Solder your own guitar cable. Build a solar-powered synth. Make weird little circuits that do strange little things. Iffy Books isn’t just a bookstore — it’s a portal to odd, brilliant skills you didn’t know you needed. Their DIY workshops are part science fair, part zine fest, part beautiful chaos. Show up curious; leave with a new obsession. Read More »
404 South 20th Street, Philadelphia, PA Website
You may have heard that romance is dead. It was likely while you were socializing with single people, eavesdropping on married couples, or watching any reality show with the word real in the title. Allow Cupid’s Bookshop owner Tina Long to change your mind — or at least offer a few book recommendations. You could also just snap a picture with the store’s life-size cardboard cutout of Fabio. Six days a week, customers drift in and pose with the flaxen-haired model who personified the genre in the ’90s, then thumb through one (or more) of the roughly 1,000 titles that line the shelves of the cozy space. Some shoppers settle into one of the plush pink armchairs and read for a while. Others peruse the cute merch (think stickers, hats, and bookmarks) Long has displayed around the store. No matter what they’re doing, everyone is eager to share book recommendations. Read more in our Best of Philly spotlight. Read More »
106 Grape Street, Front A, Philadelphia, PA Website
At Nadia Alawa’s lively Ardmore shop — which she runs with her daughter Deema — you’ll find shelves jam-packed with titles carefully curated to reflect diversity, from classics like Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street to new releases like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count. You’ll also discover in-store events like author talks, book bedazzling (exactly what you think it is), and themed club meetings (thrillers, romance, sci-fi — take your pick). Read More »
8 Cricket Avenue, Ardmore, PA Website
When Binding Agents opened in the Italian Market in 2024, it made perfect sense. The store has an impressive inventory of cookbooks (including many from Philly chefs), juicy memoirs, and food-related fiction and nonfiction to satisfy hungry readers. But it’s more than a place to buy a cookbook or a pretty spoon rest. Owner Catie Gainor runs a whole program of community-oriented events, including talks with acclaimed chefs and a monthly cookbook club. Read More »
908 Christian Street, Philadelphia, PA Website
Is it a bookstore? A coffee shop? A community space for discussions and events? It’s all those things and more. So stop in for your daily java, then browse the collection of works focused on social, cultural and environmental themes, including memoirs, fiction, historical accounts and even children’s books (try Rosie Rocks! by author Sarah Gulish). And after that? Stay for an author talk or poetry-writing class. Read More »
2046 North Front Street, Philadelphia, PA Website
In 2019, Liz Young took an old house that had been converted to a retail space, filled it top to bottom with books, sprinkled in oodles of homespun charm, and created a little spot of small-town magic. Downstairs, a warren of rooms holds fiction and nonfiction, while the second story has two rooms dedicated to kids, with cozy floor pillows that invite lounging. (One tiny closet has been transformed into a Harry Potter reading nook!) Young and her staff host book clubs (often on the shop’s front porch), author events and writing groups, too. Read More »
49 South Main Street, Yardley, PA Website
Sometimes all you need is a cozy spot in which to sit with a book. Brickbat provides both those things — plus records! — in excess at its low-key haunt. Its walls envelop you in new and used reads, many with eye-catching covers. Of note: The shop only accepts secondhand titles in the best condition from genres like poetry, nonfiction and genre fiction, so rather than a dog-eared James Patterson paperback, you might find a collection of journalist Martha Gellhorn’s novellas, or works by big names in lit fic like Don DeLillo. Read More »
709 South 4th Street, Philadelphia, PA Website
As Philly’s local bookshop scene shrinks — Shakespeare and Co. and Joseph Fox Bookshop both shuttered this year — Head House Books is turning the page on 17 years in business. Owner Richard De Wyngaert’s self-proclaimed “fiercely curated” selection resonates with his fiercely loyal customers, who line up for the latest thought-provoking titles and author events from the likes of Jennifer Weiner. Read More »
619 South 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA Website
With its whimsical wall installation made out of books and a cozy coffee-shop ambience (try a cortado), this new shop feels more like a work of fiction than a place that sells it. While the shop has a spiritual bent (it specializes in nonfiction focusing on history, faith and culture), it also houses new and used tomes from the likes of James Patterson and Robert Louis Stevenson. Proceeds benefit the Helping Hand Rescue Mission. Read More »
45 East Lancaster Avenue, Ardmore, PA Website
Most people retire and relax, but this beloved CCP professor had other plans. After years of teaching history and Black studies, Love has taken his passion for the field and transformed it into a bookstore featuring a vintage collection of Black history and literature that’s more timely than ever. Bailey Street Books (1517 North Bailey Street in Brewerytown) will continue to educate Philadelphians for many years to come — making it ultimate retirement-plan goals. Read More »