I would say that while I don’t need the wide space of a B and N, I do like some organization and not feeling cramped in a bookstore. I don’t want to climb piles of books. 
I do like staff suggestions and I do like other literacy related product or features to make my window shopping even more interesting.
A shop that does this pretty well is Literati in Ann Arbor.
@greenbutton Birchbark is not far from my neighborhood.
@1214mom one of the top rated children’s bookstores in the country is about a block from the bookstore I mentioned upthread. Another treasure!
If you are ever in the Philly suburbs, we have a bunch!
This is a great indie store that gets a lot of authors for author visits etc. Located in a fun town with lots to do READS & COMPANY: https://www.readsandcompany.com/
Another similar shop on the main line: https://www.mainpointbooks.com/
If you like the thrill of the hunt, check out Baldwin’s Book Barn: Baldwin's Book Barn - Rare, Used, Out of Print, Antiquarian Books, Giclée prints, Ephemera, Antiques, Maps, Heritage and History
I don’t think there’s one “best” bookstore. The Strand, Kramer’s Book’s, and City Lights are all great.
I also love my local, independent bookstores, Concord Bookshop and Mitchell’s Book Corner (both in MA). I’m a huge fan of mysteries and thrillers and used to go to Kate’s Mystery Books (It was in Cambridge, MA and has been closed for a long time now).
A few years ago, my daughter moved to NYC and I discovered The Mysterious Bookshop, which is heaven for anyone who loves mysteries/thrillers. My future son-in-law gave me a “book a month” from The Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Arizona (forget the town). I’d like to visit in person!
Thanks! We leave for London this weekend and I just added these to our travel map!
I agree, for most book lovers, not a “best” but many that are “better than most of the rest!” I like hearing what makes a favorite a favorite for people!
You’re lucky- we’re even supposed to have excellent wheather (for once) in the next couple of weeks… Enjoy it!
The original Borders bookstore in Ann Arbor before it became a chain. It was only six years old when I matriculated and became a favorite haunt of this English major. So, so many hours spent browsing there and then heading around the block to Drake’s for tea and cinnamon buns with one of my newest additions. Both places long gone now.
I was soooo upset when our Borders closed - seemed impossible to happen.
I hear ya, but the original Borders bore no resemblance to the chain stores.
A friend of mine and I were so sad when the Borders near my home in NoVA closed we still refer to it as the “awful closing in 2011”.
Yes the one in Porto, where Harry Potter was written.
I adore bookstores and so does my D22 so we make a point to find them wherever we are. I’m obsessed with my retirement plan to own a bookstore in a mountain town, which does occasionally drive our vacation itineraries 
So my all time favorite bookstore is Barts Books in Ojai, CA. It’s an outdoor (mostly) used bookstore with picnic tables, roaming store cats, plants… super chill, relaxed vibe. They leave some books outside the store with an “honor box” for you to pay what you wish. Everyone who works there adores books.
My aunt and uncle lived in Ojai when I was growing up and I spent a summer there after my sophomore year of college, babysitting my cousins. I used to ride my bike to Barts on warm summer evenings, along a trail lined with oak trees—now, whenever I picture serenity, that’s the image in my mind.
(Ojai is a very special place in general, so if you have the chance to visit, I recommend it.)
D2 and I have been going to this book store around our local San Diego outdoor markets. When we started going used books were $5 each and I think they are $6 now. We also bring books that we have read and trade them for books.
Have been to Tattered Cover in Denver and Powell’s in Portland OR. I loved the nice dining room they used to have at Tattered Cover, as I admit to being more into food than books.
I guess I don’t really have a favorite bookstore.
Hi all, as I’ll soon go on a short East Coast roadtrip after dropping my S24 of at Richmond, I was wondering if anyone had good bookstore/art store suggestions for downtown Philadelphia… (staying in Rittenhouse square, no car by then). Obviously any advice on cheesesteaks ouside the tourist traps is also welcome… TY!!
You can search by zip code for indie bookstores on Bookshop.org.
And you can order books online from them and they benefit your local store instead of the huge algorithm behemoth.
This might be my favorite bookstore in the world. It’s in Buxton, UK, near the Peak District. It’s a classic higgledy-piggledy bookstore that sells mostly second hand books, but also new stuff. It’s a sort of museum too, for no discernible reason. It’s a dangerous place because you might never leave. Good pub across the street too.
Others:
Powells, of course.
I love Waterstone’s in Oxford, UK. I know it’s a chain, but I still love it.
I love Strand in NYC.
There’s a lovely mom and pop bookstore in Ridgefield, CT called Books on the Common. Small enough to feel like an independent bookstore, but big enough to have a top floor and good variety.
Oh, we’ve loved Tattered Cover stores in Denver. Especially the Cherry Creek location. For several years when our son did annual state piano competition, we’d make a point to go there. He could take as long a he liked to pick a book. Then since he was dressed up we’d go to the nice restaurant on the 4th floor, “The Fourth Story”.
Another article about the closing Denver's Tattered Cover Bookstore Sold to Barnes and Noble
What makes the Waterstone’s in Oxford different than other Waterstone locations?
We’ll be in Oxford on Sunday. 
Obviously, this thread is feeding an addiction that I’m not sure my traveling companions will totally want to indulge. We’ll be visiting the Bodleian and arguably the biggest disappointment of the trip was that we were “only” able to get tickets to the 60m tour of the Bodleian and not the 90m tour that includes the Radcliffe Camera. And yes, the Bodleian is a library and not a bookstore, but for people who are following this thread, it probably doesn’t make a huge difference.
By the way, does anyone have good recommendations for Bath?
