Bookstores in Chicago?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Help! I just moved to chicago... where are the best bookstores/used bookstores in the city?

thanks

― Plata, Friday, 1 April 2005 05:34 (nineteen years ago) link

We've done this exact same thread, though it may have been on ILEverything. If you search, you can probably find it. I vote for Myopic.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 1 April 2005 14:43 (nineteen years ago) link

Myopic = used
Unabridged = new

― Jessa (Jessa), Friday, 1 April 2005 15:16 (nineteen years ago) link

And the Seminary Co-Op at UChicago!

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:40 (nineteen years ago) link

Second hand bookstores in Chicago

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 1 April 2005 21:30 (nineteen years ago) link

Chicago Bookstores

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 1 April 2005 21:31 (nineteen years ago) link

Also, this is a fantastic thread for new Chicagoans: (Yet more) tips-Chicago!

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 1 April 2005 21:32 (nineteen years ago) link

also watch for the evanston libarary book sales. they usually happen 3 or so times a year, and the selection is great if you get there early. i'd usually come away with a paper grocery sack full of good stuff for around $20. i forget the name (brandeis something?), but there was also always a *huge* tent sale once a year out at old orchard mall in skokie that could be pretty interesting. not to mention the printer's row bookfair, but that's actually a fairly poor place to shop in my experience.

― andrew s (andrew s), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 17:33 (nineteen years ago) link

Evanston Library often has good used books year-round, just sitting in the carts by the circulation desk.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 01:02 (nineteen years ago) link

I kinda miss that library, now that I no longer work in Evanston.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 01:02 (nineteen years ago) link

Quimby's? Kinda?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 02:02 (nineteen years ago) link

i think i only ever bought 3 or 4 books off the 50 cent cart at the evanston library and i was in there 3 times a week or so for 5 years

― andrew s (andrew s), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 04:44 (nineteen years ago) link

it really is a great library though & i can't say enough good things about the periodic big friends sales

although now i'm rather spoiled by living a long block away from the central brooklyn library

― andrew s (andrew s), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 04:46 (nineteen years ago) link

I think Powell's is a pretty good one. The one in Hyde Park is the best, but have found some good stuff at the one in the south loop as well.

― slurp, Monday, 11 April 2005 06:32 (nineteen years ago) link

nineteen years pass...

Oh, shit, Quimby's is up for sale?

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 10 December 2024 22:58 (one month ago) link

Looks like it:
https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/12/10/quimbys-bookstore-wicker-parks-indie-publishing-paradise-for-sale-after-more-than-3-decades/

A promising note at the end of that article, which is that the Quimby's owner also owns the building but "isn’t selling the building, so potential shop buyers would rent the space from him." Which I take to mean that the shop will continue under new ownership, rather than being turned into a Sweetgreen or whatever.

― jaymc, Tuesday, 10 December 2024 23:06 (one month ago) link

Putting a kind word for Skunk Cabbage Books in Avondale: https://skunkcabbagebooks.com/

― blatherskite, Wednesday, 11 December 2024 22:14 (one month ago) link

The Gallery is still there. The one at N Clark and Wellington is gone.

― alimosina, Tuesday, 24 December 2024 16:23 (one month ago) link

Popped in Skunk Cabbage for the first time yesterday. Nice place!

― jaymc, Tuesday, 24 December 2024 18:11 (one month ago) link

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.