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Charming Indie Bookstores in Dallas

Jordan Kiefer

If you’re anything like me, bookstores are your favorite place to shop. Everything about them – from the long rows of shelves to the beautiful smell of ink and paper – comes together to make a place I can visit again and again. While chain bookstores and online retailers offer lower prices and a more extensive selection of titles, independent bookshops are a place where bibliophiles create a community where creativity and learning thrive. If you want to shop at independent bookstores, here is my list of the best ones in Dallas.

Deep Vellum

Quaint and cozy, Deep Vellum Bookstore offers an impressive selection of works focusing on Dallas writers. Founded in 2013 to translate some of the world’s best novels into English for American audiences, Deep Vellum Publishing specializes in books from small presses, works in translation, zines, poetry, and books that bend genre.

Three years later, Deep Vellum Bookstore opened as a cultural community center offering all types of fantastic literature. The store hosts many events, including poetry readings, book signings, private concerts on the roof, and book club meetings. It may be small, but this independent bookstore is the largest publisher of literature in translation in the US!

Interabang Books

Interabang Books is a charming bookstore in the heart of Dallas. Known for its knowledgeable staff and diverse selection of books, e-books, and audiobooks, Interabang Books is a book lovers paradise. The small but dedicated team of book enthusiasts love their jobs and are always ready to read a new book and share their recommendations with customers.

The bookstore’s name comes from a unique symbol that combines a question mark (interrogative) and an exclamation point (a bang, in typesetting lingo). Essentially, the symbol unites the search for knowledge with the excitement of discovery, something Interabang Books takes to heart.

Lucky Dog Books

For over 50 years, Lucky Dog Books has offered its customers the best selections of used books, movies, and music. This local bookshop buys and sells used books of all genres. They also have an extensive collection of comic books, magazines, sheet music, DVDs, videotapes, manga, CDs, cassettes, and songbooks. Lucky Dog Books has two brick-and-mortar bookstores: East Dallas and Oak Cliff. Each store has rows upon rows of books you could get lost – the perfect place for book lovers!

Poets Bookshop

Located in the Bishop Arts district, Poets Bookshop is a cozy little gem of a bookstore. Charming and tastefully decorated, it's somewhere you instantly feel at home. The store has a well-curated selection of popular and unique books and literature-themed novelties such as bookmarks, notebooks, stickers, and patches. The staff are highly knowledgeable and love talking books with customers. If you're searching for a memoir, literary fiction work, or poetry book, Poets Bookshop is the store for you.

Read Shop

Originating from Atlanta, Read Shop is a two-story space combining a cozy coffee shop and a rich, vibrant bookstore. In addition to the week’s top 10 non-fiction and fiction bestsellers, their curated collection of books focuses on non-fiction titles, such as home décor, art, cookbooks, and more. Read Shop has many gifts, including cute mugs, toys, games, kitchen utensils, literary accessories, and more. Before you shop, be sure to grab an espresso-based drink and pastry (or two) to indulge in.

Recycled Books, Records, & CDs

Recycled Books, Records, & CDs is the largest used bookstore in Texas and one of the biggest and most established in the country. Since 1983, Recycled has provided its customers with many used books, movies, music, and other collectibles. The “big, purple building on the Square” is a haven for book lovers, movie enthusiasts, and music fans.

Located in the historic Wright Opera House on Denton’s beautiful downtown square, Recycled perfectly represents Denton’s arts-loving, independent, and laid-back spirit. I lived in Denton for four years while attending college and loved shopping at Recycled Books, Records, and CDs. The Opera House boasts three floors with endless rows of books, which I spent hours walking through. The store offers half a million books—no matter your interest, you can find them here.

Talking Animals Books

Located in the heart of historic Grapevine, Talking Animals Books is a place for curious minds, active imaginations, and creative thinking. The store may only be a few years old, but it’s already become a favorite with locals and visitors alike. Customers of all ages can browse a vast collection of new and used books and literary-themed gifts or relax in the sitting room to read or work.

The bookshop’s name comes from C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicle of Narnia. In the book series, there is a sub-category of local inhabitants in the land of Narnia, the sentient animals who can understand and talk to humans. The name perfectly fits with the overall aura of Talking Animals Books – a colorful, original, and eccentric place where book lovers of all ages can find their next great adventure.

The Wild Detectives

If you're looking for a unique blend of books and drinks, you need to visit The Wild Detectives. Located in the Oak Cliff district, The Wild Detectives is a place where visitors of all backgrounds can engage in conversation and share ideas with each other while browsing a 100% community-curated literary selection. Every event they host, from book presentations and poetry readings to wine tastings and backyard shows, revolves around this idea.

The Wild Detectives is the lovechild of two Spanish civil engineers who wished for a space to mix their two favorite things: booze and books. The name is a loose translation of Roberto Bolaño's Los Detectives Salvajes (The Savage Detectives, 1998). Mexican author Juan Villoro says of the book, "The Savage Detectives are life investigators, inspectors of the experience." The shop embodies that ethos by curating all those things that matter, those serious pleasures that turn life into experience.

Whose Books Neighborhood Bookstore

Bright, colorful, and intimate, Whose Books Neighborhood Bookstore has a carefully curated collection of books for readers of all ages. This bright and intimate space has an excellent selection of books, from picture and early reader books to books in Espanol and memoirs. A dedicated reading lounge is filled with comfortable chairs and benches for book lovers to sit back and read to their heart's content. Open during regular business hours for all customers, The Lounge is also available by reservation for any book club or group.

Whose Books Neighborhood Bookstore was founded by Claudia Vega, an educator with over 20 years of experience. Vega is a dedicated literacy advocate who passionately works to eliminate book deserts in the southern Dallas neighborhood. Through her bookstore and nonprofit, ARCO (Activating Reading Communities Organization), Vega fosters a reading community for people of all socio-economic backgrounds that celebrates diverse representation and perspectives in literature.