# List of independent bookstores in the United States

This is a list of independent bookstores in the United States, both current and defunct, which have had physical ("brick-and-mortar") locations. For bookstores with at least 4 locations, see list of bookstore chains.

## Current

| Name | State | Location(s) | Type |
| Grassrootz Bookstore | Arizona | Phoenix | African-American |
| Larry Edmunds Bookshop | California | Los Angeles | |
| The Last Bookstore | California | Los Angeles | |
| Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural | California | Los Angeles | |
| Kepler's Books | California | Menlo Park | |
| Bart's Books | California | Ojai | |
| Vroman's Bookstore | California | Pasadena | |
| Libélula Books & Co. | California | San Diego | |
| Mysterious Galaxy | California | San Diego and Redondo Beach | |
| Warwick's | California | San Diego | |
| Booksmith | California | San Francisco | |
| Borderlands Books | California | San Francisco | |
| Bound Together Anarchist Collective Bookstore | California | San Francisco | Anarchist |
| City Lights Bookstore | California | San Francisco | |
| Green Apple Books & Music | California | San Francisco | |
| Marcus Books | California | San Francisco (2 locations) | |
| Book Soup | California | West Hollywood | |
| Circus of Books | California | West Hollywood | LGBT |
| Mile High Comics | Colorado | Denver | |
| Bloodroot | Connecticut | Bridgeport | Feminist |
| R.J. Julia Booksellers | Connecticut | Madison | |
| JF Books | District of Columbia | District of Columbia | |
| Kramers (bookstore) | District of Columbia | District of Columbia | |
| MahoganyBooks | District of Columbia | District of Columbia | |
| Politics and Prose | District of Columbia (3 locations) | District of Columbia (3 locations) | |
| For Keeps (bookstore) | Georgia | Atlanta | |
| Charis Books & More | Georgia | Decatur | Feminist |
| Quimby's Bookstore | Illinois | Chicago | |
| Seminary Co-op | Illinois | Chicago | |
| Unabridged Bookstore | Illinois | Chicago | LGBT |
| Women & Children First | Illinois | Chicago | LGBT/Feminist |
| Prairie Lights | Iowa | Iowa City | |
| ACME Comics & Collectibles | Iowa | Sioux City | |
| Rainy Day Books | Kansas | Fairway | |
| Eighth Day Books | Kansas | Wichita | |
| Joseph-Beth Booksellers | Kentucky | Lexington | |
| Weiser Antiquarian Books | Maine | York | |
| Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse | Maryland | Baltimore | Anarchist |
| Lucy Parsons Center | Massachusetts | Boston | Anarchist |
| Grolier Poetry Bookshop | Massachusetts | Cambridge | |
| Harvard Book Store | Massachusetts | Cambridge | |
| The Bookmill | Massachusetts | Montague | |
| The Odyssey Bookshop | Massachusetts | South Hadley | |
| That's Entertainment | Massachusetts | Worcester | |
| John K. King Books | Michigan | Detroit | |
| Birchbark Books | Minnesota | Minneapolis | |
| DreamHaven Books | Minnesota | Minneapolis | Sci-fi, fantasy, and horror |
| Mayday Books | Minnesota | Minneapolis | |
| Moon Palace Books | Minnesota | Minneapolis | |
