Sydney
Abbey’s Bookshop
131 York Street, Sydney CBD
A landmark independent encompassing general books, language books and Galaxy sci-fi.
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On the Shelf checks whether local bookshops have the book you’re looking for on the shelf, so you can buy it directly and support a real bookseller. It’s an early pilot, so we can’t search every shop perfectly yet. When we can’t verify shelf stock, we’ll say so and help you continue the search yourself.
Bookshop directory
We’re building this directory over time, starting with physical bookshops in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Tasmania. More shops and cities will be added as the pilot grows. Shops marked “Live stock search” are checked automatically; the others are included for browsing and direct enquiries.
Sydney
Ampersand Café & Bookstore
78 Oxford Street, Paddington
A book-filled Paddington café combining three floors of secondhand shelves with food, coffee and places to read.
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Amplify Bookstore
55 Peel Street, West Melbourne
An anti-racist social enterprise bookshop dedicated to books by BIPOC authors, with a physical reading room and events.
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Archives Fine Books
40 Charlotte Street, Brisbane CBD
Queensland’s largest secondhand bookshop, filling a heritage city building with used, rare and antiquarian books.
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Area 52
1/88 Elizabeth Street, Hobart
Tasmania’s large independent pop-culture shop for comics, manga, books, games and collectables, with in-store ordering available.
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Ariel Booksellers
326 Oxford Street, Paddington
A Sydney independent especially strong in art, design, architecture, photography, film and culture.
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Astrolabe Booksellers
Level 1, 81 Salamanca Place
An antiquarian specialist in Tasmanian, Australian, Antarctic and maritime books, maps and ephemera.
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Avenue Bookstore
Albert Park · Elsternwick · Richmond
Three neighbourhood bookshops with carefully selected adult and children’s ranges.
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Avid Reader
193 Boundary Street, West End
A much-loved independent bookshop and literary hub with a broad new-book range, café, book clubs and a busy events program.
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Bent Books
205A Boundary Street, West End
A longstanding West End secondhand shop with a large, carefully arranged collection spanning fiction and non-fiction.
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Berkelouw Books
Paddington, Leichhardt, Rose Bay + more
New, secondhand and rare books across a family-run network of physical shops.
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Better Read Than Dead
265 King Street, Newtown
A much-loved Inner West independent known for staff recommendations and events.
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Blues Point Bookshop
148 Blues Point Road, McMahons Point
A compact harbour-side independent with a carefully curated general range and a strong local community.
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Bookoccino
66 Old Barrenjoey Road, Avalon Beach
A Northern Beaches bookshop and café with a carefully curated general range, author events and live music.
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Books for Cooks
Queen Victoria Market precinct
A specialist bookshop devoted to food, wine, chefs and culinary history.
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Books@Stones
360 Logan Road, Stones Corner
A family-owned independent with Australian and international books, children’s titles and a specialist medical range.
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Brunswick Bound
361 Sydney Road, Brunswick
An eclectic neighbourhood shop for books, vinyl, stationery and community events.
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Brunswick Second Hand Books
136A Sydney Road, Brunswick
An upstairs treasure trove of carefully sourced secondhand books spanning literature, art, history and unusual finds.
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Constant Reader
27–29 Willoughby Road, Crows Nest
One of Sydney’s longstanding independents, with a large general range and a dedicated children’s shop next door.
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Coventry Bookstore
265 Coventry Street, South Melbourne
A welcoming independent packed with fiction, biography, travel, design and children’s books.
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Cracked and Spineless
Shop 9, 138 Collins Street, Hobart
A wonderfully dense city shop of new and secondhand books, especially strong in science fiction, fantasy, horror and unusual finds.
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Deja Vu Books
Shop 17, 77 Salamanca Place
A Salamanca specialist in secondhand and antiquarian books, including art, literature and Tasmanian titles.
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Dymocks
Melbourne-area branches
A longstanding Australian bookseller with physical branches, broad general ranges and store-level click-and-collect checks.
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Dymocks Brisbane
72 Queen Street, Brisbane CBD
A large physical city bookshop with a broad general range and store-level availability and click-and-collect checks.
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Dymocks Hobart
Centrepoint Shopping Centre, 70 Murray Street
A physical city bookshop with a broad general range and store-level availability checks.
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Dymocks Sydney
Sydney CBD and suburban branches
The bookseller’s home city, with physical branches offering broad general ranges and store-level click-and-collect checks.
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Elizabeth’s Bookshop
257 King Street, Newtown
A late-opening Newtown institution filled with secondhand, out-of-print and discounted new books.
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Eltham Bookshop
Eltham
A fiercely independent community bookshop known for thoughtful curation, author events and a wide-ranging general collection.
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Fairfield Books
117A Station Street, Fairfield
A community-minded neighbourhood independent offering thoughtful recommendations, book clubs, events and gifts.
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Fullers Bookshop
131 Collins Street, Hobart
An award-winning Tasmanian independent established in 1920, with a broad new-book range, knowledgeable booksellers, events and a café.
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Geographica
110 Elizabeth Street, Hobart
Hobart’s specialist travel and adventure bookshop for maps, guidebooks, Tasmaniana, charts and outdoor exploration.
