Bookstores, where do you go?

[Jared Song]

Man, when I was a kid there were so many different kinds of bookstores to visit it was always a joy to go.

Now I have the choice of only two, similar looking bookstores in my area. Borders or Barnes.

Do you/did you have any favorites?

[Roquefort Raider]

Same as you, I had my pick of several smaller bookstores a few decades ago. Now they've all gone the way of the dodo. In town we have the choice between two big chains and several "specialty" small bookstores that mostly sell incense and other new age crap, so most of my purchases are made at Amazon.

[Moriarty]

Books a Million, mostly. sometimes i'll find something at Wal-Mart or Target. also, lots of used bookstores, flea markets and antique shops.

[Jared Song]

I only shop at used book stores because the prices, selection and variety are the best.

I only go to Barnes and Borders when I want to read for free and drink coffee.

[cv4]

Chapters once in awhile, if they have deals on (buy 3 paperbacks, get one free) or to check out their clearance stuff.

[Matt]

I live in a reasonably small town, it sports two bookstores. One of them also sells giftware and is pretty rubbish. The other is a great store, though it's small, and sells Trades. I support this second one as much as possible.

Otherwise I do a lot of book shopping online. The best book store site I've found is bookdepository.co.uk
It's hard to beat free international shipping.

[dupersuper]

United Bookstore, Gamezilla, Indigo (Chapters/Coles), Loyalist City Coins, 2 or 3 small used book shops in town.

[umeraah]

There actually weren't any bookstores near where I live when I was growing up and going to the bookstore was a long way out so I was excited when a Borders opened up 10 minutes from my house...and now that Borders is closed. Back to the way things used to be.

I love used bookstores though, again, their aren't any near where I live. But in the city where I went to college there were a bunch, and a couple of them were right next door and right across the street from big comic book stores which meant they always had a good selection of comics.

[Ben D]

Books Inc is the only non-used bookstore around. Not that I dislike used book stores, just that I like to get new stuff.

[Castel]

Barnes & Noble, less than 10 minutes from where i live.

But there is also some smaller bookstores (used and new) in town.

[Jared Song]

I remember Books Inc as a kid. It was a pretty big book store back then, and they usually sold books I couldn't find like Giger's Necronomicon and alot of indie graphic novels. I got Maus there as a kid. It was kind of dimly lit so it had an almost, old library feel to it. I think that was the first book store I went to that even had a graphic novel section.

Walden's was a good chain store that every mall used to have.

[clownprince01]

Two major book retailers in Australia, including Borders, are now in administration so there's pretty much only one big chain of bookstores left.

However, I pretty much buy all my books off Amazon UK now. Much cheaper that way. Plus they're offering free international shipping until August.

[Slam_Bradley]

There's an independent bookstore here in town. At least I think they sell new books. I don't buy new books, so I'm not sure. Their basement is a huge used bookstore. I peruse it now and then. It's horribly disorganized, but it is what it is.

The nearest actual bookstore is 40 miles away. Not that it matters, because I don't buy new books.

[sHayden]

I mostly use Amazon. The Borders where I live got the chop and B&N isn't a favorite of mine. Searching around the local used book stores is a good time though.

[The Black Guardian]

We still have a number of local bookstores, but not as many as we used to have. One of them I buy from occasionally, but I usually go to B&N.

[Jack J Napier]

I got to a Hastings, they alsos sell comics.

[V0nnegut]

Chains, chains and nothing but chains. In my city there used to be some decent independent stores, but they've gone the way they always do. Thankfully there's still one of them that has a very nice manager who orders lots of good and not so mainstream stuff.

[Julusnc]

I have a great used book store in my area that trades cover for cover plus the customer pays 10%......He is a nice and knowledgeable owner.He keeps master lists of what you need and calls as soon as he gets it in stock.

I always try to buy local from small business.

Amazon is a great place for the oddball or big sale item.

I hate Books A Million and Barnes and Noble.The seem to just be a hang out and coffee shop now.Who wants a $4.00 coffee and a $3.00 piece of cake?

[Deathstroke]

Mainly Barnes and Noble now that the Borders across the street from where I work was closed.

There's an independent book store in the same town as the B&N and I have to start going back there more often.

[doolbnoom]

now that i am not so mobile (kind of with my wheelchair), i've only been making it to B&N mainly and occassionally Borders, but before my stroke i loved being/working at the used bookstore downtown. and anywhere i've lived or visited i would always hunt down their used bookstores. interesting what you can find...

[Jared Song]

interesting what you can find...

That's exactly why I like used book stores and non-chain stores. I still like Barnes because they DO have a great selection but there SF/Horror is pretty limited among other things.

Going to used book stores I get to see books by others I've never heard of and see collections I didn't know had been published.

I also like those Book Liquidation places that open up for a few months to get rid of overstock. They have really cheap prices and again, you get to find books that you normally wouldn't see anywhere else.

[Sabrina_Fried]

Almost all of my book buying is done through Amazon.ca lately. I simply can't afford to pay full Canadian cover and the physical stores rarely have the selection I want.

As bad as it sounds, I have favorite stores where I love to go and browse the books and talk to the staff about recommendations, but I literally can't afford to buy from those stores.

[steve2275]

barnes & noble

[Arnold Layne]

My local Borders just closed down, so I go to Barnes now, within walking distance from where I live, for "new" books. I also frequent a great used book store called Gently Used Books, and take advantage of library sales which often offer "fill a bag for $5".

[Adam543]

I used to go to Borders, it was easy to get to and had a very good selection of books and a Starbucks upstairs :') Unfortunately it closed a few months ago so now I go to Waterstones which is also good. BUt it's the only big bookshop in town because lets face it WHSmiths is crap for books :/

[Skib]

2 locally owned book stores. 1 sells new & used and the other sells strictly used books. Love them both.

[CaptainCanada]

There's one independent and one chain here (Indigo).

[Karl O'Neill]

Chapters in Dublin. It's Ireland's largest independent bookstore. I love the second hand section.

[allwillbemine]

Half Price Books. Paperbacks just cost too much these days. :frown:

[RolandJP]

Online Stores. Alibris Abebooks. And I support local book stores more than the big chains.

[EddieBrockRULZ]

I used to go to Barnes & Noble.

[echo_808]

Borders...usually buy my books when i get a coupon. But with that store going away, guess i'll be heading to Barnes & Nobles.

[clayholio]

I used to go to Borders a lot, but that's done with. There's a B&N that's a little closer anyways. When I make it into the big city, I go to Powell's in Portland (it'd be easy to blow an entire day there).

I do use Amazon as well, especially when I'm getting those expensive hardcover comics. An extra 20 or 30% off goes a long way on those kinds of books.

[boyhangover]

Barnes N Noble, Half Priced Books, Amazon.

[Subotai]

Toronto has some terrific used bookstores which thrived when the Chapters and Indigo stores came in and knocked out the small indies 15 years ago. Alas, even they are suffering now with the growing popularity of E-readers...I am hopeful they will last another generation, at least.

[Serik]

The local flea market has a used book stand with outstanding prices (nothing over $3) and selection, all very well organized by genre. Picked up Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel for $2, and a decent paperback copy of Leopold's Sand County Almanac for 50 cents. Oh, and a hardcover set of Wells' The Outline of World History for $2.