It was late one Thursday evening and I had missed the late night shopping due to a rehearsal I was…read moreat. I needed to kill some time and also was still in thinking mode about some Christmas present ideas. I stopped outside Waterstones and though 'ach I'll hiv a wee nosey' so I came across some audio books and a staff member pointed me in the direction to more. I explained I was looking for something my dad and she suggested a couple for me. Well he absolutely loves them. Yay! I just want to thank the kind girl who helped me out. I was struggling for ideas and just didn't know where to begin as there's just sooo many titles. I also asked on the off chance to see if they had the Yo! Sushi cookbook at a cheaper price rather than purchasing it from Yo! Sushi themselves. Unfortunately they didn't have it in stock but the Sauchiehall Street branch did but it was about 9.30ish and it wasn't on my route to the restaurant I was heading to. It was the same price too so was best just to nip round the corner and get it out the restaurant. The staff were very helpful and took their time to help me even though it was near to closing time. Athough not as well stocked as Sauchiehall Street it catered my unexpected needs.

You have to hand it to Waterstones (and also book publishers); in the era of the e-book/Amazon they…read morehave managed to re-invent the book shop experience. I used to love book shops when I was a child and teenager then as I became a young adult I began to favour the music/record shop instead, but it wasn't down to just me being more into music than books it was down to the whole shopping experience. I found music shops exciting and book shops then a bit dull and staid. When the 1st e-books & mighty Amazon/online book shops came on the scene the poor high street book shops had to either re-invent themselves or suffer like the many record shops sadly did with the increase of mp3's/online music. Waterstones were one of the big players in the book shop scene and thankfully they chose to up their game. This particular shop has been very successfully re-invented & I wouldn't have even known had I not decided to pop in one day just out of interest (and admittedly to kill some time before my bus!) I remember it being a bit boring a few years ago when I came in but now it's so much better. It's split over 3 levels and the ground floor now has a really great gift and stationary section. I found some super cute washi tape and wrapping paper that was ideal for some home wall designs I had in mind. Also they had many other lovely greetings cards and gifts of all sorts including Scottish themed bits & bobs for the tourists and your family members or friends who live outside of Scotland. The book displays themselves make you want to engage with the books and touch them; something that I think is SO important when shopping. I hate shops where I feel as though I am browsing a museum with products that have a invisible 'Do not touch' sign in front of them. Bah. Hell no. I'm a tactile person (hello!) when it comes to shopping so I like to FEEL everything and books feel (and smell!) really good. The covers, the embossed/raised fonts, the flick of the pages, the shiny and matte coverings...I know the old saying is 'You shouldn't judge a book by its cover' but damn! A great book cover can make or break a book in my opinion! Another touch I like here is that the staff members have their own tags they can use to put on books they particularly like with a mini review. I know Borders used to do this & I always really liked it. The staff here (and all the other Waterstones too) are also really lovely & friendly. Whenever I've had any questions they've always been super helpful and informative & they've never acted as though I am a nuisance or asking a ridiculous question. They also have a cafe here serving Matthew Algie coffee and they're open most nights until 7pm making this a perfect wee place to stop off after work for a wee swatch at some books, a coffee and wee read too before you head home. They also have book signings and a monthly book group too. You can also order books online if they maybe don't have them in stock and earn some points if you sign up to their card at the same time. If you chose to pick the books up yourself from a store it's free so no p&p to pay. Nice one! Nice work Waterstones, you've made book shopping a truly fun experience again.

This wonderful branch of Waterstones is filled with gorgeous big bookcases full of every kind of…read morebook you could possibly want. I can easily spend hours in here, browsing the shelves, flicking through a few books and then wandering downstairs for a coffee at their little branch of Costa. Waterstones has managed to make this great big book shop into a comfortable and cosy feeling store that welcomes its customers warmly, with staff that are well read and more than able to advise on your purchases. A good old British book store that will be staying put for years to come.

