Bookstores & More

The future of brick-and-mortar bookstores may be bleak, but if anyone can weather the storm, it’s the independent sellers. For centuries, the bookshop has doubled as community hangout, a place where readers, writers, travelers and thinkers can not only browse, but also trade ideas.

To keep up with the times — and with the ever-evolving landscape of the publishing industry — a new guard of book stores is investing even more heavily in community engagement. The draw? How about splashy modern interiors, sophisticated cultural programming, and delicious grub? We have yet to see a web browser that can compete with that.

powerHouse Arena
Brooklyn, New York

This self-described “laboratory for creative thought” is home to art book publisher powerHouse Books. Housed in an industrial loft space on Brooklyn’s waterfront, the Arena is a gallery, boutique, bookshop, and performance space all rolled into one. Amphitheater-style seating descends from the store’s living room area and 175 feet of glass windows means the views ain’t shabby either.

Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen
Maastricht, The Netherlands

If the Kruisheren Hotel had a bookstore doppelgänger, this would be it. Also housed in a gut-renovated church, the Selexyz shop has a minimalist edge that helps keep the church’s classically opulent architecture in check. Before Dutch architects Merkx + Girod radically repurposed the space, it was being used for bicycle storage and the occasional Christmas fair. No longer a cluttered closet/event space, the building is now a temple of knowledge and one of Maastricht’s main attractions.

Cook + Book
Brussels, Belgium

Cook + Book merges the two things you love most: food and books. But we’re not talking about your average bookstore café. Located right next to the Roodebeck metro stop in the heart of Brussels, Cook + Book is the true convergence of restaurant and library, culinary adventure and literary escapade. Covering two city blocks and divided into nine unique rooms, Cook + Book offers the diner/reader the opportunity to experience meals everywhere from a British country library, which houses the store’s English language section, to a refurbished Airstream trailer, home to the travel section. Each space has its own vibe — and its own menu. This fresh approach to reading and eating will help expand your mind as well as your palate.

The Last Bookstore
Los Angeles, California

Recently reopened in LA’s old Citizens National Bank, The Last Bookstore is a welcome addition to LA’s new downtown arts scene. Bringing together the old and the new, the space maintains original details, like the the 25-foot columns and the ornate ceiling, while incorporating mod touches, like light fixtures made from bicycle wheels and sculptures constructed with wire and old paperbacks. The store also has a stage for performances and readings and a projector for film screenings. Multipurpose, indeed.

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