Five of the Best: Book Stores

Need some literary inspiration. Check out our top five favorite bookstores to pick up something inspirational.

Bookoff
ul. Ogrodowa 7, www.bookoff.pl
A cult bookstore filled with trendy fashion and design bibles, photography albums, on-trend cookbooks and grown-up comics. You could potentially end up spending really rather heavily. Cook Off, a sister bookshop specializing in cook books, is found on Żelazna 61.

Dom Spotkań z Historią
ul. Karowa 20, www.dsh.waw.pl
Look no further for books on modern Polish / Warsaw history. Of particular note are the picture heavy coffee table tomes that focus on Poland’s immediate pre-war, occupation and socialist years. Boffins are happy to spend hours browsing.

Empik
Various locations, empik.com
When only best-sellers and Penguin Classics will do most revert to Empik, namely their stores Nowy Świat and Marszałkowska branches. The choice is pretty pedestrian but gems are to be found every now and again.

Fundacja Bęc Zmiana
ul. Mokotowska 65/7, www.beczmiana.pl
A tiny, curiosity shop retailing hipster t-shirts, trendy trinkets and a fair amount of arty books with a strong slant towards contemporary Warsaw.

Super Salon
ul. Chmielna 10,  tel. 22 468 1619, open Mon-Sat 11:00-19:00, www.supersalon.org
The sort of titles you find in a cool New York magazine store: Apartmento, Elephant, The Gourmand, Kinfolk, Cereal, Aperture, and Gather. And check out the amazing art books published by the likes of Steidl, Mack, Gestalten and Powerhouse.