This is not only Glasgow's largest Waterstones, it's Glasgow's largest bookshop. Actually, scratch…read morethat, I can do one better, it's Scotland's largest bookshop. This is a fact that Waterstones quite rightly takes a little pride in. It's split across five levels and includes a Costa Coffee in the basement. Certain indie coffee shop fans may turn their nose up at Costa, and while I sympathise, any coffee shop that's inside a bookshop automatically becomes a good coffee shop. I'm pretty sure that's a universal rule. I feel like in a good bookshop I browse differently to how I would online. If I'm looking for a book online, chances are I already know which book it is and I'm just trying to get the lowest price/nicest edition/fastest delivery time. In a real book shop you have that joy of exploring and of looking at books that you never knew you wanted (or even books that you never knew existed). It's easy to start on the top floor and lose 20 minutes, lose another 30 on the next floor down (that's non-fiction and reference covered), lose at least another hour on the next floor which contains most of the fiction, 20 minutes one floor below that , which is the level you enter on, the stock rotates a lot here and includes toys, gifts and (inhale sharply) stationary. See? You've already lost over two hours and you haven't even looked at the children's section or the young adult section. You've not even seen the books on travel! Or film! Or art! They're to be found across the next two floors alongside that coffee shop. It's a dangerous thing to enter a bookshop and the larger the shop the more dangerous it gets. Tell a friend to come looking for you if they don't hear from you after a day or two.

Books, books, books. Lots of books! This little charity shop is full to the brim with them,…read moreincluding a small section devoted to CDs. Slap bang in Merchant City, it's just a few seconds walk from the bustling Argyle and Buchanan Street, meaning that you don't have to venture too far away from the more popular shopping haunts to get your second-hand literature fix! The shop is well-organised, with clearly divided genre sections, making it easy to find what you're looking for. When I was in most recently, they had a great selection of books, new and old. (Even a first edition Burns collection! Oooh!) Browsing here is always a delight and I could easily kill a good half hour searching! It's all good in my book!

Good place next door to the museum of modern art (goma). This place sells a variety of books & has…read morea small selection of CDs & DVDs. For the size of the place it is well organized & laid out compared to some of disaster zones that call then selfs a charity.

great shop. i love it. There are so many things, books, crystals, etc. When you visit, you will…read morealways want to visit again and again. I always meet a lady at the cashier in the store who recommends things to me if I have a hard time choosing, and she helps me with great warmth and a good aura.

Authenticity of Samantha, excellent selection, traditional preservation and educationread more

What a great place for cut-price books! I was in there yesterday and found several bargains…read more Everything is laid out neatly and there are stacks of books around £2, some only slightly more. Plenty of fiction but also a very good range of Scottish books literature, autobiography, travel, you name it! Many other categories too. In addition to the books, there's an astonishing variety of inexpensive fashionable handbags and attractive low-priced stationery. Good service too and the men behind the tills yesterday were very cheerful and friendly. I'll definitely go back there the next time I'm in the area.

Holy average white english rappers Batman! No, not that Plan b, but the small, but loveable little…read moreindependent comic book shop with an ad hoc coffee shop inside. Ok, it's not got the stock or as wide selection that forbidden planet, A1 or even Waterstones has these days, but for me it its actually better. What? Why? How? Give me reasons I hear you ask? Well I'll give you three; For starters its pretty much 99% graphical novels and tpbs, which in my book is a good thing as gave up collecting individual monthly comics in my teens. POW! It has a 2nd hand section which is a great way to take a chance on new stuff, and if you dont like it you can always trade back in for other stuff SOCK! Even though the new stock isnt as wide, you know that it will have been lovingly selected and hence less risk of a random punt WHAM! The staff are really nice and the coffee pretty good THWACK! Okay, so thats more than three... so plenty of reasons to go!

From the owner: Plan B Books specialises in Graphic Novels, hard to find indie titles as well as mainstream,…read morepaperbacks, and second hand graphic novels too.

Wow, this place is scarily wonderful! I am a huge book lover but I felt hugely out of my depth in…read morethis shop! Not to be mistaken for a secondhand book store, this is most definitely an antiquarian book specialist. You won't find a £1 and under basket at Cooper Hays! However what you can expect is a fantastic selection of rare and alarmingly old books from anywhere between £15 and over £100. These books look like they belong in a museum and are definitely aimed at genuine book connoisseurs! Cooper Hays specialises in books about Scotland and Glasgow in particular and also has a good collection of art books. The reason I love this store though is for the gorgeous old children's books. I was too scared to touch anything and more to the point don't have extra cash lying around to buy antique books with so I left pretty sharpish! However if collecting such books is a hobby of yours then Cooper Hays in definitely worth a look. It is only open during the week but you can make a Saturday appointment if you have a particular request you would like to discuss in detail.

