The Best Philadelphia-Area Bookstores for When You Need a Really Good Read

The Corrections

The literary landscape around here is always changing. Remember Henry Crane’s gorgeous Philadelphia Bookstore Map? That came out in the summer of 2023 and already could do with a few touch-ups. This place moved, that place closed, etc. It’s still gorgeous, though.

We put together our own bookshop list in 2022 — kind of a post-pandemic assessment — and recently realized it was time for a systems update. So here you go, just in time for Independent Bookstore Day on Saturday. (And if you’re not seeing your favorite place to buy books, send me an email.)

Philadelphia Bookstores

50 Watts Books
15 West Highland Avenue
Several bibliophiles reached out to put this one on my radar: an IRL iteration of Will Schofield’s online book shop. Chestnut Hill’s 50 Watts devotes its shelf-space zines, vintage magazines, illustrated books and anything else that matches the proprietor’s taste in terms of style and substance, no matter how niche.

Barnes & Noble

1708 Chestnut Street
The behemoth Rittenhouse Square location is a distant memory, but this new edition is still pretty sizable, inviting, and well stocked. It’s also a comfortable spot to catch free live readings and signings by authors from up and down the best-sellers list. Yeah, no public restrooms or in-store coffeeshop, but the escalators work.

Bauman Rare Books

1608 Walnut Street, suite 1000
Did you know Philadelphia has its own branch of this appointment-only rare-book consortium? In fact, Bauman got started here in 1982. Keep it in mind in case you one day become the sort of well-to-do-dowager or monied boulevardier who fancies a first-edition Kipling or a signed Voynich Manuscript. (But, perhaps expect a heist.)

Big Blue Marble Bookstore

551 Carpenter Lane
With its smart, diverse selection and frequent readings and events, this Mount Airy bookshop is precisely you want from a community-oriented lit space. Everybody loves the Big Blue Marble.

Binding Agents

908 Christian Street
This Italian Market-adjacent newcomer calls itself “Philly’s only cookbook shop.” (If this was untrue we’d have heard so by now.) Chefs and authors are always stopping by to serve and sign.

Bindlestiff Books

4530 Baltimore Avenue
The volunteer-run Bindlestiff, not far from of Clark Park, is known for its charming atmosphere and many shelves stuffed with “new and discounted (but still new) books” in all categories.  A very West Philly book shop.

Black and Nobel

422 South Street
This South Street shop offers a selection of books centered on Black uplift, knowledge and experiences — plus cookbooks, children’s books, Black Panther graphic novels, etc. Also: food, art, music, cosmetics and other good stuff you don’t always find in a bookstore.

Book Corner

311 North 20th Street
Just north of the library’s main branch, the busy Book Corner lines its shelves with community donations (and Free Library overstock). Everything’s already pretty cheap, but seasonal sales can ignite a polite frenzy among gently ravenous readers lured in by the $2 hardcovers and $1 trade paperbacks. The selection is eclectic and always changing, plus they’ve got a super-friendly staff (including cats Chaucer and Catticus).

Booked

8511 Germantown Avenue
Debra Gress Jansen’s tiny tasteful shop is tucked into a Starbucks in Chestnut Hill.

Bookhaven

2202 Fairmount Avenue
This cozy, long-running used bookshop in Fairmount has a much larger selection than you’d guess from walking by, and that’s because it’s all shelves in there. The prices are reasonable, and the books are well-chosen and in good condition, too. They’ve even got a cozy spot upstairs that’s useful for sitting down to review potential purchases and petting a cat or two.

Book Trader

7 North 2nd Street
Best secondhand bookshop in Philadelphia? Could be. Definitely the best thing about Old City. So much fiction. So much nonfiction. So much everything, arranged in a maze of shelves that will have you crouching and craning to take in every spine. It’s extremely difficult to leave the Book Trader without buying something.

Brickbat Books

709 South 4th Street
The beloved Queen Village spot is all killer and no filler, with a shrewd selection of books that range from the “popular but great” to “lost favorites” to “never heard of this before but now I can’t live without it.” Keep an eye on Brickbat’s Instagram to see what new curiosities have crossed the threshold.

Cupid’s Bookshop
106 Grape Street
This colorful and inviting shop in Manayunk bills itself as “Philadelphia’s first brick and mortar all-romance bookstore,” which is a pretty charming pickup line.

Garland of Letters Bookstore

527 South Street
South Street is always changing, but Garland of Letters just keeps on keepin’ on with its stock of New Age/old-wisdom books, incense sticks and life-size lion statue in the doorway. The floral-scented shop won a 2019 Best of Philly for its spiritual books and tarot decks.

Giovanni’s Room

345 South 12th Street
Named for a James Baldwin novel, this Gayborhood favorite calls itself “the oldest, very best LGBTQ and feminist bookstore in the country.” Giovanni’s Room has achieved legendary status at this point.