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Gertrude & Alice
46 Hall Street, Bondi Beach
A book-filled café and literary gathering place specialising in new and secondhand finds.
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Gleebooks
Glebe · Dulwich Hill · Blackheath
A long-running independent with three branches, events and a wide-ranging catalogue.
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Gould’s Book Arcade
536 King Street, Newtown
A family-run Newtown institution packed with secondhand books across an enormous range of subjects.
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Grand Days
220 William Street, Woolloomooloo
An eclectic independent combining carefully chosen secondhand books with records, vintage clothing and cultural events.
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Happy Valley
294 Smith Street, Collingwood
A colourful, personally curated shop combining books on art, design and culture with vinyl and distinctive local gifts.
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Hares & Hyenas
Victorian Pride Centre, St Kilda
Melbourne’s specialist queer bookshop, building a broad collection around sexuality, gender diversity and lived experience.
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Harry Hartog
Bondi Junction · Chatswood · Macquarie · Mosman + more
A family-run independent network with numerous Sydney shops, broad ranges and booksellers who can help with special orders.
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Hill of Content
Melbourne CBD
A century-old city bookshop known for literary fiction, ideas and personal service.
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Kinokuniya Sydney
The Galeries, Sydney CBD
A vast city bookshop with major English, Japanese and Chinese collections.
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Little Bird Bookshop
193 Given Terrace, Paddington
A friendly Paddington independent known for personal recommendations and a broad, thoughtfully chosen range.
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Little Gnome Bookshop
5/66 Florence Street, Wynnum
A bayside bookshop and café championing local, Australian and self-published authors.
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Mary Martin Bookshop
Southbank · Queen Victoria Market · South Melbourne Market
A Melbourne independent established in 1945, now spanning a permanent Southbank shop and two much-loved market stalls.
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Metropolis Bookshop
Curtin House, Melbourne CBD
A specialist destination for art, architecture, photography, design and visual culture.
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New International Bookshop
Trades Hall basement, Carlton
Melbourne’s longstanding radical bookshop, specialising in activism, politics and history across new and secondhand shelves.
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North Melbourne Books
546 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne
A small neighbourhood independent with a hand-selected mix of popular and unconventional fiction, non-fiction and children’s books.
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Petrarch’s Bookshop
89 Brisbane Street, Launceston
A family-owned Tasmanian independent operating since 1985, with a broad new-book range, local authors and children’s books.
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Potts Point Bookshop
14 Macleay Street, Potts Point
An award-winning neighbourhood independent with carefully selected fiction, history, art, cookbooks and children’s books.
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Quick Brown Fox Bookshop
5/33 Carberry Street, Grange
A family-owned neighbourhood shop specialising in children’s and young-adult books, with a curated adult range.
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Readings
Carlton, Hawthorn, St Kilda + six more
Nine independent Melbourne shops with broad new-book ranges and a strong events program.
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Riverbend Books
4/77 Oxford Street, Bulimba
An award-winning neighbourhood independent with a carefully selected general range and experienced local booksellers.
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Roaring Stories
268 Darling Street, Balmain
Balmain’s independent bookshop, carrying a broad handpicked range and continuing a local bookselling history begun in 1969.
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Sappho Books
Glebe
A rambling secondhand bookshop, café and wine bar with live events.
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Shelf Lovers
1018 Logan Road, Holland Park
Queensland’s dedicated LGBTQ+ bookshop, with an inclusive range for all ages in a pocket-sized physical store.
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State Bookstore
377 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart
A boutique shop adjoining the State Cinema, specialising in art, architecture, travel, biography, film and hand-selected fiction.
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The Book Merchant Jenkins
19 Dornoch Terrace, West End
An antiquarian bookseller and auctioneer with distinctive strengths in art, performance, sexuality and unusual printed material.
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The Bookplate
173 Peats Ferry Road, Hornsby
A family-run secondhand and antiquarian bookshop with more than 35,000 books and a cosy in-store reading room.
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The Hobart Bookshop
22 Salamanca Square, Hobart
A locally owned Salamanca bookshop selling new and carefully selected secondhand books, with a particularly strong Tasmanian section.
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The Little Bookroom
8 Village Avenue, Brunswick East
The world’s oldest specialist children’s bookshop, with a deep range for young readers, families, schools and libraries.
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The Mad Hatters Bookshop
3/222 Stratton Terrace, Manly
A family-friendly bayside independent specialising in children’s books, with adult titles, fantasy, games and local events.
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The Paperback Bookshop
60 Bourke Street, Melbourne
A compact, late-opening city institution with an unusually deep literary range.
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The Sun Bookshop
10 Ballarat Street, Yarraville
An intimate inner-west neighbourhood bookshop beside the Sun Theatre, with events, book clubs and bookseller recommendations.
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Top Titles
Dendy Plaza, Brighton
A small, longstanding Bayside independent with a broad hand-picked range and personal recommendations.
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Where the Wild Things Are
191 Boundary Street, West End
A specialist children’s and young-adult bookshop beside Avid Reader, with knowledgeable staff, gifts and games.
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