Even for those who aren’t book nerds, visiting a local queer bookshop should be an essential stop when you’re in a city that is blessed with one.
That’s true even for travellers who don’t speak the local language. LGBTQ2S+ bookshops are community hubs, places where visitors check the pulse of a city through seeing what’s on offer and picking up flyers, or noting posters advertising local events. Some bookshops host events of their own. Their staff, and sometimes their customers, are friendly and usually willing to share what’s happening in the city, making them an easygoing alternative to the bar scene. Many of these stores also carry posters, pins, novelty items and other knick-knacks and souvenirs. More titillating material might found on the racks. Some are local hangouts where you can get coffee, snacks and alcoholic beverages.
Here are our recommendations for the world’s best queer bookstores to visit if you’re in their hometown—and whether they serve food or not. We’ll start with the English-language picks.
London, UK
Gay’s The Word (66 Marchmont St., London). The U.K. is a great country for LGBTQ+ bookshops, especially for English speakers. Scotland’s Category Is Books (34 Allison St., Glasgow) and Manchester’s recently relocated Queer Lit (27 Great Ancoats St., Manchester) both have an excellent selection and great atmosphere. But Gay’s The Word is the U.K.’s oldest queer bookshop, having operated at the same address since 1979. The founders were gay socialists, so there’s a real community ethos here, which is reflected in their event programming.
NOSH OR NOT: Not.
New York, New York
Bureau of General Services—Queer Division (Room 210, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, 208 West 13th St., New York City). Worth visiting for the hysterically dry name alone, this volunteer-run cultural centre, bookshop and event space wears its queer politics on its sleeve. Provocation and sex-positivity are fundamental. Founded in 2012, it had a couple of different homes before landing inside New York’s LGBT Community Center.
NOSH OR NOT: Though the Bureau itself does not serve food, there’s a location of Coffee Project New York on the ground floor of the LGBT Community Center, serving pastries and coffee-based drinks.
Toronto, Ontario
Glad Day (499 Church St., Toronto). In business since 1970, Glad Day is the world’s oldest LGBTQ2S+ bookshop—and it doesn’t look a day over 29. Their mix of essential, hot and Canadian titles is impressive, as is their event lineup. They’ve even got a great selection of used books, and their friendly staff will be happy to bring visitors up to speed on what’s what in the city. Facing a recent budgetary crisis, Glad Day was recently bailed out by a community that deeply loves the store. (For more on Toronto, check out our insider’s guide.)
NOSH OR NOT: Glad Day hosts a drag brunch every Sunday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Throughout their opening hours, they serve coffee, light meals and, at appointed hours, beer, wine and cocktails. In fact, it’s a very good place to meet for a date.
Melbourne, Australia
Hares & Hyenas (Victorian Pride Centre, 79–81 Fitzroy St., St Kilda, Melbourne). Founded in 1991, this bookshop-event space operated in several locations before relocating in 2021 to “under the stairs” on the ground floor of Victoria state’s stylish LGBTQ+ centre. As well as all the recent hot fiction and nonfiction, they sell erotica, DVDs, magazines from around the world and tickets to Melbourne-based events.
NOSH OR NOT: In the bookshop, no. But the Little Social, which is also on the ground floor of the Victoria Pride Centre, serves hot and cold drinks that can be enjoyed in the centre’s loungy lobby. The centre also has a kitchen and bar for special events.
Paris, France
Les Mots à la Bouche (37 Rue Saint-Ambroise, Paris). In 2020, rising rents forced this beloved bookshop to move from Le Marais—the Parisian gaybourhood that the store had been instrumental in establishing—to the 11th arrondissement. Fortunately, it’s just a short walk from Le Marais and the new location is just lovely. Though the store, founded in 1980, has scholarly and popular titles, its large collection of art and photography books, some of them erotic, makes it a true browser’s paradise. You don’t have to speak French to want to handle the merchandise.
NOSH OR NOT: Not.
Madrid, Spain
Libreria Berkana (C/ de Hortaleza 62, Centro, Madrid). Located in the heart of the Chueca neighbourhood, this is the perfect place to take a break from shopping for jockstraps or drinking pints. You’ll see more twunks and hunks here than at other places on our list. The pink façade and plant-dabbled interior make the place feel special even if you don’t run into its two charming owners, Mili Hernández and Mar de Griñó, who founded the store in 1993.
NOSH OR NOT: Not.
Mexico City, Mexico
Somos Voces (Calle de Niza 23, Juárez, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City). Following the international books-cultural centre-events formula, but with a Mexico twist, Somos Voces (formerly Voces en Tinta) has everything from academic journals to Pride flags to comicbooks to manga to games. The right author or performer will really pack ’em into the event space.
NOSH OR NOT: This is Mexico; of course, there’s food and drinks. They’ve got everything from espresso to beer to hamburgers to pasta alfredo.
Milan, Italy
Libreria Antigone (Via Antonio Kramer 20, Milan). Many of the businesses on our list strike a balance between being politically queer (including a fulsome embrace of feminist and socialist ideals) and being appealing to non-activists and casual shoppers. Antigone leans more toward the latter—though they’ll also sell you a Pride flag. There’s a sibling store in the Italian capital (Via dei Piceni 1, Rome). (For more on Milan, check out our insider’s guide.)
NOSH OR NOT: Not.
Berlin, Germany
Prinz Eisenherz Buchladen (Motzstraße 23, Berlin). Founded by left-leaning activists in 1978, making it Europe’s oldest surviving queer bookstore, this well-stocked literary battleground still has a countercultural vibe. But it’s not all about politics. In a 2018 interview, its manager declared, “Our ideal customer is the typical gay man who buys Proust and a porn.”
Alkmaar, Netherlands
De Queer Boekenkast (Laat 204A Postbus, Alkmaar). Heartbreak alert. The newest entry on our list was founded in March 2023 by two fiancés, Thomas Philip Acid and Valentijn Ringelberg. Tragically, Ringelberg died just weeks after the opening and before the couple married. Acid has kept his lover’s legacy alive, and in May 2024 De Queer Boekenkast won the Community Award at the Winq Diversity Awards. Since English is widely spoken in the Netherlands, there are almost as many English titles as Dutch. Though the shop is in a small town outside Amsterdam, it’s easy to reach by transit.
NOSH OR NOT: Not.
Taipei, Taiwan
GinGin Books (8 Roosevelt Rd., Alley 8, Ln. 210, Sec 3, Zhongzheng District, Taipei). Selling the gay word for more than 25 years, Asia’s only entry on our list, and the first such store in Taiwan, is a truly one-stop rainbow shop. GinGin has something for every queer, whether it’s fiction, manga, sex toys, clothes, gifts or adults-only reading material.
NOSH OR NOT: Not.
