For bookworms and lovers of literature, Winter is a particularly wonderful time. New books line the shelves of our favourite bookshops and are just asking to be taken home to the balcony, the lake or to a table at the corner café. So it’s time to start stockpiling your reading material for the cooler seasons to come. But as you surely know, bookshops offer so much more than just shelves of books for sale. They are places to browse and page through titles you have yet to discover, to sink into the first chapter of the latest bestseller, and dream of other worlds. Expert advice, book tips, and conversations about the latest books to appear all included.
Expert advice, book tips and chats about the latest works included. We have put together a selection of bookstores in Berlin with a particularly good range of books and beautiful decor.
Tip 1: Deep into the night at Dussmann
More than a bookshop, Dussmann on Friedrichstraße even refers to itself as a department store for culture. In addition to a massive selection of books, the several storeys offer a wide range of CDs and DVDs, too. There’s also an entire separate shop on the ground floor devoted just to books in English. It’s also where Berlin’s bookworms gather late into the night, because Dussmann is open until midnight (11:30 on Saturdays).
Where: Friedrichstraße 90, Mitte
Tip 2: Get advice in Marga Schöller's bookshop
On Knesebeckstrasse, just off Kurfürstendamm, is the cosy Marga Schöller book shop. This traditional bookshop focuses on books in English and offers friendly, expert advice. Even if you only have a vague idea of what you’re looking for, you’re sure to find it here.
Where: Knesebeckstraße 33, Charlottenburg
Tip 3: Marvelling at the imposing Bücherbogen
Not far from Marga Schöller is Bücherbogen, a bookshop under the S-Bahn tracks near Savignyplatz. This shop offers classic books about art, design, architecture, photography and film, all neatly lined up on plain metal shelves under the brick roof and the rumbling of the S-Bahn overhead.
Where: Stadtbahnbogen 593, Charlottenburg
Tip 4: A selection of English literature at doyou readme?
doyoureadme? carries magazines about art, design, architecture, and society, an appropriate specialisation given the all the nearby galleries on Auguststraße.
Where: Auguststraße 28, Mitte
More information about doyoureadme?
Tip 5: Bloody lines in Hammett
If you’re in for some intrigue and suspense, then you should check out Hammett. This shop specialises in crime and detective stories, both classics and the latest off the presses. There’s also a selection of second-hand books that were exchanged by their previous owners for new reading material.
Where: Friesenstraße 27, Kreuzberg
Tip 6: High quality books at Shakespeare and Company
This shop on idyllic Ludwigkirchplatz has indeed copied the name of the legendary bookshop in Paris. Berlin’s Shakespeare and Company offers a personally selected collection of books features high-end design, perfect for all those for whom a book is more than just the text.
Where: Ludwigkirchstraße 9a, Wilmersdorf
Tip 7: Bookshop in the Literaturhaus Berlin
The Literaturhaus bookshop: an exquisite selection of fiction and non-fiction is offered in this cosy bookshop where you are invited to browse before you buy. You can then take your new purchase(s) to the adjacent café garden in front of the villa and dive right in.
Where: Fasanenstraße 23, Wilmersdorf
Tip 8: Science in Schleicher's bookshop
Generations of students at the nearby Free University of Berlin have purchased their books at Schleichers. This shop in Dahlem-Dorf offers a wide range of books on academic topics, but also offers fiction and children’s books, too.
Where: Königin-Luise-Straße 41, Zehlendorf
Tip 9: Special with Hundt Hammer Stein
The Hundt Hammer Stein shop features a sleek, white interior that holds a selection of books and expert advice that is praised by its clients again and again. This is a shop where the staff knows their books and not just the current best-seller list.
Where: Alte Schönhauser Straße 23 – 24, Mitte
Tip 10: Stylish things in the bookshop at Moritzplatz
This stylish bookshop at the Aufbauhaus is a tasteful setting for a fine selection of literature. Lovers of the bibliophile “Die Andere Bibliothek” will be especially happy as all volumes in the series are carried here.
Where: Prinzenstraße 85, Kreuzberg
Tip 11: Cooles bei ocelot,
Not just another bookstore, that's how this cool bookstore in Mitte describes itself and that's also what it says on the facade. Here you have plenty of space to browse through carefully selected books and enjoy a delicious coffee. If you're looking for more than just the standard selection, then ocelot, is the place for you, because the team sees itself as a literary mediator who can recommend just the right book.
Where: Brunnenstraße 181, Mitte
