoor oasis features hard covers priced at one pound, and paperbacks just 50 pence. So, why is it called the Honesty Bookshop? The shelves are unattended; there’s simply a box for customers to drop their payment (which goes to the Hay Castle Trust).
10. City Lights (San Francisco)
City Lights was founded in 1953 by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and claims to be the country’s first all-paperback store (which was quite a feat, considering this was a time when most books were sold exclusively in hard cover).
City Lights also doubles as an indie publisher that specializes in the arts, world literature, and progressive politics.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors made City Lights an official historic landmark in 2001, which was the first time the honor had been granted to a business and not a building.
Supporting Local Bookstores
The effects of Covid-19 lockdowns have been felt by many independent bookstores that rely on in-person sales, forcing many to lay off employees or shut their doors entirely.
However, there are ways you can support your favorite local gems. Bookshop.org is one site that allows you to conveniently order books online, and profits are shared directly with the indie shop you ordered from, or split between all affiliated bookshops. Learn more in our Bookshop.org review.
Have you visited any interesting bookstores? Tell us about them in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
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- Bookshop.org Review: Amazon’s Rising Rival
- 19 Famous Book Covers and the Stories Behind Them
As a blog writer for TCK Publishing, Kaelyn loves crafting fun and helpful content for writers, readers, and creative minds alike. She has a degree in International Affairs with a minor in Italian Studies, but her true passion has always been writing. Working remotely allows her to do even more of the things she loves, like traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family.