| Mager's & Quinn | Minnesota | Minneapolis | |
| Black Garnet Books | Minnesota | Saint Paul | African-American |
| SubText: a Bookstore | Minnesota | Saint Paul | |
| Square Books | Mississippi | Oxford | |
| Left Bank Books | Missouri | St. Louis | |
| Montana Valley Book Store | Montana | Alberton | |
| Gambler's Book Shop | Nevada | Las Vegas | |
| The Writer's Block | Nevada | Las Vegas | |
| The Lit. Bar | New York | The Bronx | |
| Book Thug Nation | New York | Brooklyn | |
| Books Are Magic | New York | Brooklyn (2 locations) | |
| Community Bookstore | New York | Brooklyn | |
| Greenlight Bookstore | New York | Brooklyn | |
| PowerHouse Books | New York | Brooklyn | |
| Spoonbill & Sugartown Books | New York | Brooklyn | |
| Troubled Sleep | New York | Brooklyn | |
| Unnameable Books | New York | Brooklyn | |
| Argosy Book Store | New York | Manhattan | |
| Albertine Books | New York | Manhattan | |
| Bluestockings | New York | Manhattan | Feminist |
| Books of Wonder | New York | Manhattan | |
| Housing Works Bookstore Cafe | New York | Manhattan | |
| Left Bank Books | New York | Manhattan | |
| McNally Jackson | New York | Manhattan/Brooklyn (5 locations) | |
| The Mysterious Bookshop | New York | Manhattan | |
| Printed Matter, Inc | New York | Manhattan | |
| Rizzoli Bookstore | New York | Manhattan | |
| Strand Bookstore | New York | Manhattan | |
| Womanbooks | New York | Manhattan | Feminist |
| Yu & Me Books | New York | Manhattan | |
| Astoria Bookshop | New York | Queens | |
| Firestorm Cafe & Books | North Carolina | Asheville | Anarchist/LGBT |
| Internationalist Books | North Carolina | Chapel Hill | |
| The Book Loft of German Village | Ohio | Columbus | |
| Two Dollar Radio Headquarters | Ohio | Columbus | |
| The Duck Store | Oregon | Eugene | |
| Powell's Books | Oregon | Portland | |
| Rose City Book Pub | Oregon | Portland | |
| Moravian Book Shop | Pennsylvania | Bethlehem | |
| Baldwin's Book Barn | Pennsylvania | Philadelphia | |
| Giovanni's Room Bookstore | Pennsylvania | Philadelphia | LGBT |
| Hakim's Bookstore | Pennsylvania | Philadelphia | African-American |
| Wooden Shoe Books and Records | Pennsylvania | Philadelphia | Anarchist |
| City Books | Pennsylvania | Pittsburgh | |
| Otto Bookstore | Pennsylvania | Williamsport | |
| Hub City Bookshop | South Carolina | Spartanburg | |
| BookPeople | Texas | Austin | |
| Kindred Stories | Texas | Houston | African-American |
| Pariyatti | Washington | Onalaska | |
| Chin Music Press | Washington | Seattle | |
| Elliott Bay Book Company | Washington | Seattle | |
| Fuel Coffee & Books | Washington | Seattle (3 locations) | |
| Third Place Books | Washington | Seattle (3 locations) | |
| Left Bank Books | Washington | Seattle | Anarchist |
| Queen Anne Book Company | Washington | Seattle | |
| University Book Store | Washington | Seattle | |
| Taylor Books | West Virginia | Charleston | |
| A Room of One's Own | Wisconsin | Madison | LGBT/Feminist |
| Renaissance Books | Wisconsin | Milwaukee | |
| Woodland Pattern Book Center | Wisconsin | Milwaukee | |

