The Rise of Bookstores in the Instagram Era: A New Chapter for Booksellers
In an age when life is captured, shared, and hashtagged from every nook and cranny, Instagram darlings have emerged as booksellers’ most recent set of prized possessions. But while the smell of ink on paper, the gentle rustling murmur of pages, and the flicker of an e-reader continue to pulse as strongly as the bibliophile’s heartbeat, an equally strong tale writes itself all over again—this time on the fast-scrolling screens of the social media platforms. Enter the stage: bookshops of world fame, where the pull of literature has reached a compromise with the charm of aesthetics and found itself coming together to create the perfect storm for the ‘shelfie. Summary Guru, the leading literary analysis site, gives insight into the emerging trend of Instagram-worthy bookstores catering to aesthete booklovers. With over 100 million #bookstagram posts growing, photogenic bookshops allow visitors to blend bookish wanderlust with content creation.
Exploring the World’s Most Instagrammable Bookstores: A Visual Journey
While these bookstores come together with a combined total of just over 100 million #bookstagram posts, their intent is much more than what is on the shelf but really how it is all presented. Introducing the best of the best in this trend.
The Last Bookstore, Los Angeles
Leading the pack is a former bank turned shrine to literature at The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles. With marble pillars, vaulted ceilings, and a breathtaking space, the bookstore comes with no doubt: It makes any corner or a wide-angle lens its ideal subject.
In the signature book tunnel, and through the oval cutout that even now greets visitors in so many Instagram photos, a kaleidoscope of color-coded spines and dynamic displays invite passersby to be lost in a world where literature and art collide.
Shakespeare and Company, Paris
Shakespeare and Company is also a little home by the Seine, almost opposite the Notre Dame, across an ocean from her dwelling in Paris. This English bookshop is an institution in the making, from the snug, meandering rooms to new and vintage books.
A place where magic is real, with a story from each of its corners, this has to be visited by all who chase the allure of literary history through their lenses.
Livraria Lello, Porto
Portugal’s Livraria Lello, with its Neo-Gothic façade and lavish interior, takes the third spot.
From the stained glass ceilings to the great-looking grand staircase with something from a fairy tale book tower, there is endless inspiration for any budding photographers out there. That is where architecture hugs literature and forms a climate as luring as the tales one finds between the walls.
Powell’s, Portland
Powell’s runs the full city block of Portland and, some say, is literally and unquestionably a trip to the absolutely creepy. The rows of books look as though they go on forever, filled in each slot. While the other is color-coded sections of the store, a Rare Book Room, and the world’s only Espresso Book Machine offer many opportunities to peruse the offerings and find the ideal gift. It’s a neat nod to the power of reading in this day and age of visual narratives.
Book and Bed, Tokyo
Finally in Tokyo, Book and Bed weds a love of books with the hostel concept into something really special when you can doze off amongst the literature. Whimsically decorated with a café of books and a bar, it was the haven for those taking words literally. It underlines the very heart of modern travel and timeless love for reading. These bookstores call out to the ever-present beauty in books and the places that hold them—one Instagram at a time, traveling the world. Therein, they are beacons of hope for such people who are aesthetically oriented, proving that the love of all things tangible has by no means diminished in the wake of the digital age of consumption. The other senses sanction the enjoyment of the smell of books and the luscious visual appeal of a well-arranged and curated shelfie. Instead, it has found a new expression, inviting us all to explore, snap, and share the unending joy of reading.