6 of my Favourite Second-Hand Bookshops in the West End

​   As an avid bookworm, I like to visit the second-hand bookshops every week, to browse for something new to read. I have become familiar now with the bookstores that the West End has to offer and have a few favourite ones.

 ​1. Book fair at the Botanic Gardens, 730 Great Western Road
   The book fair is not the traditional bookshop, but it is packed with different books, maps, old cards and comics. They have a range of book genres: Children Books, Fiction and Non-Fiction, Natural History, Horticulture, Arts and Crafts, Science and Transport, Military and Aviation and many more. The fair is held once or twice a month at the Botanic Gardens and it invites all those people who are going for a walk, to check it out. The next one is the 14th   - 16th July, you can check future dates on the What's On Glasgow website.

---

2. Voltaire and Rousseau, 12 Otago Lane
   ​Located on Otago Lane, next to Tchai-ovna tea house, Voltaire and Rousseau is the bookstore where you will find a book to buy among the hundreds piles of books. You can literally spend hours there if you want to check everything they have, but you’ll still find something new to read every time you go. Even if you don’t know what you are looking for, you will always find something to capture your interests. 

---

3. Oxfam Bookshop, 330 Byres Road
    The bookshop is not that big, but buying second-hands books there is rewarding not only because you are giving a new life to an old book, but because it is for a charitable cause. You can also find a lot of fair trade products there like coffee, tea, rugs and chocolate. Perfect for a last-minute birthday gift.

4. Shelter, 679 Great Western Road
    Every time I go to Shelter, the bookshelves there seem to have something new and interesting. Compared to the other second-hand bookshops, the choice in Shelter is not that big, but I am sure there will be something that you will like. They have recipe books, classical literature, fiction and non-fiction, and children’s books. If you are studying English Literature you can find a lot of the required reading there.

5. Caledonian Books, 483 Great Western Road
   This bookshop has two floors, hence the abundance of books. There are a range of categories: classical literature, Scottish literature, military books, arts, and many more. On the lower floor, there are atlases, maps, and encyclopaedias. The books are catalogued by genre, so if you know what  book genre  you are looking for, it is easy to find. 

---

​6. Barnardo’s at Maryhill Shopping Centre
   Even though it is not in the West End, Barnado’s Donation Centre has one of the best book deals in town 4 books for 99p. It used to be 4 for £3 which was still a pretty good deal. I never visit the shopping centre without popping in to check what they have in stock. Once I was lucky to find 2 books in Bulgarian and the sales person told me that there are often foreign books, especially Polish ones. So, it is worth checking.

---

P.S. Don't  Read This