Are you visiting New York City? Or do you live here and want to discover where the indie and best bookstores in Brooklyn are? And what they are like? I can help you.
I don’t visit Brooklyn as often as I should. But ever so often, I’ll spend a day walking around and discovering new places to hang out, shop and eat. I am obsessed with visiting bookstores and libraries in general. Going to the Strand instead of a night out is not unheard of in my book (pun intended). I am always reading a book and have a long list of books to read, always! If you like bookstores and want to visit the ones in Brooklyn, keep reading. I will share with you what the best bookstores in Brooklyn are like. So here it goes.
This post is all the best bookstores in Brooklyn that I have visited and everything I have learned about them.
SPOONBILL & SUGARTOWN BOOKSELLERS
218 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211
What a cool place, it is everything I imagined a bookstore in Brooklyn would look like. I wanted to take a photo of every corner. Chill vibe, rustic feel. They sell new and used books. A great collection and variety in genres including film, theater, fine arts, literature, poetry, non-fiction, photography, children’s book, and cookbooks. They also sell postcards and notebooks. I was able to browse undisturbed.
BOOK THUG NATION
100 N 3rd St, Brooklyn, NY 11249
A secondhand bookstore. You can smell the old books when you enter, which I love. They have a variety of literature in different languages, philosophy, politics, and non-fiction. But it feels very curated. The staff are very knowledgeable and helpful. It stood out to me.
MCNALLY JACKSON BOOKS (WILLIAMSBURG)
76 N 4th St Unit G, Brooklyn, NY 11249
This is an independent bookstore with 5 branches in New York City. This branch is huge, two-story, with a wide range of books. The Genres are endless. It has a contemporary and cozy interior design that is present in all of its branches. Very neat and clean. You want your living room to look like that. You can browse in there for hours without being bothered. Staff are very nice and helpful. I enjoyed the staff picks.
GREENLIGHT BOOKSTORE
686 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Greenlight bookstore is a huge bookstore, currently with one branch. They closed their Flatbush location in 2023. It is neat and tidy. Great selection all around from different genres. I thought it was the perfect size, not too overwhelming, not too small. In October 2020, while it was financially struggling, the bookstore carried an event where they asked customers ‘…not to make a 1.6 trillion dollar company (Amazon) richer…’. It was covered by several news articles and it seems the public responded pretty well.
COMMUNITY BOOKSTORE
143 7th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Wow, pleasant surprise. Not too small not too big for a bookstore, an excellent selection of books from a range of genres. Very nice atmosphere in the store. Staff are super nice. I enjoyed walking around. They have a reading corner with two seats in the back, and behind it a super cute garden for customers to enjoy.
MCNALLY JACKSON BOOKS (DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN)
445 Gold St, Brooklyn, NY 11201
In case you didn’t go on to explore Williamsburg on your Brooklyn trip, you can enjoy this branch. Honestly, it’s even better. It is located in a shopping center. The interior design is very similar, you would recognize it even if you didn’t know the name of the bookstore you were in. It is also two-story, the wood color is a little darker, and it is bigger than the Williamsburg branch. I could spend hours in here. There are seats for you to get comfortable reading in several spots, a table to work on the second floor. The staff are very nice. This place has a library vibe to it.
THE CENTER FOR FICTION
15 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217
I noticed this bookstore as I was walking by. On the corner of the street, floor to ceiling glass windows. They had a large selection of fiction, as you would expect given its name. But also some non-fiction, some self-improvement books, cookbooks, and children’s books.
UNNAMEABLE BOOKS
615 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Such a charming and cool bookstore with a really well curated selection of books, from politics, sociology, art, fiction, philosophy. A very wide selection – I guess hard to find and unnameable books? The staff are very nice and welcoming. I was able to browse unbothered.
POWERHOUSE on 8th
1111 8th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215
A cute little bookstore, brick lined on the inside. They carry children’s books, some fiction, non-fiction and cookbooks. They do book readings for kids on Sundays. They also sell some stationary.
This post was everything about bookstores in Brooklyn that I have visited and enjoyed. Which ones have you been to and which is your favorite?
As always, thank you for stopping by and reading. If this content interested you, you might want to follow my Instagram account @girlontheues
See you next time,
Girl on the Upper East Side
Xx
If this interests you, you might enjoy reading The Top 10 Museums in NYC, Thrift Stores in Williamsburg, Top 15 Rainy Day Activities in NYC.
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