Best Bookstore - Which Ones And What Do You Look For?

[Suzanna Addison]

My favourite bookstore is Waterstones, I live not too far from a decent sized and well stocked one! Also there is a man there that seems to be a guru on every genre of book! And the points system is pretty good too ... got enough almost to get a decent hardback for next to nothing!

[wiggywoo]

Waterstones, i just love it. And it always smells of coffee when I go in.

 

I also really liked sussex stationers, they had some good bargains and were great for kids books but our one closed down a few months back.

 

I buy a lot of my books from charity shops, I've managed to get some great bargains

[Christie]

Hey everyone, I have a Waterstones card, but do they send you vouchers if you sign up online like Borders used to? That would be useful as I buy loads of books a year!

[BookJumper]

As far as I'm aware there's no physical vouchers, you can ask at the till how many points you have and if you want to redeem them against the purchase you're making you can do so. Staff I've dealt with has always been so nice as to tell me how many points I have without me asking if the amount seemed useful enough.

[Stephanie2008]

My favourite bookstore is a one close to me called Discount Books. It offers all books for

[BookJumper]

Aaah, that reminds me. They still don't beat good old Waterstones as they lack the sheer vastness of choice and plushness of sofas; however The Book Warehouse are guaranteed to return at least one interesting & cheap item per browse. And their notebook selection *drools*!

[Ghost]

I like Borders, I have actually sat in Borders for a whole day and read two complete books while therein and the staff never told me to naff off. I didn't even buy the books (whoops).

[Stephanie2008]

I used to love The Works but they closed quite a few of them down

 

That's the other shop I couldn't think of the name. They have a sale section that sells good book (such as two of my Jodi Picoult books) for 50p or 99p.

[Loopyloo100]

I used to love The Works but they closed quite a few of them down

Yeah The Works can be good - I bought 3 books from the Sheffield branch last time I was there. I got them all for

[Ghost]

I used to love The Works but they closed quite a few of them down

 

I always found them quite hit and miss, sometimes they would be great and at others it was utter dross. I have no idea how they pick their books but I am guessing they are less than perfect copies?

[joe]

We have two Waterstones here in town and they are excellent, we also have lots of very good second hand book shops too.

[Talisman]

I used to love The Works but they closed quite a few of them down

 

They might be opening a few more soon as Easons have sold British Book Shops to them. Personally the only time I ever went into one of their stores was out of curiosity just before it closed - there was nothing left !

[Kylie]

They send the emails out on a Friday. It used to be the highlight of my working week, receiving that email at work. I'd always get it before morning tea, so I could duck out straight away and use my voucher. But like I said, they don't seem to send many vouchers any more.

 

Borders must have heard me because they sent out a 30% off voucher today. I gleefully printed it off and rushed to my nearest Borders, only to find it has closed down due to major renovations happening in Sydney's main shopping strip. No more Borders! Oh well, it looks Dymocks will be getting a lot more business now seeing as the two other big bookstores in competition with them have now closed.

[SweetiiPie85]

I buy most of my books from Waterstones as I have the Waterstones Card and can collect points and get discounts. Play is quite good for buying books and they have free delivery.

[Inderjit Sanghera]

Waterstones have a 3 for 2 sale (on every book in store) on in their Birmingham stores.

Edited May 30, 2009 by Inderjit Sanghera

[Lucybird]

I know! I brought 6 books last weekend for myself, and 3 for my niece yesterday! It's kinda evil for willpower!

[Montmorency]

I have found this great bookshop in Cheltenham, It's a Redcross charity bookstore on the Bath Road next to the Co-op. Loads of books and really really cheap. I have just picked up Anne Rice

[Raven]

Does anyone know any [other] good towns or cities in the South of England for second-hand bookshops?

I always try to have a wander around Charring Cross when I'm in London, and I've heard Guildford is quite good, I was wandering whether this is true and if people know of any other places?

[SueK]

Does anyone know any [other] good towns or cities in the South of England for second-hand bookshops?

 

I always try to have a wander around Charring Cross when I'm in London, and I've heard Guildford is quite good, I was wandering whether this is true and if people know of any other places?

 

Yes we have some in Tunbridge Wells but the best one is Halls; this was featured years ago in a Yellow Pages ad (Fly Fishing by J R Hartley). It is a brilliant bookshop piled high with books of all varieties. I've been known to be asked to leave as the shop is closing - completely forgetting how long I've been in there. Nearby is a very good Oxfam secondhand book shop too.

[Fev]

My all-time fave bookshop is Waterstones, specifically the one in Bradford's old Wool Exchange. It's a beautiful building, like a cathedral inside, therefore quite echoey, although on the rare occasions when you find it nearly empty it's got that lovely whispery hush like in a proper old-fashioned library. I'm sure they used to have lots of old squishy leather arm-chairs to curl up in as well, but perhaps that's just my imagination elaborating because they're not there now in any case.

 

Anyone got any suggestions for places to buy books when I go back home to Halifax? It's quite poor for shopping in general but more so now that Just Books opposite the Woolshops has closed [Obviously there is Smiths but I'm not a fan, so was wondering if there were any more little independent ones up on the back streets that I've not discovered.] Thanks.

[atticjnr]

The best bookshop I have been to is in my city (Portsmouth). It is called Night Owls Bookstore and has over 150,000 second hand books of all genres and conditions. Every book is either

[Raven]

The best bookshop I have been to is in my city (Portsmouth). It is called Night Owls Bookstore and has over 150,000 second hand books of all genres and conditions. Every book is either

[BookJumper]

Oooh I might have to visit Portsmouth at some point...!

[Fev]

Ooh, I visited Whitby the other week. Happened to go down one of the random little streets at the bottom of the hill rather than heading straight up towards the abbey as usual, and there is an amazing-looking little bookshop down there! Sorry I didn't catch its name and was unable to go in myself at the time all I got was a glimpse through the window of literally every inch of wall and every surface stacked with books, all muddled up (I'm sure that would be annoying looking for something particular but it added to the alluring prospect of rooting and rummaging for me) In fact you could only just see in through the windows as the stacks were even looming there...

[Chrissy]

I love Whitby, and I love books.....MMmmmm I feel a road trip coming on!