What are bookstores outside of USA like?

[waryan]

I've never been out of the USA and at least where I live it's Barnes & Noble, Borders, Half-Price Books or Amazon- a few. I've spent more time in these book stores than at home some weeks and have grown to dislike them. Usually the books are in bad shape and the customer service is generally quite rude.

I'm curious if it's a similar set-up around the world, or if smaller independent book stores still are prevalent?

I'm in Texas so if you're in the USA but somewhere diff I'm just as curious, thanks all!

[sprinks]

Well I'm in Australia and (at least where I live) the bookstores are lovely places. The most common one that I go to is Dymocks, and also Angus and Robertson. (Only because they're the closest) The staff are lovely and helpful and are happy to help and order in books and all. The stores are always neat and organised and clean, but welcoming.

[manolia]

Yeah same here. Staff is always helpful and lovely..they always help you find the book you are looking for and they suggest new books according to your tastes. You can also sit and read the book (well not the whole book, you know) and see if you like it before you buy it. There is also a place here where you can order coffee while you browse the book . There are three bookstores i prefer. They are clean and neat and have a great variety. You can also order books without extra charges

[DapperDrake]

I guess the UK isn't that much different form the US, we have Borders here - with starbucks inside no less
Waterstones is the other large bookstore but I think thats about it apart from smaller stores - there are smaller stores still around but less now that Borders has moved in.
Staff are fine and the books are usually in good condition, though in Borders they sometimes seem a bit knocked around.

[Niamh]

We have alot of different bookshops in Ireland. In Dublin we have;
Big High Street Shops
Eason
Hughes and Hughes (where i work)
Waterstones
Hodges Figgis
Chapters (amazing book shop!)
Borders (which only started opening shops here last year)
Small high street shops
Books Unlimited
Books Upstairs
Wise Owl
Dubary Books
to name a few. The likes of Eason and Hughes and Hughes you'd find mainly around the rest of the country, and Hughes and Hughes are in most of the main airports in ROI.

[Kafka's Crow]

I bought my copy of John Kennedy Toole's The Confederacy of Dunces from Barnes & Noble on Euclede Avenue, Barnes Jewish Hospital, St Louis, Missouri. I went to another huge B & N branch in St Louis, a huge massive one, accessible only by car. My favorite bookstore is located in Gower Street (Bloomsbury Square, near Russell Square), London. It is huge. It has three floors and there is a nice dedicated reading room on the top floor. Sitting near the window, browsing through my books, I could see London traffic moving below and famous spires and domes on the skyline. Being a U of London student, I used to get discount as well. I had some very funny and some very romantic encounters there. Oh yes, those were the days!

I love the bookshops on Charing Cross Road as well, specially for second hand books. You could buy some very exclusive pipe-tobacco from a tobacconist there. I don't smoke any more and I buy my books from Amazon now

[kasie]

There isn't a 'proper' bookshop in the town where I live, only a WHSmith - which sells 'best sellers' and won't stock authors unless they sell in hundreds. My nearest book shop is a Borders in an out-of-town retail park and they have a Starbucks upstairs like DapperDrake's Borders - this is The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread and I can't think why no-one has thought of it before. (Mind you, the copy of Your Brain on Music that I bought the last time I was in there came with ready supplied coffee stains, which I wasn't too pleased with when I got it home.) Otherwise there is a Waterstones in the city along the motorway. The staff all seem very pleasant and knowledgable.

I used to like the old Foyles store in London, though their paying system baffled me and I could never find a till. Blackwells in Oxford is Book Heaven - as well as upper galleries, they have excavated downwards and there are open gallery cellars you can look down into. Waterstones in Oxford is good too, though it can take ages to pay because the assistants talk to the customers about their purchases, annoying if you are in a hurry (sorry, that's a contradiction in terms, isn't it?!) but good fun when it is your turn. The only Independent book shop I've been into in recent years was Albion Bookshop in Canterbury - that was a Book Heaven, too, with a very knowledgable proprietor who had the good sense to stock my friend's latest book as well as most of her back titles. (She was very pleased to hear about him. )

[ravilobo]

I am in US at the moment, I am amazed to find out that libraries are free! This one thing itself makes the stay worth here.

Only if the book is more than 500 pages I buy from a book store, else I go to the library here. The libraries have a 30 day return time. Some classics need more time.

