The Ultimate List of Chicago’s Indie Bookstores
By Allison Yates
Our ultimate guide to all of Chicago’s independently-owned bookstores! Below you’ll find details about the neighborhood of each bookstore, and if applicable, any relevant connections to Read & Run Chicago or what you should do or shop for there.
This list is an ever-changing work in progress. See something missing? Get in touch!
Out and about in the city? Below is our map.
Note: This list does not include some great bookstores outside of the city of Chicago like The Book Table in Oak Park, New Book Joy in Edgebrook or Bookends & Beginnings in Evanston.
Here are the 42 best indie bookstores in Chicago. Happy shopping!
City Lit Books
Neighborhood: Logan Square
Best for: Contemporary fiction and non-fiction
Great light, friendly staff, and a robust selection of Chicago books (see if you spot several of the Read & Run Chicago books sold there!).
Semicolon Bookstore
Neighborhood: West Loop
Best for: books by authors of color
The knowledgeable, friendly staff are the kind of people that love books as much you and could chat with you for hours about your latest reads. They are ready to give great recommendations on books by authors of color.
Volumes Bookcafe
Neighborhoods: Wicker Park + Gold Coast
Best for: shopping through heavily-curated shelves and getting specific, thoughtful recommendation from the owners and sisters
Besides having a great cafe next to their Wicker Park location, Volumes also hosts community events, like book-themed speed dating. Highly recommend!
Secret Agent Supply Co.
Neighborhood: Wicker Park
Best for: supporting young authors and literacy programs
“The Secret Agent Supply Co. is the storefront of 826CHI, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students aged 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Learn more about 826CHI here!” [Taken from Secret Agent Supply Co.]
Unabridged Bookstore
Neighborhood: Lakeview
Best for: robust LGBTQ+ section
Unabridged has been a cornerstone of the Lakeview community since 1980.
Women & Children First
Neighborhood: Andersonville
Best for: Books that will revivie your fiesty feminist spirit
This bookstore was founded in 1979 and has been in their current Andersonville space since 1990. They identify as intersectional trans-inclusive feminists and “believe books are tools for liberation.” (Hey, sounds a lot like what we believe in!) Walk past their storefront or browse the shelves and you’ll see some pretty awesome books. This is also your go-to place for progressive parenting books.
Myopic Books
Neighborhood: Wicker Park
Best for: days when you want to peruse chaotic, packed shelves for used books
This bookstore has been featured in many essays and books about 1990s Wicker Park and beyond, from Joe Meno to Megan Stielstra to Kevin Coval to Layne Fargo. It’s also one of the last stores in Wicker Park to survive amidst intense gentrification of the last few decades. They carry an average of around 60,000 books and aren’t afraid of an ecletic section—go wild.
Seminary Co-Op
Neighborhood: Hyde Park
Best for: Wishing you had more time read all of those books and admiring their display skills
Seminary Co-Op, sister bookstore to 57th Street Books, was founded in 1961. Together, the two of them comprise Seminary Co-op Bookstores. In 2019, they became the country’s first not-for-profit bookstores. Self-described as one of the best academic bookstores in the world, they might have a point.
The thoughtfully placed books are scattered through a maze of crisply lined shelves, winding readers along a treasure hunt for pretty covers and intriguing books. It’s a delight of a bookstore! Another big plus? It’s next door to Plein Air Cafe.
57th Street Books
Neighborhood: Hyde Park
Best for: Searching for books by authors of color and local authors
This cozy independent bookstore in Hyde Park (sister bookstore to Seminary Co-Op) opened in 1983 and has a hugely diverse collection of writers and genres—and all curated beautifully. It’s also featured in Jessica Mlinaric’s Chicago Scavenger and kindly hosted us at the start of our Chicago Scavenger event in January 2023.
Open Books Ltd
Neighborhoods: West Loop + Pilsen + Logan Square
Best for: Used books, shopping for a good cause
Open Books has so.many.books! So many that according to Open books there are over 50,000! The used books come in dozens of genres and languages and are for various ages. Sales of these thousands of books across their locations—West Loop, Logan Square, and Pilsen—support literacy programs. Other awesome reasons to love about Open Books? The West Loop location hosted our The Girls in 3-B post-run lecture with Jen Dentel of Gerber/Hart Library and Archives in November 2022. The same location was also name dropped in Sesali Bowen’s Bad Fat Black Girl, and to top it off, many readers and runners are Open Books volunteers!