## Historical

The following is a list of independent bookstores which no longer sell books at brick-and-mortar stores but did in the past.
| Name | State | City | Years active | Type |
| Acres of Books | California | Long Beach | 1934–2008 | |
| Bodhi Tree Bookstore | California | Los Angeles (eventually West Hollywood) | 1970–2011 | |
| The Book Shop | California | Hayward | ?–2017 | |
| A Change of Hobbit | California | Southern California | 1972–1991 | Sci-fi, fantasy, and horror |
| Cody's Books | California | Berkeley | 1956–2008 | |
| Comics and Comix | California | Berkeley | 1972–2004 | |
| Computer Literacy Bookshops | California | Sunnyvale | 1983–2000 | |
| Daliel's Bookstore | California | Berkeley | 1945–1952 | |
| Dawson's Book Shop | California | Los Angeles | 1905–? | |
| Dutton's Books | California | Valley Village (Los Angeles) and Burbank | 1960–2006 | |
| Eso Won Books | California | Los Angeles | 1988–2022 | African-American |
| Fahrenheit 451 Books | California | Laguna Beach | 1968–1994 | |
| A Different Light | California | Silver Lake (Los Angeles) and The Castro (San Francisco) | 1979–2011 | LGBT |
| John Cole's Book Shop | California | La Jolla (San Diego) | 1946–2005 | |
| Lobal Orning | California | Topanga | 2003–2008 | |
| Midnight Special Bookstore | California | Santa Monica | 1970–2004 | |
| Old Wives Tales | California | San Francisco | 1976–1995 | Feminist |
| The Other Change of Hobbit | California | Berkeley later in El Cerrito (now mail-order only) | 1977–2014 | Sci-fi, fantasy, and horror |
| Printers Inc. Bookstore | California | Palo Alto | 1978–2001 | |
| A Woman's Place | California | Oakland | 1970–1989 | Feminist |
| Brian MacKenzie Infoshop | District of Columbia | District of Columbia | 2003–2008 | |
| Lambda Rising | District of Columbia | District of Columbia | 1974–2010 | LGBT |
| Teaching for Change Bookstore | District of Columbia | District of Columbia | ?-2015 | |
| Washington Bookshop | District of Columbia | District of Columbia | 1938–1950 | |
| World Bank Infoshop | District of Columbia | District of Columbia | 1996–2016 | |
| Haslam's Bookstore | Florida | St. Petersburg | 1933–2020 | |
| Open Books & Records | Florida | Miami Beach | 1979–1994 | |
| Kroch's and Brentano's | Illinois | Chicago | 1954–1995 | |
| New World Resource Center | Illinois | Chicago | ? | |
| Prairie Avenue Bookshop | Illinois | Chicago | ?–2009 | |
| Better World Books | Indiana | Goshen and Mishawaka | 2002–2019 | |
| Boxcar Books | Indiana | Bloomington | 2001–2017 | |
| Iron Rail Book Collective | Louisiana | New Orleans | 2003–2014 | Anarchist |
| Greetings & Readings | Maryland | Hunt Valley | 1969–2019 | |
| Victor Kamkin Bookstore | Maryland | Rockville | 1953–2002 | |
| Globe Corner Bookstore | Massachusetts | Cambridge | 1982–2010 | |
| New Words Bookstore | Massachusetts | Cambridge | 1974–2008 | |
| Schoenhof's Foreign Books | Massachusetts | Cambridge | 1856–2017 | |
| Marwil Bookstore | Michigan | Detroit | 1948–2013 | |
| Amazon Bookstore Cooperative | Minnesota | Minneapolis | 1970–2012 | LGBT/Feminist |
| Common Good Books | Minnesota | Saint Paul | 2006–2019 | |
| Coliseum Books | New York | Manhattan | 1974–2007 | |
| Community Bookstore | New York | Cobble Hill, Brooklyn | 1974–2016 | |
| A Different Light | New York | Manhattan | 1979–2011 | LGBT |
| Forbidden Planet | New York | Manhattan | | Sci-fi, fantasy, and horror |
| Gotham Book Mart | New York | Manhattan | 1920–2007 | |
| J. Levine Books and Judaica | New York | Manhattan | 1905–2019 | |
| Librairie de France | New York | Manhattan | 1935–2009 | |
| Nkiru Books | New York | Brooklyn | 1976–? | |
| Oscar Wilde Bookshop | New York | Manhattan | 1967–2009 | LGBT |
| Pomander Book Shop | New York | Manhattan | 1975–1990s | |
| St. Mark's Bookshop | New York | Manhattan | 1977–2016 | |
| The Wooster Book Company | Ohio | Wooster | 1992–2017 | |
| Cameron's Books and Magazines | Oregon | Portland | 1938–2021 | |
| In Other Words Women's Books and Resources | Oregon | Portland | 1993–2018 | Feminist |
| Leary's Book Store | Pennsylvania | Philadelphia | 1836–1969 | |
| Beauty and the Book | Texas | Jefferson | ? | |