7 New England Bookstores Worth the Detour
Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, one of my favorite summer activities other than having my swim trunks ripped off by the surf on Moody Beach in Wells, Maine, was haunting the bookstores around town.
There used to be bookstores close to every beach – new, used, and a combination of both. Amazon put all of those out of business by the early 2000s, but now that people have come to realize what an asset a great bookseller is, independent bookstores have enjoyed a significant resurgence.
There was a point there in the mid-2000s when independent bookstores were nearly extinct, but New England has provided a perfect place for them to thrive. The New England Booksellers Association says that there are more than 190 independent bookstores around the region, many of which are located around some of the more popular summer destinations. There are cities and towns that now have four or five different booksellers, each with their own specialties and strengths.
I’m driving the Volvo XC40 this week – a perfect vehicle for running around to some of my favorites. And as a heat dome covers the entire northeast, followed with a week of rainy days, you might be looking for a little diversion yourself, and a little side quest on your vacation might be in order.
Connecticut
Bank Square Books
80 Stonington Rd.
Mystic, CT 06355
(860) 536-3795
Bank Square Books has been purveying literature since 1988, now in its most recent location in a nicely designed strip mall across from the Big Y grocery store, just across the bridge from the Mystic River Historic District where Mystic Pizza has its home. The store’s events calendar is brimming with author talks, including a book signing on July 25 with Eric Jay Dolin, the author of The Wreck of the Mentor, one of the New York Times’s most anticipated non-fiction books of 2026.
Rhode Island
Charter Books
8 Broadway
Newport, RI 02840
(401) 236-8678
Island Books
575 E Main Rd
Middletown, RI 02842
(401) 849-2665
The Newport area sports two independent bookstores – Charter Books and Island Books – both of which will feed your desire to find yourself inside the text of Gabrielle Zevin’s The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. Charter Books was founded in 2020 and named for the Rhode Island Royal Charter of 1663, while Island Books has been selling reading materials on Aquidneck Island for over 30 years.
Massachusetts
Aesop’s Fable
400 Washington Street, Suite 200
Holliston, MA 01746
(508) 429-2031
I’m taking you off the beach to my closest independent bookstore in the little town of Holliston, just off 495. Launched in 2019, Aesop’s Fable has a deceptively large inventory for a space not much bigger than your living room. They not only sell fiction and non-fiction, but their selection of Legos is unmatched in the area, which is what earned them their tagline “Books and bricks for all ages.”
New Hampshire
Reedmor Books and Brews
67 State St.
Portsmouth, NH 03801
(603) 368-1199
Reedmor has a fascinating history: Owner Nissa Bagelman’s great-grandparents immigrated from Ukraine to Center City in Philadelphia, where they opened a book and magazine store called Reedmor Magazine Co. Bagelman says that her great-grandparents were new to the English language and thinks maybe that’s why their store was named “Reedmor.” Her family ran the store until the Amazons of the world destroyed independent bookstores in the 2000s. She’s opened this store in the heart of historic Portsmouth and combined it with a bar and café featuring an extensive beer list.
Vermont
Northshire Bookstore
4869 Main St
Manchester Center, VT 05255
(800) 437-3700
When I was grinding out copy for Hemmings Motor News in Bennington, Vermont, I used to spend a disturbing percentage of my meager paycheck at Northshire Bookstore in Manchester. It was really the first independent bookstore to come out of the Great Amazon Decimation of the Early Oughts even stronger than it went in, supplementing its incredible selection of books with an excellent café and bakery. It later expanded to a second, similarly beloved location in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Maine
Back Cove Books
651 Forest Ave, Unit 1
Portland, ME 04101
Maine – particularly Portland – has an embarrassment of some of the best independent bookstores in New England. With authors like Stephen King and Paul Doiron cranking out Maine-based thrillers on the regular, it’s no surprise that there’s almost a captive audience of people who come to the Pine Tree State just for the literature. There are at least five great bookstores in Portland, but my favorite is Back Cove Books, with a staff that is almost guaranteed to find you your next favorite read.