Underground Bookstore
Neighborhood: Stoney Island Park
Best for: Books by Black authors
Sandmeyer’s Bookstore
Neighborhood: South Loop
Best for: New releases, travel guides, children’s books
A fiercely independent, woman-owned bookstore in a historic building in Printer’s Row since 1982, an area so named for the many printing houses that once populated this neighborhood.
Uncharted Books
Neighborhood: Andersonville
Best for: Rare and used books—some very niche!
RoscoeBooks
Neighborhood: Roscoe Village
Best for: Shopping in a place where you feel like you’re part of the neighborhood
Owned by a couple and Lakeview residents. Featuring a book club, children’s story time, and other community-based events.
The Book Cellar
Neighborhood: Lincoln Square
Best for: Sipping wine and reading on a couch
Who doesn’t love a good word play? The Book Cellar in Lincoln Square is the perfect spot for browsing after a stop by Fleet Feet Lincoln Square or a rooftop snack at Gene’s. When it’s cold, cozy up on a couch. When the weather’s nice, be sure to relax on the front patio. This bookstore is also a favorite of reader and runner Kaylee—read about her here.
Bookie’s
Neighborhood: Beverly
Best for: Used books and friendly staff
This bookstore came recommended by Scott Smith, author of an essay featured in our Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook mini-run series (you can run his essay on your own following our self-guided route). Owner Keith will chat with you about his new favorites and give recommendations.
Bonus: Bookie’s New and Used books is next to the store Running Excels, so you can load up on fuel for your run and books for your brain at the same time.
Bucket O’Blood Books and Records
Neighborhood: Avondale
Best for: New and used books, music lovers
This is a must visit for an horror, science fiction, and fantasy fans!
Madison Street Books
Neighborhood: West Loop
Best for: New books you keep seeing on social media
A charming and bright woman-owned independent bookstore in the West Loop. They have a great small press book club.
Pilsen Community Books
Neighborhood: Pilsen
Best for: Shopping for a good cause, activist literature
Chicago’s only employee owned and operated independent bookstore—so much incredible selection, knowledgeable, friendly owners/staff, and a gorgeous store. Who doesn’t love those floor-to-ceiling shelves!?
Powell’s Books Chicago
Neighborhood: Hyde Park
Photo credit: Poets and Writers
Best for: used, bargain, antiquarian, and out of print books
The Gallery Bookstore
Neighborhood: Lakeview
Best for: Used books and getting lost in the messy shelves
Locally owned since 1927 (in this Belmont Avenue location for over two decades). No cell phone use tolerated—be warned!
Exile in Bookville
Neighborhood: Loop
Best for: great views in the gorgeous historic Fine Arts Building
The name is a a nod to Liz Phair's 1993 debut album Exile in Guyville. We started our Conspiracy to Riot running tour here in August 2022!
Barbara’s Bookstore
Neighborhood: Loop (+5 suburban locations)
Best for: Robust Chicago section—plus, they take Chicago book recommendations. Don’t see something you wanted? Let them know!
Barbara’s Bookstore started in Old Town in 1963 and has since changed homes and expanded to six locations across the Chicagoland area, including the one pictured above in Macy’s (former Marshall Field’s) on State Street in the Loop. This bookstore has lots of ties to Read & Run’s books—from the fact that co-owner Jane Bailey was injured in the 1968 Democratic Convention protests (see: Conspiracy to Riot) to the fact they started in Old Town as it was rapidly changing (read: Battle of Lincoln Park) to its location in the former Marshall Field’s (check out: Sin in the Second City).
Hot tip: Get 10% off your copy of The Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History here when you tell the cashier you’re a reader and runner!Hot
Rose Cafe (Online Only)
Soon to be in Roseland
Best for: shopping for a cause, monthly book club and author Q&A with a Black author
It’s an understatement to say that Rose Cafe is changing the world. This uber-inspiring, black, women-owned book shop aims to bring good books, good coffee, and social justice to the South Side, while also supporting black authors and entrepreneurs and donating thousands of books for literacy initiatives in Roseland. Plus, the merch is fab. Make reading cool again? Hell yeah!
As of the writing of this blog, Rose Cafe is still online only. Iesha Malone and co-founder Rebecca Silverman are actively fundraising to establish the brick-and-mortar location in Roseland.
Iesha and Rebecca spoke with readers and runners in December 2021 after our book club run inspired by Dr. Marcia Chatelain’s South Side Girls.
