12 Of The Biggest Bookshops In The World

Powell's Book Store boasts an impressive 68,000 square feet (that's 1.6 acres!) of retail sales floor — on which you can browse over 1 million books. The store reportedly purchases 3,000 used books per day, which is giving me serious bookshelf envy. With that many books, you'll need a map to find your way around — and the store provides one!

This one comes in close behind with a whopping 62,000 square feet of sales floor. Inside the huge store, they're always hosting fantastic events — from author signings to book fairs, from workshops to readings.

Cook & Book sells so much more than cookbooks. It's roughly the size of a supermarket, divided into eight themed spaces, and complete with eight matching eating areas. And you can bring your non-bookish pals, too; they'll love hanging out in the music-and-wine room!

More than a million books are stored inside the massive John K. King Used & Rare Books — and it's so charmingly old-fashioned that they don't even have a computer system. The floor managers have a pretty encyclopedic knowledge of the books, but they can't run a computer search to find the exact book you're after. Instead, plan to spend a full afternoon here happily browsing the shelves.

Waterstones is the biggest bookstore chain in the U.K., and its flagship Piccadilly branch in London claims to be the largest bookstore in the whole of Europe. Spread over six floors, you'll find more than 8 miles of bookshelves.

It's also a great place to come for events, because this Waterstones goes all out when it comes to getting dressed up.

The famous Strand bookstore in New York boasts 18 miles of books — new, used, and rare. When it's sunny, you'll find kiosks outside Central Park for some open-air browsing.

The Bookworm is a bookshop, library, bar, and restaurant rolled into one — all at the top of an incredible bookish staircase. It's open until midnight or 1 a.m. on weekends, making it a great place to settle in for the night with a book. There are also regular activities here from movie nights to open mics. Yep, it's a pretty spectacular place.

Bart's Books is the largest outdoor bookstore in the world, and many of its books are sold on a simple "honor system." Take whatever you'd like, and leave some money in the coffee cans on top of the bookshelves.

El Ateneo is housed in an old theater, making it one of the most strikingly beautiful bookshops in the world. The box seats are now cozy book nooks, and you can bring your own book if you can't find anything in the not-particularly-extensive English language section.

The House of Books is situated over three floors of the gorgeous Singer Building in St Petersburg — and once you've loaded up your tote bag with books, you can settle by a window in the cafe and gaze at the stunning view while you read.

From the outside, Blackwell's doesn't look like anything special. The bookshop is tucked away inconspicuously on Oxford's Broad Street — but once you're inside, it opens up to its full cavernous size. The underground Norrington Room alone (which is only one of the shop's four floors) is 10,000 square feet — and has a Guinness World Record for being the largest single room selling books in the world.

Before it was a bookshop, the Librairie Avant-Garde was a parking lot — so that should give you some idea of its immense size. The highlight has to be the iconic cashier counter, which is built from thousands of old books.