Atomic Collectables has a well laid selection of vinyl, magazines, comic books and various other…read morebooks dating back it seems mostly to the sixties and seventies. Sometime secondhand specialised collectors shops like these fail on the organisation front and can feel a bit dusty and stale, but this is not a problem for Atomic Collectables. Today I am full of praise.

Atomic is for the collector who wants to be a little more alternative and avoid Forbidden Planet at…read moreall costs. It holds a huge about of vinyl, magazine, comics, and little pointless figures that cost a lot of money an best left in the box if you ever want to make any of the money back. The guy behind the counter knows his locals well and it almost seems like a little bit of a hangout for the customers which gives it a friendly feel. Great little place for a nosey.

Toy-land, meets book-land, meets card-land, meets magazine-land meets chocolate-and-sweets-land. On…read moreany visit to the Abbeycentre, my husband and I always gravitate to this shop, me for the magazines and large choice of books and novels, him for, you guessed it - the sweeties. Lord, does he have a sweet tooth. Stewart Millar offers many kinds of deals and offers on well known brands of sweets and chocolate, so cheap sometimes that I have to look at the expiry date to check that it's all above board - and their books are good value too, in particular their lifestyle books and recipe book selection. There is always plenty of staff on the tills (it is a busy shop!) and you never have to wait long in the queue for the till. I would imagine for parents its quite a good place to buy games and toys also.

I really like The Works, you can pick up all sorts of interesting books here for a bargain price,…read morethey are arranged out by category like they would in a library, children's section, thriller, local history, cookery, reference books etc. They also stock a wide range of craft goods, such as easels, all types of paint and paintbrushes, scrapbooks, stickers, wool, needles, you name it! The Works is a good shop for giftware too, for example if you have secret Santa, there are loads of fun items, themes such as Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Hello Kitty, and more. This is actually one of the nicer The Works stores I've been in, it's not too crammed as some others are, and is easy to navigate without knocking things over!

This is a great wee shop inside connswater shopping centre. There are a vast selection of books…read morethere are every book you can imagine in this shop, I like the cookbooks as I like to bake at home , most of my cookbooks are from here and theres lots to choose from and the prices are decent too. The works also sell children's books and children's toys and sweeties at the till. Theres a small craft selection which has a good selection of boxes ec to keep your crafting supplies in. If your an artist theres a brilliant selection of canvas's and paints and brushes even charcoals and pastels. Theres a great selection here for anyone into painting. Also a selection of DVDs, calendars and diarys. Theres gift sets and gadgets in store. Shop is always crammed and well filled with stock!

There are not many Eason's stores around these days but this one seems to be thriving, set in a…read morecentral location they've given the interior a real facelift - it's bright and vibrant and seems to be doing the trick when it comes to drawing the Belfast punters in. Eason's are specialist's in stationery and magazines, especially niche ones. I popped in here last week to grab a birthday card and to be honest I was a little disappointed with their selection but I suppose there's dedicated card shops for that sort of thing. One thing I noticed is that Eason's seems to have moved with the times, selling electronic goods and essential office supplies such as printer cartridges. On the lower floor there's a huge book selection that would rival Waterstones. Belfast actually doesn't have that many big book shops so if you still haven't succumb to a Kindle this will be your idea of heaven. This Eason is really well staffed so if you're looking for something in particular I would just ask one of the many attentive assistants (who are also pretty quick on the checkouts). All in all it's nice to see a familiar name in the city centre, I'm sure at some point the majority of Northern Ireland picked up their school stationery and chose that all important pencil case from an Eason's branch.

Easons is one of Ireland's oldest bookshops. It's the store you go to when Waterstones doesn't have…read morewhat you're looking for.

