For me, Abbeys vies with Gleebooks for the title of Sydney's best retailer of new books. The shop is large and well laid out, the stock is extensive, and they offer a "happy hour" every Thursday night 7.00 PM to 8.00 PM when there is 5% off all stock. Best of all their services is that they will order any book from anywhere for you, and are prompt in informing you when it arrives. Gift vouchers may also be purchased, and are a wonderful present. [CC]
Definitely worth a visit after Galaxy, just to get grounded again. Abbey's is a well-organised and large bookshop, extensively stocked with all subject matter and not part of a huge chain. Excellent worldwide ordering service, plus gift vouchers. Also publishers of free monthly 'Crime Chronicle' and 'Abbey's Advocate' newsletters. [PY, 08/2001]
Attached to Abbeys is the Language Book Centre, which offers an impressive range of material in a wide range of languages. They also have a science fiction bookshop Galaxy, which is right nearby [DY, 2003]
Shops in Paddington and the Rocks. Open till midnight, this is a great place to hang out after a concert or film.
A comprehensive range of art books from prehistoric to postmodernism, artists biographies and monographs from Michelangelo to Bacon.
Also provides school and library supplies and a selected range of our most popular prints, posters and other merchandise.
Just off the Devonshire St tunnel, near Central
It really is basement books now, as it is located below the street line. A far greater range than the new remainder store further up George St. [Stuart, 06/2003]
Many branches around Sydney, all generally well stocked with good selections covering all subject matter. The main branch is at 424-425 George Street, well worth a visit. SF and Fantasy are well-represented in all branches with current UK editions; as is the usual rule, the bigger the shop the bigger the selection. Some SF/Fantasy can also be found in remaindered/discounted tables in some branches, positioned at the entrance.
Dymocks Building, 424-425 George Street
The major branch, especially strong on fiction, also providing guides, maps, and a decent balcony cafe (art supplies, stationery at Dymocks Stationery next door at 428 George Street). The basement houses a superb SF/F section in which can be found plenty of rarities and SF-related toys and DVDs (almost enough to rival Galaxy) plus a good section on fannish stuff, comics and marginal literature; also down there is a large, excellent children's books section with quite a bit of computer-based learning material. Knowledgable staff on hand to help track something down, and definitely worth a visit; this is the kind of bookshop that ought to be open late every evening. [PY, October 2001]
350 George Street: Largish basement branch, good general reference & computing sections.
A nice mix of new and secondhand books. Shops in the CBD (Pitt St) and Newtown (King St).
Mostly Japanese books, with a few shelves of English books. Very friendly staff, has an interesting manga collection. [LW, 11/2006]
SF/F. Also specialises in Star Trek and role playing games. Books on history and mythology for those who want to do a little world exploring, distributor of local (and national?) SF magazines, some overseas ones as well (e.g. Twin Peaks). Lots of the latest releases and a wide range which amazingly doesn't mesh with Minotaur Books in Melbourne (I visited one after the other). A block down from the Queen Vic Building towards Darling Harbour. [LR]
Now rehomed alongside their sister store Abbeys in slightly larger premises, Galaxy is Australia's oldest and largest specialist for SF/F/Horror. The Sydney equivalent of London's Forbidden Planet, this comprehensive store stocks an even spread of US & UK titles currently in print (there are plenty of gems to be found here), plus a disappointingly small 2nd-hand section (connected to their book-credit rewards scheme) and a useful SF reference section which contains some rare bibliographies, chapbooks and critiques, many vastly overpriced (the poorly-stapled 20-page A5 ones, anyway) as a result of their rarity. Large sections are devoted to Dr. Who, Star Trek and Star Wars (all books and videos) and SF-related subjects (SF art, popular science, a comprehensive horror section, ufology, folklore, etc.).
Galaxy also has a good selection of DVDs, videos and film-related merchandise and recent SF magazines published worldwide, plus frequent signings from famous SF/Fantasy authors and stars (check out the Rogues Gallery in the entrance). Customers are requested to consider the shop a 'spoiler-free zone', forbidding discussion of the latest episodes of Farscape, Buffy, Trek etc., probably with a sordid variety of terrible punishments reserved for transgressors. They also publish Nexus, a free monthly newsletter of brief SF reviews written by its staff, making the entire operation the central focus for Sydney's SF community. [PY, 08/2001 updated 03/2003]
This shop has a large and well-priced range of secondhand CDs with new stock coming in constantly. The books are also wide-ranging and cheap (though because they're new they're not so cheap as secondhand shops). I buy a lot of new paperback novels here as they have 30% to 50% off. The staff are not particularly helpful, and the name needs updating as there's nary a record in sight. Takes credit cards. [CC]
Similar and close to T. Kelly's, with a good mixture of subject matter, a fairly even spread between hardback and paperback and a limited supply of CDs. The SF/F section is well stocked with UK & US paperbacks from the past 30 years, mostly cheap, with some recent publications in excellent condition, a few rarities. [PY, 08/2001]
Dealers in Fine, Old & Rare books. Catalogues for Bushranging & Colonial Crime and Travel & Exploration are online.
These shops (like the George Street Book and Record Exchange) stock new books and secondhand CDs. The range is inferior, however. There are also porn magazines. Takes credit cards. [CC]
Always an excellent selection of recent SF/F/Horror remainders and a good range of decent secondhand SF plus plenty of mainstream and classic fiction. Good selection of CDs. This place really is worth a visit. [PY, 08/2001]
A Japanese based chain. A large store which seems to have different suppliers to other chains, so they get some unique new books. Very strong on art, design, manga and Japanese books. [LW, 11/2006]
Covering all things military in recent and ancient history, Napoleons also has a gaming section with a large range of fantasy war-gaming handbooks available going back almost to the dawn of the Dungeons & Dragons era! The shop also does special orders, catalogues and mail orders. [PY, updated 11/2006]
A specialised bookshop servicing the art, architecture and design communities. Only the latest titles are kept in stock.
Attached to the State Library of New South Wales, the Library Shop specialises in Australian books and prints. Using the latest digital technology it also offers archival quality reproductions of photographs, maps, oil paintings, watercolours, drawings and panoramas from the collections of the Library.