Incredible book for Art / Design / Architecture. Possibly the most mesmerizing art and book store I…read morehave been to. It's a nice walk from downtown past the waterways. I arrived about 30 min before close before I had to travel to the next town the following day, so not too much time. I could have spent many wonderful hours here. Till next time!

Sautter + Lackmann is one of my favorite places in Hamburg to spend a few lonely hours. The…read morebookstore makes a focus on art, design and photography books, which range from pocket readers to coffee table editions. The amount of inspiring material in this large bookshop is close to unbelievable; rows and rows, shelves and shelves of books about anything and everything having to do with both historical and modern visual culture. Graphic designers will find their entire bookshelf toolkit here - with books ranging from typography to layouts, corporate identity to portfolios. Illustrators will find hard to find artist portfolios and illustration compilations from all over the world. Photographers will find books ranging from portfolios to mastering the digital darkroom, history of photography to books on every stream of photographic art. Sautter + Lackmann is easily a place to lose yourself in, so make sure you have at least an hour of your free time. They close on weekdays at 19:00, don't take credit cards, and accept EC for purchases over 15eu. Trust me, this is for your own good. If they would have accepted credit cards, I'd have to take up a job there to repay the debt.

Basically, a British corner shop removed from any small town in the UK and transplanted into…read moreHamburg. Pretty bloody essential, as one could go mad here having to drink German 'tea'. You can also pick up most of the ingredients for a full English breakfast, real crisps, and....wait for it... bitter! Yes indeed, for a paltry EUR3.60 you can savour a bottle of Theakston's Old Peculiar, a Tim Taylor's Landlord, or a Moorhouses' Old Speckled Hen. Makes living in Germany seem not half as bad really...

There's nothing like it anywhere in Hamburg: Robert Berridge's used bookshop selling only English…read morebooks. Mr. Berridge himself reminds me of a hobbit, and if hobbits were capable of living in complete chaos, they'd feel right at home in this shop. Overfilled, dusty and musty, the cheap (and mostly dangerously leaning) shelves are packed in no particular order with used books in English, in wildly varying states of decomposition. However, despite the haphazard state of his shelves, Mr. Berridge has surprised me time and time again by laying his hand on the book I'm looking for within seconds. If the shop were slightly cleaner and more organised, it'd get a five, but it's simply the only place to go for a large selection in Hamburg, so a three will have to do. As for the attached "English Foods" shop, I can't really judge. I've never been impressed enough with English cuisine to bother going in it, but I guess it'd be a comfort for poms over from the island.

if you are looking for english books this is your place!…read more you can also start reading in there because they have an armchair (or more). especially before the holidays this place is overcrowded! i didn't speak to the workers but i guess if they work in a book store they must be nice? i think thalia in general could have better books but that's just me. it's definitely the best bookstore in hamburg :)

Mrs. Lakeberg is rude and made our stay at the otherwise…read morenice Thalia bookstore very unpleasant. We recommend avoiding her since all she cares about is to get out of the shop in time. Customers she treats like little school kids. In customer and service friendly America she would have been fired on the spot. I also recommend reminding your customers kindly at least once ahead of time of your closing times. Do not patronize your customers. We are the most valuable asset you have.

One of the best places I have been to for quiet time, a great cup of java and a fairly good…read moreselection of newspapers and magazines. Don't be in a hurry, things take time here .... Plus there is always art on the walls from local artists... A pleasant experience every time. Highly recommended. NOW CLOSED as of August 2016. Very sorry to see them gone but there us a small cafe now open downstairs in the bookshop itself.

Cohen's is a fantastic little bookshop just behind Knust on Sternstrasse. They stock a lot of…read morecoffee table material on art, architecture, design and what have you. In fact, we even found the bus stops designed by my friend V when we came! There is a small English section with a selection of classics and some modern stuff, but this is primarily a German-language shop.

This place is amazing. I rang the doorbell on the street and was buzzed straight in. When I opened…read morethe door on the ground floor, my jaw just dropped. There are rooms with shelves stocked floor to ceiling with ribbons of all kinds of textures, colours and patterns. The door on the street really doesn't give any clue to the world of colours behind it. I was after a chartreuse velvet ribbon and I found the exact colour I was searching for, in varying sizes. This shop charges by the roll, which means that the per metre price is so much cheaper than in other shops. The lady working there was so friendly. I loved this place. Fantastic!

UPDATE*** December 24, 2012 12:00 PM After ringing the…read moredoorbell and being buzzed in, I walked up a few steps to the first door on the left. The name on the door says Maudrich Printing (Maudrich Druckerei) which is a little bit confusing. I opened the door anyway. I stepped into ribbon heaven. With jaw dropped open in permanent fashion, I wandered through a labyrinth of inventory shelves stocked floor to ceiling full of well-organized ribbons in every fabric, texture, color, design and width imaginable. To give a real-life example, I was looking for an olive-colored velvet ribbon to make a hanging mistletoe kissing ball for New Years' Eve. I not only found the velvet ribbon I was looking for, I found it in 5 different widths and in four different shades of olive: a silvery sage olive, a olive with gold undertones, a mossy green olive and a darker gray olive. I can only agree with the previous 5-star reviews: Maudrich has every type of ribbon your heart could desire. I think it would even be impossible not to find what you were looking for. The atmosphere of this place is something quite special. It has an authentic 1930s / 1940s feel. Dotted here and there and in between are antique sewing machines, still in use with sharp scissors lying nearby and fresh fabric dust. The font used to print their names on the windows looks like the ones popular in the Art Deco era. The building is old and in some of the rooms you can still see the elaborate decorative stucco plastered on the ceilings and on the top edges of the walls. The two women and the one man I saw working there seem to be almost of retiring age and I expect they've been there since the beginning. They were all very nice to me, allowing me to explore in peace when I arrived. Because it is an older place, there's no credit card machine. You'll have to pay in cash but the prices are excellent. Next time I'm going to ask if they'll allow me to take some pictures. Their selection of ribbon is so comprehensive that I asked the cashier if they manufactured ribbon. The idea popped into my head especially since I saw sewing machines here and there. They don't make the ribbons themselves but they do create magnificent and luxurious bows on order from many florists. When the bows are for funerals, families often request the name and perhaps a Bible quote to be printed on the ribbon. This is the explanation for the Maudrich Printers sign on the front door. * ORIGINAL * December 24, 2012 9:30 AM Someone from the store saw I had tried to call on Saturday and actually called me back this morning. (They don't seem to own an answering machine, but they at least have Caller ID and use it well.) I asked about the opening hours and entered them into Qype and I am now on my way over. So excited!!! Four stars for now for calling back and being nice on the phone