Brick & Mortar Bookstores Around the World

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David1917
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Brick & Mortar Bookstores Around the World

Postby David1917 » Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:06 am

I remember there was a great thread on HTLAL documenting stores around the world that had great selections of new or used language books. Obviously, 15-20 years later many of those stores are gone, so I'd like to get a new one going. I'll try to catalogue peoples' posts in this first post.

Please include a city and names of bookstores, and any reviews/extra info that might be helpful.

Thread Index

USA
California
Monterey
San Luis Obispo

Maryland
Frederick

New Mexico
Las Cruces

Pennsylvania
Philadelphia

Texas
Dallas
Denton 1 - 2

Virginia
Charlottesville
Richmond

Washington
Redmond

Washington, DC
Washington, DC

EUROPE
Barcelona - 1

Berlin - 1
Last edited by David1917 on Sun Nov 21, 2021 7:20 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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David1917
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Re: Brick & Mortar Bookstores Around the World

Postby David1917 » Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:11 am

All of these are primarily used bookstores, unless noted.

USA
Washington, DC
Second Story Books
This is one of two shops, the other in Rockville, MD. The back of the room has a pretty sizable foreign language section with a lot of books in French, Spanish, German, and Japanese. Located in Dupont Circle with fair prices.

Philadelphia, PA
Book Trader
Located in Old City, this is far and away my favorite shop in the city. Floor to ceiling stacks of books on two floors. On the second floor towards the back you will find a nice nook with several shelves housing teaching manuals and books in French, Spanish, German, and Russian.

Frederick, MD/Gaithersburg, MD/Hagerstown, MD
Wonderbook
The Frederick location is insane. For any kind of book (or DVD, or vinyl, or...) It's a massive store in a shopping center and the entire back wall is foreign languages. It takes a good while to go through all of it, and I've found some great rare treats in there like old TYS books for extremely good prices. Not to be missed if you're ever passing through that part of the state.

The Gaithersburg location is considerably smaller, but I found some nice items in there, too.

Richmond, VA
Surprisingly for a sort of college town, the bookstore scene is not great.
Chop Suey
New books on the ground floor, focus on hipster millennial fiction and "nonfiction" that's maybe a step up from the kind of book you find at Urban Outfitters. The second floor is all used, and there is about 1 full bookcase of foreign language stuff. Some manuals (I got my copies of Egenes Sanskrit there for $10/ea) and then books in Spanish, French, & German.

Richmond Books
This place is interesting because they open basically whenever the hippies that own it feel like opening. Luckily if you show up and they are closed, there is excellent espresso right nextdoor at Alchemy. There are a few bookcases of language stuff though, again heavy on Spanish, French, & German with also a bit of Italian and some more exotic languages. Good learning manuals, too.

Book People
A little out of the way, but they have a whole back room of language stuff. The big ones again, with some Russian, Japanese & Korean as well. I think they used to host French and German Scrabble nights as well - not sure if they would still do something like that.

Charlottesville, VA
Blue Whale Books
A lot of books in foreign languages, including a lot in Dutch, Icelandic, and Swedish. Worth a stop.

Daedalus Books
Must-see. Whole room on the lower level packed with language books. Full cases of Spanish, French, & German. Tons of learning materials. Books on Greek & Latin, books in & on Chinese. Very dangerous place for our kind.

2nd Act Books
Actually horrible for language stuff. There is a little closet in the back with one bookcase of language stuff. But, last weekend when I was in town I found a copy of DeFrances Intermediate Chinese Reader for $5!!! Those go for $60+ online, if they're even available. So, honorable mention, and if you're at the other 2, it's worth stopping in as all 3 stores are on the Downtown Mall.

Denton, TX
Recycled Books
Situated in what was apparently once an Opera House, this store of books & records has a back room jam packed with language books. Unfortunately when I was there, I had about $15 to my name and found about $100 of books that I would have easily bought. I dream of going back. If you pass through DFW ever, please do me the honor of picking up some stuff!

