CH5: Bookstores

After two solid days of cranking through Shanghai’s 36º heat on a fixed gear to visit 10 locations, I offer you the CH5: Creative Bookstores. Don’t look here to find out where to pick up your latest Tom Robbins, Hemingway classics, or R.L. Stines. But if you’re in need of a Phaidon and Taschen fix, or if it looks like your coffee table can use a new addition, check out one of these fine establishments.






This cozy bookstore / café in Moganshan boasts one of the best selections of design / art / architecture books in town. In fact, the entire store is dedicated to the genre, and they’re expanding the selection weekly. The books are laid out in a stylish yellow, grid-style library all along the left-hand-side of the long store. The first several sections are Chinese language, but foreign books abound. And if for some reason they don’t have what you’re looking for, they can special order it. No one cares as much about providing a good selection as these guys. I dare say it’s my favorite place in Moganshan.








This little shop packs quite a punch. It shares its location with a Coffee Bean in the Bridge 8 complex and it was obviously conceived with the foreign creative in mind. It has the best assortment of magazines in town, and a well-organized selection of books that spans all fields: landscape design, design theory, commercial interior design, fashion design, etc… Plus the Coffee Bean is right there...

Shop 9101, Block 9 “Bridge 8”,
25 Jianguo Zhong Lu
www.pointtolife.com






Conveniently located in the Jing'an district, this shop has a relatively large section dedicated to creative books, as well as your staple art / design and fashion magazines. They can also arrange subscriptions for many publications (i.e. Wallpaper* and i-D). Their travel section is also worth mentioning being that it includes a full collection of Wallpaper* Travel Guides. The store itself lacks all the flare found in the books it sells, but the selection and location make it a worthwhile spot.

555 Wuding Lu
www.cnpiecsb.com/
6215 0555 (ext. 220)
9am – 5:30pm






The journey to the 7th-floor of this gargantuan bookstore will certainly lose its novelty after the first time, but you can find some good Chinese and foreign art / design books. The Chinese language selection is more impressive, with many translations of foreign books, but you can also find titles from a wide range of creative genres in English. Any book you'll potentially want to look at will be behind glass, so you'll have to find the right floor manager to unlock the display. You're also welcome to try out the store’s full line of eye massagers, that is, if the bookstore’s security guards haven’t already fallen asleep with them on.

465 Fuzhou Lu
www.001town.com
6391 4848
9am – 9pm






Garden Books on Changle Lu offers a more general selection of English-language books but is a little thin in the art / design department. If you're looking to pick up another copy of Tropic of Cancer anyways, you could always stop in and test your luck.

325 Changle Lu
www.gardenbooks.cn
5404 8728
10am – 10pm