When I was in Bahrain, I didn’t find any libraries there. Also very few people found reading interesting. Not many book stores as well. I tried order once from Amazon and it said that the country which I was in (Bahrain) is not there in their deliverable list!

In India, libraries are not free. Also they don’t have latest collection. But we have a huge network of pirated second hand road side book sellers! I used to buy from a guy who knew more about the books than myself, even though he didn’t read anuy of them!

In US, I have seen more people reading books than any other country. But US people read mostly light books, written by US authors. No Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy!

[LadyW]

I guess the UK isn't that much different form the US, we have Borders here - with starbucks inside no less

That's always a plus
The waterstones in Manchester usually have a Costa Coffee which is nice too.

Generally, I think books shops are great places - helpful staff, nice interior, air-conditioning and that lovely smell of new books

[Niamh]

I used to like the old Foyles store in London, though their paying system baffled me and I could never find a till.

I know one of the managers there. He left them and came to us in Dublin, then left us and went back to them.

We also have lots of tiny independant bookshops, not to mention some fab rare and antiquarian bookshops.

Also a lot of our bigger stores have cafes in them, and have for years. Eason has their own little cafe, i think the borders has Starbucks over here, and Hughes and Hughes cant make up their minds! SOme shops we have Insomnia, others we have Costa and the revamped larger shop we are getting in the Pavillions in Swords is going to have Starbucks. Thankfully we excaped having them in the airport.

[Pecksie]

I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and spend time in my hometown of Montevideo, Uruguay too. There are many public (i.e. free) libraries in both cities. As to bookstores, both cities have a few chains (e.g. Cúspide, El Ateneo and Yenny's in Buenos Aires, Mosca and Papacito in Montevideo), as well as many independent small ones. In some bookstores you can also sit down for a cup of coffee while browsing the book you've picked up.

Corrientes Avenue, in downtown Buenos Aires, is full of bookshops, often run-down and a bit shabby, but chock-full of unexpected treasures (used and new) at incredibly cheap prices. I love rummaging through them. On a smaller scale, Tristán Narvaja Street in Montevideo also has this kind of stores.

Most of the books these bookshops sell are of course in Spanish. In modern bookshops, which are usually spacious and tidy, shelves and tables with books written by local authors are often prominently displayed, as well as the latest work from international authors or those who are of special interest for some reason (e.g. having just won the Nobel!). Unfortunately, worthless best-sellers tend to be intensely marketed/displayed.

Although books enjoy tax exemptions in both countries, unless you go to the second-hand or cheapie stores I mentioned above, they are quite expensive by our standards. That may be because many of them are imported from Spanish publishing houses and/or because of the boundless greed of their owners

All this said, my favourite bookstore is still Amazon.com!!! No one can beat their prices!!!

[Sir Bartholomew]

here in the Philippines we have this huge franchise bookstore called National Bookstore. but i usually buy my books in second hand stores. there's this line of second hand shops scattered around manila and in other towns called Booksale.

[ben.!]

I'm in Australia, and the one's in my city that are awesome would have to be Angus & Robertson (a big Aussie bookstore chain), QBD (Great range!), Dymocks (another big Aussie bookstore chain) and then a huge four-floor Borders megastore in the inner city. I personally probably go to that huge Borders store the most, it has pretty much any book on shelf, or at least strives to have, you can order it in pretty easily and they tell you when they got it.

[RingoLass]

Where I live, it is a city known for it's independently owned shops and we have loads of book stores that carry the nicest, oldest books. My favorite has a spiral staircase I always sit on to read and I dangle my feet off the side, verrrrry nice!

[Joreads]

I'm in Australia, and the one's in my city that are awesome would have to be Angus & Robertson (a big Aussie bookstore chain), QBD (Great range!), Dymocks (another big Aussie bookstore chain) and then a huge four-floor Borders megastore in the inner city. I personally probably go to that huge Borders store the most, it has pretty much any book on shelf, or at least strives to have, you can order it in pretty easily and they tell you when they got it.

I love the QBD but being from NSW the online store is the only one that I can get to. They have some great sales. A&R have just lanuched a loyalty club which makes them a great choice to. When I am really in the mood to shop for books I head to the Pitt street mall in Sydney Dymocks, A&R and Borders all together bliss