Title Barangaroo, along with its mothership store in Surry Hills, is where quality reigns supreme. Not about what’s new, but what’s good, as its slogan goes, the Sydney bookshop avoids the trends. 

Since 1996, Better Read Than Dead has provided a quiet, booked-line haven on Newtown’s hectic King Street. Students, locals, thinkers and drifters come in here to get lost among the floor-to-ceiling shelves. 

Named after Australian writer Frank Moorhouse’s 1993 novel, Grand Days is a paean to Sydney’s bohemian years. An afternoon spent at this fabulous Sydney bookstore is one spent on an unpredictable adventure.

The Berkelouw story begins more than 200 years ago, on the other side of the world. In 1812, in Rotterdam, Holland, Solomon Berkelouw started selling theology books on Rotterdam Quay. 

Sydney’s Sappho isn’t just a bookshop. It’s a cafe, tapas bar and general hideaway, where you can get cosy with your new read for hours. The collection is all secondhand, so you never know what you might find, from first editions to hard-to-find titles.

Established in 1985 in Paddington, Ariel Booksellers is one of Sydney’s oldest independent bookshops. Following a stint in The Rocks, the store has now settled in Darlinghurst right on Oxford Street.

Readers of the lower north shore have been gathering at The Constant Reader since it opened way back in 1979. On top of being one of Sydney’s oldest independent bookshops, it’s also one of the biggest. 

Sporting a name that pays homage to Irish playwright and poet Oscar Wilde, this is a great spot to hit up when you’re looking for a fresh read to get absorbed in while the weather is cooler. 

Every neighbourhood needs a great local bookstore — one where browsing is encouraged, where staff members are generous with their personal recommendations, and it’s almost impossible to leave empty-handed. 

According to its owners, Potts Point Bookshop is found in the ‘Paris-end’ of the inner-city suburb. The beautiful independent Sydney bookstore certainly makes you feel like you’ve entered a European pocket of Sydney.

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld once said that “a bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking”. Gleebooks on Glebe Point Road, captures the serious and delightful business of buying a new book in an elegant well-tended store.