215 Essex St
Salem, MA,
01970, USA

I discovered this bookshop while visiting my sister in Salem. We strolled past and when I saw the precarious stacks of books in the window I just had to go in! When you walk through the door all you can see is towers and towers of books, they dont appear to be in any order at all, but there are hand written signs about the place saying “fiction”, “biographies”, “non-fiction” and the like. But the books are stacked so high that I was almost scared to take one out from the pile incase the whole shop came tumbling down (which according the the owner is a common occurence!) All the books are 50% off all the time, so even if you can’t find what you went in for you’re pretty much guaranteed a bargain.The shop is owned by a lovely old man, who seems to know exactly where every last book is, and his desk is hidden behind a fort of precariously stacked second hand books. Besides, if you want something he doesn’t have, he can order it in for you.

Basically I just liked the vintagey and old-school feel of the place. It’s a bit dusty and ramshackle, but that’s the way book shops should be! Better than a Waterstones/Borders anyday

Text by Jenni Goodfellow