The Best Independent Bookshops in New Zealand

Sitting pretty along Richmond Road in Grey Lynn is Dear Reader, the perfect place for a spot of weekend browsing post-brunch. This lovingly crafted collection offers something for everyone, curated with Dear Reader’s regular customers in mind. You’ll find everything from art and architecture to immersive fiction and coffee table books.

An Auckland institution for avid readers, a trip to Unity Books on High Street never fails to impress. Step through the bright facade and you’ll be greeted with a cornucopia of reads stacked high across every surface of the store. Unity’s crew has been shaping a collection for Auckland’s tastes since 1989, so it’s safe to say they know what’s up when it comes to your next page-turner.

Lamplight Books, situated along Parnell’s main strip, is an elegant escape for local creatives. They focus on curating literature, art and culture reads, so you’ll find a discerning selection of art, architecture, design and Te Ao Māori to peruse. Expect thoughtful displays, serene light-filled interiors and an overall sense of calm, plus a whole section dedicated to the creatives and designers of Parnell.

Tucked into a charming character villa on Ponsonby Road, The Open Book is a second-hand bookstore made for a slow, curious browse. Six rooms unfold one after the other, each lined with pre-loved titles spanning everything from fiction and cookbooks to music, mathematics and the delightfully obscure, with handwritten signs and quiet reading nooks inviting you to linger.

Give your little ones the gift of imagination with a trip to Dorothy Butler Children’s Bookshop. Founded by children’s writer Dorothy Butler, the shop has been feeding the minds of tamariki since 1964. It’s the perfect place to ignite a love of literature, offering fiction and non-fiction spanning picture books to Young Adult hits.

Wellington is home to the original Unity Books, serving locals with good reads since 1967. There’s always something going on at their Willis Street store, whether it’s a book launch, reading or author event. Plus, the packed aisles on a weekend afternoon clearly indicate this spot is top of the list for word geeks in Wellington. Whether you’re after local Kiwi reads, gripping new fiction or whimsical fantasy, you’ll more than likely find it here.

With its overflowing shopfront, Pegasus Books is an instantly recognisable vignette of Wellington. Nestled in a quiet alcove of Cuba Mall, Pegasus is a treasure trove of philosophy, mythology, poetry, art, music and much, much more. Picture narrow aisles, a dozen book ladders and floor-to-ceiling shelving flanked by thousands of written works just waiting to be discovered. With plenty of nooks and crannies to trawl through, you can easily spend a few hours here.

Just over the harbour in Petone, Schrödinger’s Books is small but mighty. Opened in 2019, this lovingly restored space with original Art Deco windows has been crowned New Zealand’s best bookshop more than once. Pull up a comfy chair beside the giant old boardroom table piled high with books, and don’t miss the excellent science fiction and fantasy section.

Just off State Highway 1 in Ōtaki, Books & Co is the Kāpiti Coast’s only truly independent bookshop. Tall, dark shelves line every wall and a long table down the middle overflows with everything from crime and romantasy to New Zealand history and te ao Māori. The children’s area is a particular highlight, and with author events and four book clubs a month, it’s a real community hub.

You should never judge a book by its cover, and the same goes for Mewington’s Book Shoppe on Foxton’s Main Street. Founded by mother-and-daughter duo Kate and Nicola, this sprawling 300m² literary wonderland hides a Narnia-inspired wardrobe, an Alice-inspired Wonderland corner and Captain Hook’s pirate ship among shelves of new and pre-loved books. Try a blind date with a book, and say hello to the three resident cats the shop is named after.

In Palmerston North, Bruce McKenzie Booksellers takes pride in choosing books carefully, stocking what its customers want to read rather than following the publishers’ hype. You’ll find a strong focus on stories of Aotearoa and the Manawatū, from natural history and te reo Māori to poetry, plus staff-recommended shelves well worth a browse.

There’s something quite poetic about giving books a new lease on life. Browsers Bookshop has been backing Hamilton bookworms since 1996, offering and buying a curated selection of high-quality second-hand books. Expect artfully displayed shelves stacked with everything from arts, photography and travel to music and fiction. Pure bliss.

As Rotorua has evolved over the decades, one thing has remained constant, and that’s McLeods Booksellers. Founded in 1896 and run under the McLeods name since 1943, this humble store is an authentic slice of the town’s history. Pop by for a sampling of biographies, music books and poetry, or join their subscription service to update your reading list on the reg.

