Top Ten Tuesday – 5 Indie Book Stores I Love & 5 I Really Want to Visit

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is Favorite Bookstores OR Bookstores I’d Love to Visit.  I decided to focus my list on Indie bookstores but couldn’t think of 10 I loved or 10 I wanted to visit, so I’ve split my list in half to share 5 of each.

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5 Bookstores I Love

 

1. The Strand, NYC

The Strand will always make my list of favorite Indie bookstores. I try to stop by every time I visit NYC.

Why?  18 miles of books, some of the coolest bookish merchandise, and loads of amazing author events.

 

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2. Fountain Bookstore, Richmond, VA

 

Credit:  https://www.instagram.com/fountainbookstore/

 

If you ever find yourself in the Richmond, VA area, I highly recommend stopping by Fountain Bookstore in the quaint and quirky Carytown area. They have a great selection of books and merchandise, signed books, tons of staff recommendations which are always reliably good reads, and they also have a full schedule of author events.

 

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3. Riverby Books, Fredericksburg, VA

 

 

This is a fantastic Indie bookstore right in my own town.  The shop has an extensive collection of used books, they buy and sell rare books, and the store is just super cute with lots of little reading nooks tucked into every corner.

 

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4. Green Valley Book Fair, Mount Crawford, VA

 

 

The Green Valley Book Fair is tucked away in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.  Prior to the Covid pandemic, for a couple of weeks, 5 or 6 times a year, the book fair would open and book lovers would come from all over to purchase deeply discounted books.  Their selection has always been vast and the prices great.  Where so many businesses failed during the pandemic, the Green Valley Book Fair completely changed the way they operated in order to survive.  Since everything was closed, they started a mail order business so that book lovers could still get the discounted books they love and they even expanded their inventory to include items like jigsaw puzzles for those who Covid kept at home.  Once things started to open back up, they began to open year round 5 days a week, and continued to offer their mail service as well as curbside pickup.  I love this bookfair, both for its great prices and extensive selection, but also because of their resilience and determination.

 

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5. CHOP SUEY BOOKS, Richmond, VA

 

 

Chop Suey Books is another fantastic bookstore in the Carytown area of Richmond. They have a fun, quirky storefront, a cat mascot named Wonton, and they buy and sell used books.

 

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5 Bookstores I Really Want to Visit

 

6. THE BOOKWORM BOX Bookstore, Sulphur Springs, TX

 

This is the bookstore that Colleen Hoover and her sisters own.  Enough said, lol. Not enough?  Here’s a little more detail:  “The Bookworm Box is a one-of-a-kind specialty bookstore with signed books donated by the authors. All profit is donated to various charities with over $1,000,000.00 donated since opening the doors in 2015. The Bookworm Box holds special events and exclusive signings with best-selling authors such as EL James, Tarryn Fisher, Anna Todd, Caroline Kepnes and Colleen Hoover.”

 

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7. BLUEBIRD & CO., Crozet, VA

 

 

Even though this book shop is only about an hour away from me, I had never heard of it until Elle Cosimano happened to mention on her social media a while back that she was doing an event there.  I unfortunately couldn’t attend the event, but looking at their instagram page, the store is just as adorable on the inside as it is on the outside so I need to visit it someday soon.

 

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8. POWELL’S BOOKS, Portland, OR

 

 

According to their website, Powell’s is the World’s Largest Independent Bookstore.  I have no idea if that is still true or not, but it’s enough to make me want to visit it.  They apparently have a very extensive inventory of used books and, and they buy and sell books.

 

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9. McNally Jackson Books, NYC

 

 

Even though I visit NYC pretty often, I’ve somehow never made it to this shop and I need to remedy that. It just looks so cozy and quaint and apparently it has a nice cafe in it as well.

 

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10. NEW DOMINION BOOKSHOP, Charlottesville, VA

 

 

This is yet another Indie bookshop that is only about an hour from me but I’ve yet to make it there.  New Dominion is the oldest independent bookstore in my state and the picture I chose to represent it features the stunning rose garden they have.  Some of the other photos on their Instagram page show bookclubs meeting in the garden as well as some author events.  It just looks so lovely and peaceful and I would love to experience it in person.

 

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Question:  Have you visited any of these shops?

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34 replies
  1. Dini @ dinipandareads
    Dini @ dinipandareads says:

    Great list! I visited The Strand for the first time several years ago and my siblings had to literally drag me out of there 😂 I also hope to visit Powell’s one day! I think I’ll probably have to be pulled out of there too, lol.

  3. Angela
    Angela says:

    With all the times I’ve been to NYC, I’ve actually never been to The Strand! I need to make a special trip just for that.

  4. Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy
    Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy says:

    I love seeing so many small stores that aren’t the obvious picks for this prompt, although it’s nice that you included Powells and The Strand, both of which I’d love to visit. Makes me want to go on a roadtrip!

  7. Jo
    Jo says:

    I’ve never been to any of these, I did go to NYC about ten years ago, but never made it to The Strand. Hopefully if I get back over to the US one day, I’ll be able to go to some of these places but obviously I’ve not really been going anywhere outside of the UK in the past two years!

  10. Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys
    Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys says:

    Powell’s has made lots of lists this week and it’s the only one I’ve been to – it’s an amazingly LARGE warren of rooms as it’s added on and grown over the years. It has extensive new and used selections and in a separate facility focuses exclusively on technical and college texts. It’s worth a visit if you ever get west. All those southern stores look charming and inviting. Hope you have a great week and find time to read a good book.
    Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys

  14. Lark
    Lark says:

    Chop Suey Books is such a fun name for a bookstore! And I’d love to go to Powell’s someday, too. It’s on my bucket list. 😀

  17. Jenni Elyse
    Jenni Elyse says:

    Oooh! It looks like Virginia has a lot of wonderful bookstores. 😀 My niece lives in Virginia. Maybe I can use visiting her as an excuse to check some of these out. LOL. (I’d also love seeing my niece.)

    My TTT

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