Skip to Main Content
Go to Penn Libraries homepage   Go to Guides homepage

Modernism - Materiality - Meaning: Independent Bookstores

Banner

Banner of images relating to the modernist bookstore

Independent Philadelphia Bookstores

Penn Book Center
​130 S. 34th Street
Serving the academic community in University City for more than fifty years.

House of Our Own
3920 Spruce Street
Two floors of a quiet, comfortable Victorian house on the edge of the University of Pennsylvania campus.

Giovanni's Room
345 S. 12th Street
The oldest LGBTQ & feminist bookstore in the country.

Uncle Bobbie's
5445 Germantown Avenue
A community space designed for sharing, learning, laughing, debating, eating and building.

Hakim's Bookstore
210 S. 52nd Street
The first and oldest African American bookstore in Philadelphia.

Bindlestiff Books
4530 Baltimore Avenue
A volunteer-run neighborhood bookstore in West Philadelphia.

Big Blue Marble Bookstore
551 Carpenter Lane, Mt. Airy Village
A neighborhood bookstore for Mt. Airy and beyond.

Amalgam Comics and Coffeehouse
2578 Frankford Avenue
The first black-woman owned comic book store on the East Coast.

Joseph Fox Bookshop
1724 Sansom Street
Emphasis on trade fiction and nonfiction, architecture, art, small press, and international literature.

Shakespeare & Co.
1632 Walnut Street
An iconic Manhattan bookstore's Philadelphia location, open since October 2018.

Head House Books
619 S. 2nd Street
Fostering the inspiration and exchange of ideas that only a locally owned, independent bookstore can provide.

A Novel Idea on Passyunk
1726 E. Passyunk Avenue
A community-minded bookstore and event space that focuses on promoting local authors and artisans.

Port Richmond Books
3037 Richmond Street
Over 200,000 volumes in a renovated 1900s silent-movie house.

The Spiral Bookcase
112 Cotton Street
Community bookstore, entertainment venue, and resource for local artist groups and initiatives.

Bookhaven
2202 Fairmount Avenue
A bounty of used books.

The Last Word Bookshop
220 S. 40th Street
From fiction to women’s studies to biography, a wide selection with something for every reader.

The Book Trader
7 N. 2nd Street
A second-hand book store located in Philadelphia's historic Old City.

Mostly Books Warehouse
529 Bainbridge Street
Located at the intersection of Society Hill, Queen Village, and Bella Vista, housed in a series of 19th-century stables and workshops.

Book Corner
311 N. 20th Street
Secondhand book shop selling general interest titles to benefit public libraries.

Brickbat Books
709 S. 4th Street
An eclectic selection of used titles including rare & out-of-print editions.

Garland of Letters Bookstore
527 South Street
A wide array of books on topics ranging from religion to alternative medicine, yoga, and meditation.

Wooden Shoe Books
704 South Street
An all volunteer, collectively-run anarchist bookstore of radical literature.

Books & Stuff
23 Maplewood Mall
Discounted multi-cultural books and other "stuff" for children, teens, and adults, including the largest selection of Afrocentric children's books in Philly.

Golias Books
A small, independent poetry press and online shop.


 

 

 

 

Penn Libraries Home Franklin Home
(215) 898-7555