My favourite Melbourne bookshops
Melbourne prides itself on hiding all its best bars down long alleyways without names or signage. Similarly, these four bookshops mightn’t be the biggest or easiest shops to find in the CBD, but they are well worth a visit. Good things come in small packages!
The Paperback Bookshop (60 Bourke Street)
Teeny-tiny and right up the top end of Bourke Street, the Paperback would have to be the coolest, elbow-bumping book nook in the city. Conveniently just across the road from iconic Italian eatery Pellegrini’s, the Paperback is open late, making it the perfect place to while away spare night hours.
Metropolis (Level 3, 252 Swanston Street)
Arty types, get ready to make your thighs burn by trudging up to the third level of Curtin House. At the top of your climb you will be rewarded by the light and airy Metropolis, home to a wide collection of art and design books.
Little Bookroom (5 Degraves Street)
The city outpost (or is it inpost?) of the oldest children’s bookstore in the world. The cosy city branch of the Little Bookroom is on higgledy-piggledy pedestrian-only Degraves Street. The main Little Bookroom shop is a number 96 tram ride away in North Carlton.
Sticky Institute (Shop 10, Campbell Arcade, Degraves Subway)
From Degraves Street, ignore the tantalising smells of the Belgian waffle cart and dive down into the subway. Not your run-of-the-mill bookshop at all, the Sticky Institute sells zines, zines and more zines (not to mention runs talks, workshops, launches and provides cheap office-y crafty resources).
I like Clifton Hill books because if you ask the person behind the desk they will tell you where it is or that they can order it in for you.