EUROPE
Berlin, Germany
Pequod Books
Lord have mercy. In Neuköln, a whole store of foreign language books! All used, all great. 1-2 bookcases per language, from all over the world, plus learning materials like Langenscheidts, etc. Owner I believe is Spanish but speaks German at a high level. Found some great things here and long to return.
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Re: Brick & Mortar Bookstores Around the World

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Fri Nov 19, 2021 7:02 pm

Las Cruces, New Mexico
Coas Books is a largish store selling used books. Foreign language selection is decent, but nothing to brag about.

Dallas, Texas
Half Price Books, a used book, tape, record and movie store, headquarters in Dallas. Many suburbs have a branch, and it's also nationwide.
For a city its size, Half Price should have a lot more foreign language books than it has.
Lucky Dog Books has two locations, fairly well stocked, though as with Half Price, the foreign language selections are relatively few.

Denton, Texas
I second the enthusiasm for Recycled Books.
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Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

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Re: Brick & Mortar Bookstores Around the World

Postby Carmody » Fri Nov 19, 2021 9:09 pm

The Importance of Independents

Some people may find this link of interest.
Last edited by Carmody on Sun Feb 04, 2024 1:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Axon
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Re: Brick & Mortar Bookstores Around the World

Postby Axon » Sat Nov 20, 2021 6:19 am

BookBuyers in Monterey, California and the Friends of the Marina Library Bookstore in Marina, California both get a slow but steady stream of foreign language books from graduates of Middlebury and the DLI. It's the only place I've ever found Indonesian books outside of Indonesia. (note: I already bought all the interesting ones so don't just come for those :lol: )

Phoenix Books in San Luis Obispo, California was a frequent destination for used books when I was in college. I can't bring to mind the size of their foreign language section, but I found some absolute gems there including a parallel text of the Bhagavad Gita and a dense textbook on the history of the Romance languages.
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Re: Brick & Mortar Bookstores Around the World

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Sat Nov 20, 2021 10:54 pm

The Redmond Goodwill and Half-Price Books Bellevue have been very good to me. Proximity to Microsoft and the constant turnover of tech workers means a steady stream of foreign books in a wide variety of languages.
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Re: Brick & Mortar Bookstores Around the World

Postby David1917 » Sun Nov 21, 2021 1:15 am

Lawyer&Mom wrote:The Redmond Goodwill and Half-Price Books Bellevue have been very good to me. Proximity to Microsoft and the constant turnover of tech workers means a steady stream of foreign books in a wide variety of languages.


This is the kind of post I was hoping for! One would think OK, sure, let me hit the top 5 used bookstores in Seattle and that should be a good time. But heading out to Redmond for the Goodwill I would have never thought of.
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Re: Brick & Mortar Bookstores Around the World

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Sun Nov 21, 2021 5:43 pm

Carmody wrote:Some people may find this link of interest.

Thanks, Carmody. Always good to be reminded about Biblio. :)
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Re: Brick & Mortar Bookstores Around the World

Postby Sonjaconjota » Sun Nov 21, 2021 5:43 pm

Barcelona, Spain:
- Alibri: big section with language learning resources, most notably for German, but also for other languages, and (to a lesser degree) fiction in several languages
https://www.alibri.es/
- Come In English Bookshop: new books of any kind in English, including language learning materials, some books in other languages
https://www.libreriainglesa.com/
- Hibernian: The biggest part of the stock are second hand books in English, but they also have books (mainly novels) in other languages and some new books in English
https://www.hibernianbooks.com/
- There seem to be two small Italian bookshops that I have not yet checked out:
http://www.lapiccola.cat/
https://librerialenuvole.wixsite.com/lenuvole
And one specialized in French books:
https://www.jaimes.cat/
- The big chains have small sections with language learning resources and novels in foreign languages:
https://www.fnac.es/
https://www.casadellibro.com/
https://www.lacentral.com/
- Two chains of second hand bookstores that always have a small section of novels in foreign languages:
https://www.sentitsolidari.org/llibre-solidari
https://www.re-read.com/
- El siglo: And finally, there is a vintage market in a nearby city called Sant Cugat, the Mercantic, which has a huge second hand bookshop offering also novels in several foreign languages
https://www.mercantic.com/espai-cultural/el-siglo/
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Re: Brick & Mortar Bookstores Around the World

Postby lichtrausch » Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:51 pm

I got these from Capitol Books in Washington DC this weekend:

Image
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