Muirs is much more than just a bookshop; it’s a cornerstone of Gizzy history. It was originally founded in 1905 alongside The Gisborne Herald, both owned by the Muir family, and an appreciation for the written word and New Zealand history still comes through today. You’ll find plenty of regular faves alongside a second-hand section specialising in out-of-print historical books about Aotearoa.

Every city needs a good second-hand bookshop, and in Hastings that’s The Little Red Bookshop. Run by Adrian and Siobhan, it’s everything you want a second-hand bookshop to be, brimming with stacks to search through, an impressive kids’ section and a collection of vinyl records to flip through too.

Sinking into a worn seat and scoping out your next page-turner at Scorpio Books is a Christchurch pastime we all know and love. Since the 1960s, Scorpio Books has been the go-to for local literature enthusiasts. We can pretty much guarantee something will pique your interest here, or if you’re after a specific title, their expert staff can help you source it.

From the team behind Scorpio Books comes a bookshop just for the kids, Telling Tales. Besides child-friendly shelving and a playful interior, this bookshop boasts a life-sized floor-to-ceiling tree sculpture. How’s that for magical? It’s like something straight out of The Faraway Tree, and the team here are more than skilled in the art of storytelling.

Tucked into a corner of The Arts Centre, The Custard Square Bookshop is impossible to miss. This soft yellow and white vintage caravan, handbuilt in the 1950s, is adorned with antique bookcases, foraged flowers and big umbrellas, and inside, custom shelves are chock full of literary goodness from floor to ceiling. Even the tram drivers love to point it out.

Ilam Campus is home to a browsing experience sure to satisfy any book lover. You can’t miss The University Bookshop, with its bright orange and green building housing rows upon rows of topics across creativity, food, travel, fiction, science and more. If you’re lucky, the bargain tables will be piled high with discounted gems. Pop your student hat back on and enter with the mindset of a lifelong learner, because that’s the beauty of books, isn’t it?

For a taste of Christchurch’s stories and history, make your way to one of the city’s oldest bookstores, Smith’s Bookshop, now at The Tannery in Woolston. Specialising in second-hand books and local non-fiction, you’ll find titles spanning New Zealand’s history, landscapes, art scene and Tangata Whenua, plus rare and out-of-print New Zealand books.

There’s something quite special about stumbling across a small, independent bookseller, and Timaru Booksellers (formerly Bay Hill Books) at the top of Stafford Street is one of those treasure troves. Local history and local authors sit alongside big international names, with an eclectic range from obscure translated sci-fi to poetry collections from independent publishers. If it’s hard to find, the team will happily hunt it down for you.

Heading inland? Lake Tekapo’s only independent bookstore, Petronella’s Gallery and Bookstore, is a sanctuary for book and art lovers alike. Owner Wilma van den Bosch hosts a book club, author events and writing workshops and is always refreshing the shelves with new titles, making it the perfect stop for a holiday read.

The Next Chapter in Wānaka is a bustling bookshop that does a sterling job of bringing the best literature to the community. Given the location, it’s no surprise the store has a specialist mountaineering and outdoors section alongside a plethora of fiction and non-fiction titles. Its book clubs, including a dedicated non-fiction club, have proven very popular too.

Over in Alexandra, Wanderlust Books is no ordinary bookshop. Opened by Canadian-born Tim in 2008, it’s home to thousands of old, rare and collectible titles, gathered from locals downsizing, travellers swapping a paperback or three and Tim’s own hunts for scarce material. The result is an eclectic collection spanning every genre, place and era, and an unexpected staircase leads down into a world of fiction, classics, poetry and drama, with exposed schist walls and old-fashioned lanterns adding to the charm.

Dunedinites can count themselves lucky to have two phenomenal second-hand bookshops in their city. Dead Souls Bookshop can only be described as an Aladdin’s cave of second-hand books. Organised by genre, there’s no shortage of pages to flip, pictures to look at and topics to investigate. Be prepared to spend hours browsing the charming menagerie of books here (we did).

Hard to Find Books is exactly that, a collection of rare and obscure books. Brimming with titles of great antiquity across a wide breadth of topics, the staff are eager to help if you can’t find what you’re looking for (they have access to a stock room that houses thousands more books), and just as happy to let you peruse at your own leisure.