Sometimes you just want to browse, hoping to be surprised along the way, and what better place to do so than one of the best London bookshops? Call me a nerd, but I have never been more obsessed with anything more than I am with the smell of freshly printed paper. And that's why, whether or not I have finished my last reading endeavor, I chase every opportunity to immerse myself in the maze-like, colorful mosaic of stacked volumes at London's independent booksellers. From the family-owned ones in my local, residential South East London, like East Dulwich's Chener Books, to the gigantic Waterstones flagships punctuating the city center — been in the six-story Piccadilly one? It's like a town in itself — and the river bank Foyles at Royal Festival Hall, the range is wide and varied. So what made me land on these seven businesses as the best London bookshops for design-minded literature lovers?
If you've been following Livingetc's curation of all things London over the past month, from the best London hotels and best London restaurants to the best London concept stores, you should know the rules. We are eternally after destinations that aren't simply what they seem at first glance — booksellers in this case — but imaginatively conceived hotspots whose combination of powerfully elevated interiors and customer experience makes them an invaluable addition to the city. In an ever-digitalized world where physical objects are endangered, places like bookshops are not only a space for literary and creative discovery. Instead, they also teach us about the value of interacting with like-minded strangers, that of the things that surround us, and of supporting small(er)-scale realities. From oak-drenched, fairytale Edwardian buildings turned travel writing havens to minimalist coves home to a decades-spanning collection of art, fashion, and design printed rarities, these are the seven best London bookshops worth getting lost into this year.