Hakim’s Bookstore & Gift Shop

210 South 52nd Street
Philadelphia’s oldest Black-owned bookstore devotes its inventory to African American studies, history, children’s books, biographies and memoirs, philosophy and more. The family-owned shop has been a community resource since the ’50s, as commemorated by the historical marker out front on 52nd Street.

Harriett’s Bookshop

258 East Girard Avenue
Jeannine Cook is one of the most celebrated figures in the Philly book scene thanks to her business acumen, community spirit and globe-trotting adventures in art and literary circles. Both of her shops — Harriett’s in Fishtown, and Ida’s in Haddon Township — emphasize books by women and Black authors, and Cook’s own books are on their way, starting with the “meta-romance” It’s Me They Follow due out in September.

The Head & The Hand

2230 Frankford Avenue
This nonprofit Kensington/Fishtown bookstore is also a publisher “committed to serving as a launchpad for the next generation of local writers.” At press time, H&H claims to have helped more than a hundred local writers get printed in chapbooks, anthologies and stand-alone manuscript. Their shelves are stocked with indie and small-press surprises, too. (Check out this interview with founder Nic Esposito.)

Head House Books

619 South 2nd Street
Open since 2005, Queen Village’s Head House Books offers a choice selection of new titles in a bright, classy atmosphere. Few independent shops around town can match Head House’s busy readings calendar.

Hilltop Books

84 Bethlehem Pike Rear
All sales at this nonprofit shop benefit the Chestnut Hill Library. Most titles sell for a third of their retail price.

House of Our Own Books

3920 Spruce Street
Founded in 1971, this Victorian house full of books and ghosts is a lovely place to get lost in thanks to its many rooms bursting with tomes in a variety of categories.

Iffy Books

404 South 20th Street
I love this feisty little Rittenhouse Square-ish shop. Iffy has dedicated shelf space for zines, speculative fiction and eco/political non-fiction, but if you want to go deeper, check out their calendar for workshops and meetups centered around hacking, soldering and lock-picking. Iffy is the ideal mix of fun and not messing around.

Julia De Burgos Bookstore

North 5th Street
Nestled inside North Philly arts hub Taller Puertorriqueño, this shop stays stocked with English and Spanish-language books by Puerto Rican, Latine and Latin American authors.

Kareemah’s Urban Books

6307 Woodland Avenue
A friendly, charming South Philly shop with its own roving book bus.

The Last Word Bookshop

20 South 40th Street
This amiable used bookstore offers a quantum of solace away from the the hustle and bustle of 40th Street. It’s also an ideal “third place” meeting spot before grabbing dinner at New Delhi or seeing a movie at Cinemark. The Last Word is just big enough to an hour or so searching the shelves for hidden gems and forgotten favorites in the fiction, crime and sci-fi sections. (Pro tip: Don’t skip the bins by the door.)

Lot 49 Books

408 East Girard
Compact and curated, this compact Fishtown shop offers new and used literary fiction, kids books and other good stuff, but their menagerie of zines and independent publications is particularly noteworthy. (For example, I picked up a weird little self-published zine that purports to offer “instant photographic evidence” of Bigfoot, UFOs, etc. It’s ridiculous and I love it.)

Making Worlds Cooperative Bookstore & Social Center

210 South 45th Street
I would not presume to describe this West Philly institution any better than it describes itself: “Nonprofit cooperative bookstore and social center for abolition, autonomy, ecological self-determination, and affirmation of worlds imagined and made by Black, Brown, Indigenous traditions of liberation.”

Miscellanea Libri

454 East Girard Avenue
Once burrowed deep inside Reading Terminal Market, Miscellanea Libri has more recently called Fishtown its home. New and used, with an eye toward philosophy, history and culture.

Molly’s Books & Records

1010 South 9th Street
An Italian Market institution every bit as important as the butcher, the produce people, the spice merchant, etc. You could spend half your day flipping through the cookbooks, literary fiction and vintage records. More recently, people have been stopping in to pick up Red Tape, proprietor Molly Russkoff’s debut novel. The first printing sold out quick.

Mostly Books Warehouse

529 Bainbridge Street
Nobody will say a word if you spend an hour wandering the cluttered aisles looking for exactly the right dusty old paperback to fit your mood. Upbeat, cool and mildly chaotic, Mostly Books has old-school South Street, odds-and-ends, love-of-the-game vibes.

Neighborhood Books

1906 South Street
Not enough people know about this cool little shop in the Graduate Hospital area. Most of their shelves are reserved for secondhand books, but they make room for plenty of new and classic titles as well. And don’t miss out on their comic books, greeting cards handmade by local artists, and author-inspired t-shirts.

A Novel Idea on Passyunk

1726 East Passyunk Avenue
This smart, stylish South Philly bookshop has lots of new and interesting reads, but they’re extra cool for putting local authors and publishers on a pedestal. Keep an eye on their calendar for readings of the book and tarot variety.

