This is a trick question. It depends how you define bookstore.
This Friday, June 1, will be the last business day for the nearly 20-year-old BookMark, an independent bookstore in uptown Charlotte's Founder's Hall. Its demise leaves Park Road Books as Charlotte's only independent bookstore. There's also Main Street Books in Davidson.
But bookstores come in a variety of packages. Define the term broadly, and you'll find the Charlotte area still offers many places that sell the printed word.
Mecklenburg County has six full-service chain bookstores -- two Books-A-Million locations, in Cotswold Mall and on Steele Creek Road in Southwest Charlotte, and four Barnes & Noble locations, Sharon Road, The Arboretum, Carolina Place Mall and Birkdale Village.
If you're looking for children's books, you'll find a terrific selection at Black Forest Books & Toys on Seventh Street.
And that's not all. We've got a number of used bookstores, including The Last Word in University City, The Book Rack on Johnston Road and Julia's Cafe & Books, at Habitat for Humanity's ReStore on Wendover Road.
We've also got several Christian stores with good-sized book sections, including Cokesbury Bookstore on Tyvola Road and LifeWay stores in University City and Pineville. And if you want cookbooks, Johnson & Wales University's student bookstore has a nice selection.
What am I missing? If you know of other good bookstores in the Charlotte area, post them here.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
How many bookstores are left in Charlotte?
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23 comments:
Newstand Inernational never hung in there once it changed management, and locations. The Dilworth area wasn't going for the paper that had kept the store in business for years up on Independence.....and that paper would be more commonly referred to as "porno-mags."
Book Buyers is a great used bookstore at the corner of Central and The Plaza.
The White Rabbit at the corner of Louise and Central Aves. still has a small selection LGBT-themed books and movies, including some local authors and titles.
I believe she was asking about bookstores that do not sell "devices" which require batteries.
Paper Skyscraper has a thoughtful selection of books...
None of them can touch the electronic book store(s) availble right in my home. Its open 24/7/365 and they are never sold out of the latest books.
There's also the Book Nook in Huntersville. It's mostly used, but I believe they sell some new books also.
many years ago, there was a fellow that had a book store of sorts in a flea market setting on Independence Blvd, then seems like he opened up a book shop in one of those little old houses closer in on Independence (on left as you go out indpendence) - all that change/construction-road work etc, I guess all those houses gone...I hope he survived to move somewhere else - it was a wonderful place, wish i coul remember his name - nice fellow, great book source, he found old one I was looking for. Karen in central Florida
The Bag Lady in Dilworth neighborhood has a great selection of books specific to the needs of women. Book selections range from fiction, health and wellness, creativity, self-help, spirituality, and metaphysical topics. They also have a children and teens section. The Bag Lady is excited to support local authors and has a small variety of individually published works.
There's a new one coming to Charlotte in June...Poor Richard's Book Shop is moving from Gastonia to 133 Brevard Ct...Gastonia's loss is definitely Charlotte's gain!
Park Road Books is the best !! They work hard to promote local authors with book signings and such !! Keep up the good work Sally...
Check out Fireside Books and Gifts on 111 W Main St. in Forest City, NC. It's a wonderful place to visit.
Thanks for the good suggestions, everyone. I also thought of Paper Skyscraper after I posted. It's not a huge selection, but it's really smart. And good to hear Poor Richard's is moving to uptown Charlotte.
Heroes Aren't Hard to Find!
Waxhaw has a used book store downtown which takes donations and sells books to support building a much-needed new library.
None of the proper book stores are close to me so I browse Sam's Club, Wal-Mart, and Target when I'm in those stores. I'd prefer a proper book store but these are better than nothing since we lost the Borders in Northlake.
Having watched The Walking Dead TV show I decided to check out the graphic novel series. The compendium of the first series of books sold at the time for about $35 online, including Books-a-Million's online store. I checked the Books-A-Million location close to me to see if I could skip the shipping lag and was shocked to find it was a whopping $65. I was told by employees since BAM doesn't price match their online store's price (why is it different in the first place??!!?) I should order online. I did. From Amazon. I say good riddance to any business that can't be competitive.
The Book Lady on Hwy 74 just outside Monroe. Get selection of used books!
Char-Meck libraries are the best for free (via already paid taxes) books & e-books! Otherwise in the city, Park Rd Books - they have survived it all and they deserve too, they are the best independent! (I like the others too if you are in those areas!)
Im flabbergasted you didnt mention Book Buyers. You either dont live in Charlotte, or youre doing a completely incompetent job. Ridiculous. I certainly hope you arent getting paid a living wage for foisting this BS on everyone
Agree with Bdub.. Any article written about Books in Charlotte that doesnt mention book buyers was written by a co plete and clueless boob. Congrats... You have no idea what yoire talking about.
Wow. People getting all bent out of shape and whiny because Book Buyers wasn't mentioned? Grow up, why don't you?
There may have been a reason Book Buyers wasn't mentioned. I went in there about a year ago looking for a book on training your pet dog and/or domesticated beaver. Needless to say I will NOT be going back. Not only did they not have ANY pet training books, but they treated me like a complete imbecile for even requesting such a thing. I believe the words "stupid", "useless", and "animal-loving-whore" were thrown around. Unacceptable.
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