The independent bookstores of today offer far more than just shelves of books. They’re highly specialised, community-driven and they’re beautiful places to spend time – and Melbourne is absolutely teeming with them. Here are five of our favourites.
Hares & Hyenas
After stints in Prahran, Collingwood and Fitzroy, queer bookstore Hares & Hyenas has found a home at St Kilda’s Victorian Pride Centre. The books range from fiction and biographies, to erotic literature and art books. There are also DVDs, comic books, sexual health guides and lots of LGBTQ+ events.
Since establishing the store in 1991, co-owner Rowland Thomson says it has always aimed to fill a gap for the queer community. “Back then, there were a lot of titles that just weren’t available in Melbourne, and we wanted to bring them out,” he says.
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SIGN UPIt’s all about the long-lasting impact the shop can have on people. “That’s one of the joys of owning a bookshop for a long time,” he says. “People come in young – questioning, nervous, in school uniform – picking up street papers and reading in the corner. And over [the] years, they come out, they develop their confidence. It’s fantastic.”
79–81 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda
Happy Valley
On the wood-panelled shelves of Smith Street’s Happy Valley, you’re as likely to find scented candles as you are books. Owner Chris Crouch, who formerly owned Polyester Records and The Tramway, says sales are about 50 per cent books and 50 per cent everything else, from cards to vinyl records. You’ll find fiction, comics, biographies, and a wide selection of art and design, cookbooks and music books.
Opening a bookshop in 2013 was a leap of faith, but it worked. Crouch says that’s because he’s not trying to be all things to all people. “I didn’t want to feel like I needed [all the] bestsellers,” he says. “Part of the vibe is that we don’t have thousands of books. I think people who shop here appreciate that we’re trying to do something different.”
Paperback Bookshop
Right next to Pellegrini’s – another Bourke Street perennial – is Paperback Bookshop, which has been around since the early ’60s. A steady flow of people from local bars and theatres often find their way there after dark to mingle among the labyrinthine shelves full of classics and new releases, and get recommendations from dedicated staff. There’s a generous politics and philosophy section, and a lot of prose and poetry that you won’t find in other stores, imported from the US and UK.
“The atmosphere comes from the scale of it,” says owner Rosy Morton. “It’s tiny, crammed, cosy, but it’s in the middle of the city.”
Morton took over in 2000. She sees herself as more of a caretaker than a manager. “I inherited a strong history,” she says. “When I took it on, it already had such a strong character and loyal clientele.”
Apart from the stock, very little has changed in the past 50 years: the shelves are the same solid oak, and Charles Bukowski titles are still kept behind the counter (they have the dubious honour of being the most shoplifted items).
The Little Bookroom
One of Melbourne’s first kids’ bookstores, The Little Bookroom opened in 1960 and moved to Fitzroy North in 2021. But it refuses to grow old.
The shelves are stocked with picture books, as well as young adult fiction and non-fiction, plus a section on parenting. Owner Leesa Lambert picks her books carefully, focusing on local publishers and diverse voices. The Little Bookroom’s all-time bestseller is Maurice Sendak’s classic Where the Wild Things Are.
Over the years she’s seen babies become young adults, couples meet and start families, and older people come in with books they bought from the store in the ’60s. “We want every child who comes in to see themselves reflected on our shelves,” says Lambert. “I’m talking about inclusion of ethnicity, gender, physical ability – that whole melting pot of contemporary Australia.”
220 St Georges Road, Fitzroy North
Perimeter Books
Perimeter is a little different to your average art bookstore. It feels more like a design boutique – each book an artwork in its own right. A quick glimpse at the shelves reveals beautiful books about photography and painting, alongside some esoteric and very specific volumes. A Final Companion to Books From The Simpsons documents every time someone reads a book in The Simpsons.
“It started as a way to open a window onto publishing practices in Europe, Japan and the US – things that weren’t being represented here,” says co-owner Dan Rule, who opened the store in 2011 with his partner Justine Ellis. Rule cites Amsterdam’s Roma Publications, Leipzig’s Spector and London’s Mack Books as some of his favourite publishers.
This article first appeared on Broadsheet in 2020 and was updated in July 2024. Some details may have changed.
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