Partners and Son

618 South 6th Street
Philly has no shortage of revered/underserved comic book sellers, but let’s give a shout out to this Bella Vista gallery and shop that specializes in underground titles and in-store events featuring the likes of Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes, Maria Bamford.

Philly AIDS Thrift

710 Street 5th Street
P.A.T. is only partly a bookshop, but the selection is somehow always worthwhile and affordable.

Philadelphia Center for the Book

333 South Broad Street
This looks interesting — a store and gallery space dedicated to zines, handmade books, art books and other stuff of the DIY variety. It’s by appointment only; the calendar includes exhibitions, workshops and other events.

Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee and Books

5445 Germantown Avenue
This Germantown bookshop and community cultural hotspot — run by renowned author and Temple professor Marc Lamont Hill — has a very good slogan: “Cool People. Dope Books. Great Coffee.” Uncle Bobbie’s calendar is often packed with some of the biggest names in books and media, and frequently hosts readings in off-site locations that can handle a crowd.

Ulises

1525 North American Street, studio 104
A sparse, stylish space in Olde Kensington dedicated to artists’ books and other independent art-related publications.

Wooden Shoe Books

704 South Street
A holdout from South Street’s wilder days, the Wooden Shoe has a rep for reading material with an activist/anarchist edge, including alternate histories, children’s books, banned books, zines, manifestos, you name it.

Greater Philadelphia-Area Bookstores

The Archive
725 West 2nd Street, Lansdale
A bookish friend tipped me off to this Montgomery County literary oasis disguised as a warehouse. In addition to records, CDs, and other pop culture curiosities, the Archive apparently has an attic brimming with cheap books and “the best back-issue magazine selection in the region.” It’s also an auction house.

Baldwin’s Book Barn

865 Lenape Road, West Chester
This place is amazing — just room after room, floor after floor of books in every genre. They’ve got lots of signed and first-print stuff, but also tons of cheap, rare and/or weird stuff. No wonder we called the rustic Baldwin’s Book Barn The Best Reason to Ditch Your Kindle a few years back.

The Bear and the Books

45 West Broad Street, Hopewell, N.J.
People with kids sing the praises of this cute children’s bookstore in central Jersey.

Capricorn Books
605 West Ave, Jenkintown
Founded by a artsy couple (she’s a food photographer and recipe developer, he’s musician and illustrator), Capricorn gets points for curation and presentation.

Cathy’s Half-Price Books

7 Manoa Shopping Center, 1305 West Chester Pike, Havertown
Let’s just quote the 2021 Best of Philly write-up in its entirety: “Most of the 60,000 or so gently used items at this 17-year-old stalwart are, indeed, half their original price or less. Then there are new reads and rare works — some with a Philly provenance — all stocked by bibliophilic owners Shannon and Cathy Rutherford.”

The Cloak and Dagger

349 Nassau Street, Princeton, N.J.
A Princeton spot devoted to mystery books. People who read that sort of thing swear by this place. Also: People who read that sort of thing are up to something.

Farley’s Bookshop

44 South Main Street, New Hope
One of the crown jewels of New Hope, the bright and inviting family-owned Farley’s earns high marks for its reliable employee recommendations. This, I believe, is the highest praise one can bestow upon a bookshop.

Hooked on Books

3405 Pacific Avenue, Wildwood, N.J.
Yeah, it’s way down the shore but this decades-old seasonal secondhand bookshop a couple blocks off the boardwalk is affordable, reliable and hopelessly quirky.

Narberth Bookshop

221 Haverford Avenue, Narberth
The community-oriented bookstore offers new and used selections and bills itself as “a lovingly curated, forward-thinking haven for voracious readers.”

Open Book Bookstore

7900 High School Road, Elkins Park
A small shop promising a “carefully curated” short list of titles. Sounds lovely.

Princeton Antiques

2917 Atlantic Avenue, Atlantic City, N.J.
This Atlantic City bookstore which is not at all in Princeton has an inviting storefront full of bookcases and the words WE BUY THE OLD painted in big block letters over the entrance. They know a thing or two about the sale and acquisition of used books, especially of the leather-bound variety.

Second Time Books Inc

114 Creek Road, Mt. Laurel Township, N.J.
Plan a quick road trip to this friendly, out of the way used bookshop with a little bit of everything — and a whole lot of science fiction. It’s seriously impressive, just shelf after shelf of pulpy favorites from the ’50s to the present, all lined up neat, in decent condition and priced to move. I walked out from a recent visit with a short stack of hard to find favorites by A. E. van Vogt, Octavia Butler, John Wyndham, and the Strugatskys.

Stacks Booksmith

201 Station Road, Quakertown
A well-liked used bookshop in the Quakertown Farmers’ Market.

Wellington Square Bookshop

549 Wellington Square, Exton
The Chester County shop and cafe promises “lots of nooks & crannies where you can curl up, relax and read.”

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