I'm actually in Waterstones a lot without every buying a book. You see Waterstones houses one of my…read morefavourite coffee shops in the city, Ground Espresso Bar. The bookshop itself is always busy but don't worry there's also plenty of staff although sometimes I find it hard to distinguish between staff and browsers as they don't appear to have a clear uniform. The shop displays are always excellent - they often have featured books highlighted on a table and then related works nearby. I really like this concept as it makes it a really easy shopping experience. Waterstones has a really nice relaxed feeling about it - you won't get told off for having a good rummage and likewise if you want to contemplate your next novel choice the upstairs coffee shop is the perfect place to do that. I know this review wasn't exactly a thriller but hopefully it's a good non-fiction.

Amazing Book store. Find any book here easily I want to read . Amazing store with amazing smell of…read moretons of books

I must admit, I don't usually go in to book stores, when I am going to buy a book I usually head…read morestraight to Amazon but today after having breakfast in the Botanic area I was walking back to my car and I thought I would call in to No Alibis to see if I could pick up a book I had been recommended by numerous colleagues. On entrance No Alibis seemed cluttered and I couldn't immediately locate the section I thought the book I was looking for would be in. It certainly wasn't as clear as the Amazon search results. Anyway I struggled on and eventually came across the 'business' section at the back of the store. After having a quick sift through the books it became clear that they didn't stock the title I was looking for. With that I was about to leave but then I thought I'd ask the lad working there if she had seen/heard of the book. It was then my experience took an amazing turn for the positive. The helpful lady immediately consulted her 'book database' on the computer and immediately found the book. Unfortunately she didn't have it in store but she was able to reserve it for me and have it ready to be collected on Monday - plus it was cheaper that it was on Amazon. What a result! It was look old meets new! If you're looking for a book for study or leisure definitely pop in here - even if they don't have it they can source it for you. I also noticed they sold some unique pieces of local art. Hopefully this main stay of Botanic will be around for years to come!

I'm an English student so any bookstore is a good bookstore as far as I'm concerned. This one…read morehowever is independent of Queen's but has a very close relationship with the students and the staff. Despite there already being a bookshop owned by Queen's, many would recommend you try here first as if they don't have it, they will guarantee you it with their next delievery. It could be either that or the fact the people (whose names escape me yet again) are exceptionally friendly and have a real passion for their job. I have been in browsing before and soon i was sitting down with some friends having coffee and discussing books... pretentious possibly, but it's almost certainly the bookstore that makes me want to sit and drink coffee and talk about books. I dont even like coffee either. Very very very helpful, very friendly and a must for anyone who requires a good book

Somewhere I always pop into when in Bow Street Mall, just to see if they've anything new. Books are…read morealways cheaper here than anywhere else, though that means that new releases don't appear here for a while, and particular authors aren't stocked at all. But I always like to make use of one of their offers, such as 3 books for £5, or pick up something useful for 99p.. Although the shop is large enough, I actually prefer some of the other Bargain Books stores as they seem to stock a better choice of books, at least the kind that interest me.

I am definitely a loyal fan of Stewart Millar although I often forget its name and refer to it as…read moreStuart Little (as in the little talking mouse) which of course causes hysterical laughter and confirms the kids' suspicions that I am in fact a total muppet. Stewart Miller is an independent retailer of toys, books, magazines and sweet shop stuff. I'm sure there's a better term than that for chocolate, drinks, crisps etc but that's what I call it. This shop's strength is in the offers they are always running and which change regularly. In the toy department, you often find lego you won't see elsewhere and they always have the latest must have sets. They often run promotions of 25% off lego which is great news for stocking up as lego is eye wateringly expensive. The same goes for play mobile sets which are even more expensive. The latest paperbacks are often on offer too and older titles for both adults and kids are at unbeatable prices all year round. You also get one off offers like huge scented candles which last for ages and don't have that horrible cheap smell for just £3.99. The selection of magazines and comics has to be seen to be believed, stretching across one whole wall of the shop. And they don't have any of those hateful notices telling you that 'we are not a library' so feel free to browse.

An essential cornerstone of the greater North Down area. Fantastic book offers and something for…read morepeople of all ages. Support the local businesses!