229 Best Places to Shop in USA

This is the South's oldest independent feminist bookstore.

This well-stocked independent shop is a favorite of many locals.

Check the Napa page on this indie chain's website for local authors' readings and signings while you're in town.

In addition to magazines and best-selling books, this store, part of a local indie chain, stocks a wide selection of cookbooks.

A literary fixture in Carnegie Hill since 1978, the staff at this charming book nook thoroughly selects current nonfiction and fiction titles among such categories as art, poetry, biographies, cookbooks, and mysteries. Influenced by many families residing in this UES neighborhood, the bookstore puts an emphasis on children's books, even having an area within the store for young readers. The employees are quite knowledgeable, and author readings, lectures, and signings happen here frequently.

You'll find an excellent regional-history section and plenty of children's titles at this independent bookstore, where you can do a little reading in the small café.

Two levels house a large Montana and Western section, including many autographed works, as well as more general offerings. The store will ship all over the world.

This island favorite, with a coffee bar and a couple of cozy seats with panoramic views of the water, specializes in literary fiction and nautical literature. There's also a nice selection of cards, gifts, craft supplies, and children's books.

New and used books focus on local history, the arts, modern fiction, and out-of-print works, including a fine selection of antiquarian books and obscure titles.

An eclectic group of shoppers wanders the aisles of this pleasantly ramshackle bookstore. The diverse stock is mostly used and unique, including quirky selections like local zines, vintage children's books, and remaindered art books. There are also paintings from local artists on sale.

For many returning visitors, the first stop in town is Dolly's Bookstore to check on the two cats: Dolly and Pippi Longstocking. Oh, and to browse a great selection of regional books as well as national bestsellers. Dolly's also has a uniquely complete selection of children's books and toys. While you are at it, swing through neighboring Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to satisfy your sweet tooth.

With strong local support, this enduring mainstay has survived hurricane flooding to stock an admirable collection of literature on the Outer Banks, cuisine, history, nature, lighthouses, shipwrecks, and folklore, as well as related fiction. Local author readings are frequent. The owners operate a sister store in Duck, Duck's Cottage, that's also a coffee shop.

A shelf of staff picks is the first thing you see at the laid-back Doylestown Bookshop, which also has a sizeable magazine selection in its 6,000 square-foot store. Grab a drink from the refrigerator in the cafe section and settle in.

This longtime island favorite, open year-round, carries a large selection of island-related titles, periodicals, and bestsellers, and the staff will be happy to make a summer reading recommendation. The children's section is very good. A wonderful little café behind the bookshop, called Behind the Bookstore, is open seasonally.

This independent store carries a diverse selection of books and periodicals, as well as gifts, crystals, candles, and jewelry. It also hosts various events and art fairs.

The literary (and literal) center of a bookish town, this is the place to pick up a bestseller, a local classic, or a book on progressive politics or the environment. The shop hosts readings and author events.

Located in a Victorian house, this independent store stocks more than 20,000 books in its multiple rooms and is especially strong in politics, travel, and literature.

Although the diverse selection of comics is the key draw at this spacious shop in the slowly reviving Lloyd Center Mall, you'll also find witty and humorous books (from Twin Peaks viewing guides to How to Talk to Your Cat About Gun Safety), young adult graphic novels, vinyl records, and decidedly irreverent artwork. The staff knows the material well and works hard to stock a provocative and offbeat selection of works, many of them self-published or produced by small indie presses.

It should come as no surprise that this bookstore is notable for its whimsy and carefully curated children's section: one of the founders is a picture-book author, and the other is a stand-up comedian.

This shop near Fremont Street is much more than a typical bookstore. It sells everything gambling, from cards and casino tables to felts, cases, trays, and, of course, chips. But it also is home to Gamblers Book Club, an independent bookstore specializing in books about blackjack, craps, poker, roulette, and all the other games of chance. With more than 3,000 titles in stock, the place dubs itself the "World's Largest Gambling Bookstore." You'll also find novels about casinos, biographies of crime figures, and other topics that relate to Las Vegas history and gambling. Time your visit right, and you might even score autographed copies of some of your favorite tomes.

This small store at the Rink boutique shopping center is packed with works of history, fiction, and cookbooks by local, regional, and national authors; it was the first stop on novelist Anne Rice's book tours when she lived in New Orleans. Autographed copies and limited editions of her titles are usually in stock, and the store hosts frequent author events.

A beloved hangout for T. S. Eliot and E. E. Cummings when they attended Harvard, this tiny shop founded in 1927 carries classic, modern, and contemporary in-print poetry from all over the world.

Time disappears as you browse the tables and shelves of this always-busy bookstore packed with new titles and used books, as well as remaindered books. Founded in 1932, the collection's diversity has made the store a favored destination for casual readers and academics alike, as they have plenty to discover within the floor-to-ceiling bookcases. You can also stock up on Harvard University gifts, or catch an author reading.

Sunlight streams into the front windows of this well-curated indie bookshop. It's the kind of place that attracts regulars who sit sipping tea and reading for hours with a dog curled at their feet. This inviting shop has become a meeting place for the local literary community—both the readers and the writers.

A treasure of a bookstore located in an old brownstone, this is a book lover's version of stumbling upon an ancient treasure trove. Two floors of rambling rooms are stacked with shelves reaching up to the ceilings, boasting an enormous mix of literature, course texts for students, and used books alike. You can spend an hour getting lost in the world of books and all their promise.

Once you've eaten your fill of pasta and cannoli, nourish your noggin at this independent, Italian American bookstore, where you'll find more than 1,200 titles in English and Italian. In addition to books written in Italian, including many children's books like Dr. Seuss, you'll find books devoted to Italian cooking, art, history, language, literature, and more, along with Italian comic books, card games, toys, gifts, magazines, and ceramics.

Long before BookTok existed—for 38 years to be exact—Iliad has been building its 150,000-strong collection of used books, including a solid selection of graphic novels and rare tomes, and moonlighting as a filming location. Its aisles, home to lovable shop cats Zeus and Apollo, and exterior can be seen in numerous TV shows and movies, including Lethal Weapon 3, American Horror Story, and S.W.A.T. 

Books about Block Island history are a specialty of this shop, which also has a good selection of fiction and nonfiction for rainy day or beach reading on vacation. There are also art supplies and classes for adults.