Whether it’s the blazing summer or freezing winter, it’s a great feeling to curl up and read your favourite book. But if you ask us, there’s really nothing like the smell of an old book. With dedications and scribbled notes inside them, it’s like looking through a peephole into someone’s memories. Scout the city looking for that one author you’ve been trying to find or just to stumble upon new ones you might treasure. Either way, we’ve got your back and have curated this one just to let you know which the best secondhand bookstores in the city are.
The Smell Of Old Books: Get Secondhand Titles From These Bookstores
Blossom Book House
If you are on Church Street, then you are in Bangalore's unofficial bookstreet. And one of the most well-known bookstores on Church Street is Blossom Book House. With two locations on Church Street, both the stores have fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, biographies, mythology, dictionaries, travelogues, rare comic books and even a whole shelves of Mills & Boon! They have close to 3,00,000 titles sourced from across the globe.
Price: INR 50 onwards
Select Bookshop
Founded in 1945 and once frequented by the likes of Ruskin Bond and Ramachandra Guha, Select Bookshop in Ashok Nagar or just on the side lanes of Brigade Road is a loved used bookstore in the city. Housing rare books which are are usually kept under lock and key, you will spend time here reading or exploring and find something fresh and unexpected.
Price: INR 100 onwards
Surya Bookstall
Amidst the bustling streets of Malleshwaram’s Sampige Road, lies Surya Book Stall, a second-hand store with books stacked up to the gills. The good folks here only sell second-hand books and have made sure that their collection is in extremely good condition as well. You can also choose to sell your old books here and trade them in for new stories.
Price: INR 50 onwards
Koramangala Book Fair
Head to Book Fair in Koramangala for some great secondhand finds. From self-help books to physics-based literature, you can count on finding some pretty bizarre stuff here (we mean that in a good way!). You will also find a lot of coffee table books, magazines (think Nat Geo and Reader's Digest), and a lot of book sets.
Price: INR 20 onwards
Paperback Bookshop
Paperback Bookshop in Kalyan Nagar is a charming bookstore that’s a neighbourhood favourite. All their books are handpicked and curated to fit a wide range of age groups. If you’re a fan of illustrations, we suggest keeping an eye out for storybooks and comics that come with vintage-style drawings.
Price: INR 100 onwards
Lightroom Seconds
Located in Cooke Town, the Lightroom Seconds is a franchise of Lightroom Bookstore dedicated purely to secondhand books. It has a fantastic book collection including both Indian and international authors. You’ll find genres ranging from crime and mystery to all-out kiddy stuff like Curious George.
Price: INR 100 onwards
Goobe's Book Republic
A cosy little home for books, Goobe's Book Republic in Church Street is a bookstore where you will find a wonderful curation of second-hand books. What used to be a personal library in the lounge of Church Street Inn became, in 2009, a full-fledged bookstore and lending library. We love Goobes not just for their selection of books but also for their general championing of reading.
Price: INR 100 onwards
Bookworm
You can spend hours here at Bookworm and end up picking up more books than with the list that you came with. You'll find your classics along with graphic novels, history and self-help books rubbing the spines together. There are also autobiographies and memoirs too as much as there are fiction books. There's the first floor too dedicated to children's and young adults literature.
Price: INR 150 onwards
Pro-Tip
Since you are here and it's evident you love books, we've also found the perfect Gifts For A You That Aren't Books! If you have a bibliophile buddy, this list of the Ultimate Book Lover Gifts may come handy. Just like our Gift Shop that has presents for any one, any occasion and on any budget, including quirky bookmarks. Check it out!