The Newberry Bookshop
Neighborhood: Gold Coast
Best for: Highbrow, niche, and intellectual reads
The longstanding library in Gold Coast is a banging place for archive lovers, lecture junkies and history fanatics. Read & Run Chicago guide Quinn Sluzenski works here, and this space holds significance in several Read & Run Chicago books, including The Girls in 3-B, Clark and Division, and The Battle of Lincoln Park. Facing the Newberry is Washington Park, once known as Bughouse Square, where Chicago’s first pride march began in June 1970.
The Sheliz and Burton X. Rosenberg Bookshop is the perfect stop to explore the building or pick up some niche books.
Watch this reel for how to explore the Newberry.
Tangible Books
Neighborhood: Bridgeport
Best for: Used books
A favorite of reader and runner Robin Hoffman!
Heirloom Books Chicago
Neighborhood: Edgewater
Best for: eclectic used books and shopping for periodicals, LPs, DVDs, CDs, VHS tapes, and more
Quimby’s
Neighborhood: Bucktown
Best for: New books covering important topics like disability rights, racism, and more
Giron Books
Neighborhood: Pilsen
Best for: Spanish language books
Giron Books is an offshoot of of Librería Girón, a family-owned Spanish-language bookstore that was part of the Pilsen community for decades. There were once sevearl locations in Chicago, and the Pilsen local was located at 1443 W. 18th Street, the Frank J. Petru Building. See a photo of the original building and read more here.
Librería Giron closed their doors in 2017 due to increased property taxes and decreased foot traffic, according to what Juan Manuel Giron told The Chicago Tribune. It was the only Spanish-language bookstore in Chicago, but now lives on in two formats, Giron Books and Little Village’s Librería Girón (see below).
Giron Books, owned by Giron, the son of the original owner and now located at 2141 W. 21st Street, is your go-to spot for Spanish-language literature.
Libreria Giron (NOW CLOSED)
Neighborhood: Little Village/La Villita
Best for: Spanish language books
Librería Girón, owned by one of the daughters of the original owner (see above). Located in Little Village at 3547 W 26th St.
Soul Full Chicago
Neighborhood: Pilsen
Best for: positive, self-help, and mental health-focused books
This gorgeous mental health book lounge and cafe in Pilsen is such a calm, bright, open space. Bonus: the best bathroom decor.
The Understudy Coffee and Books
Neighborhood: Andersonville
Best for: theater lovers
If Layne Fargo’s characters in Temper would have frequented any bookstore, it certainly would have been this one! The newest addition to the Chicago bookstore community is this theater bookstore and coffee shop. They serve Metric Coffee, my all-time favorite.
Kibbitznest Books, Brews & Blarney
Neighborhood: Lincoln Park
Best for: used books, reading in a social atmosphere with both types of brews
What’s one great place for readers & runners to spend time (besides the outdoors, of course)? Kibbitznest, a Lincoln Park cafe, bar, event space, and used bookstore.This WiFi-free zone is all about fostering meaningful face-to-face interactions. There are tons of books and good drinks in this cozy atmosphere to help you stay present and connected.
Chicago Comics
Neighborhood: Lakeview
Best for: comic book lovers and nerding out
Polish Bookstore Quo Vadis. Księgarnia
Neighborhood: Portage Park
Source: Yelp
Best for: Books in Polish
The Armadillo’s Pillow
Neighborhood: Roger’s Park
Best for: Used books in a fairy tale-cozy space
Polonia Book Store
Neighborhood: Jefferson Park
Source: Polonia Bookstore
Best for: Books in Polish
51st Ward Books (Online Only)
Best for: Bilingual children’s books
Books4Cause
Neighborhood: Avondale (+Skokie)
Best for: Shopping for a cause
Inga
Neighborhood: Pilsen
Best for: self-published and independently distributed artists' books on art, design, film, theory, and more
after-words
Neighborhood: Loop
Best for: Used books
Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, Inc.
Neighborhood: Loop
Source: Paul Whitacre
Best for: Finding diverse reads for all ages, from babies to grannies!
Da Book Joint
Neighborhood: Bronzeville
Best for: Books by Black authors.
Call & Response Books
Neighborhood: Hyde Park
Best for: Books by writers of color.
The opening of Chicago’s newest bookshop is on Saturday, May 4, 2024!
The Last Chapter
Neighborhood: Lakeview
Best for: Romance fanatics!