A rare book shop? Have you ever heard of such a thing, its straight out of Indiana Jones, or Lara…read moreCroft. How strange. This place is the real deal, if I was in search of a one of paperback of a tea stained old hardback this would be the place to go. I was particularly scared to touch ANYTHING incase the pages just crumbled away. I didn't want to risk it because I am not sure I had the wad of cash available to pay up if it did break a book? The price tags are also spectacularly rare for bookshops, most hitting above £80, and there was not stopping them, prices soared over £100. There were a few which were not as expensive but these must not be as desirable. I wouldn't know I am just an amateur book reader and have never had my hands on such antiques, although I am sure it would be a surreal feeling to own something so old, which comes with its own history.

The Red Book Shop is situated on London Road, five minutes walk from Trongate. I'd never heard of…read morethis place before I saw it today, lucky since I was just passing and would've missed it had I gone on my usual route to the Barras. It's small and apparently only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday but it's worth checking it out if you're looking for some studying material (especially if you're into your politics, which I'll get to later). Each bookshelf is well ordered and split into sections so it's easy to find what you're looking for if you're in a hurry. It's very well priced and I can imagine it being interesting for book collectors as many of the novels and theory books looked like they were at least 50 years old (great for nostalgia). The books looked in good enough second hand condition, and sometimes it's nice to buy a yellowing, well fingered read, anyway. Shows the book's had more than just a shelf life. The shop also has a collection of political activist T shirts on offer, of a socialist nature. I know statments made on similar T-shirts have been consistently popular amongst fashion conscious students but these ones are especially designed to convey politial messages. I picked up 3 books; one of which was Sense and Sensibility with a gorgeous, well adorned hardback 70s cover. It was what attracted me to it and it didn't escape the attention of the shop owner, who without me having to say began educating me on the style of cover art from that era. The two guys who were in were full of friendly banter and I got 3 books for 3 pounds so I was a happy customer. A lot of the books were political commentaries, and I got the impression the shop was aimed towards people interested in socialist theory (hence the 'Red' in the shop title), but it's not all it's got to offer and so is worth a gander. The emphasis this shop seems to be on ideas and intelligent reading. Be your purpose here be political, on a quest for learning materials or just for kicks, you won't be disappointed (and on a superficial level, it's worth going in just to get a sniff of that delicious old book smell).

Despite now being under the ever-expanding HMV umbrella, Fopp has remained true to its roots and…read morecontinues to be one of the best and most affordable record stores on the high street. As one of the cheapest locations for DVDs and CDs, it's worth a look for all popular titles. Fopp also has a great selection of books, which is fairly limited but, compared with HMV, a vast improvement. Their selection goes beyond the typical rock biographies and cult classics. Prices are amazing also, with several titles as low as £2-3. A couple of months back I picked up Trainspotting and Oliver Twist for £1 apiece! However don't expect to find exactly what you're looking for as stock varies week-to-week. Union Street in particular is an excellent location, with 2 floors and a mezzanine dedicated to all types fo media. Brilliant selection, with bits and bobs such as posters, t-shirts and headphones for all your impulse-purchasing needs. Try to walk out of here empty handed - I dare you!

Fopp. Where your wages magically disappear…read more Slowly but surely getting itself back on track after the previous owners of HMV Group nearly ran it in to oblivion. They are now focusing again on what made them great, £5 albums, a quality vinyl section (stock is constantly getting better) and cheap books! Miles better than scrolling through the iTunes budget section. Even when you have no money you will find yourself buying something. I don't know how that works but it does.

I went this shop and it is suitable for Catholic to go. There is many pray card to be chosen.read more

As Christian book shops go, i have visited a couple. I was brought up in a Christian family, taking…read morean active role in the faith until i was about 16 or 17 and decided to take a step back from it all. My mum and dad are still church-goers though, so occasionally i am coaxed into picking something up for them from places like this, whether it be a get well card with a little biblical reference or a book for my dad. I went into Pauline's in the mindset to get what i wanted and get the heck out, but the staff were realllly nice and frienly and i found myself browsing for perhaps longer than necessary to be polite. I was in for a kids book for a relative who was having a third birthday, and i popped in just to see if they had it. They didn't,. but they did have a whole (heavenly) host of books to choose from. I found it to be quite pricey, with some of the kiddies books coming up at almost £20, pretty steep by any means. I think religious places like this think that it's ok to charge that though, because they are a niche market. I left empty handed and neither here nor there. I would say this wee bookshop is more suited to the Catholic faith, as there were plenty of books relating to that, but if that's your thing, give Pauline's a wee visit.