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A Reader’s Guide to the Best Bookshops in Tasmania
Tasmania’s best bookshops span cellar libraries, wine-filled reading rooms and upstairs dens of rare titles. Here are the must-visit stops for readers exploring Hobart, Launceston and the Heritage Highway.
There’s a singular pleasure in wandering a Tasmanian bookshop: the quiet invitation of Woolf, the surreal pull of Murakami, the heft of Dickens, the bright clarity of Sontag, all gathered within easy reach. Down here, between rugged coastlines and cool mountain air, these shops feel less like retailers and more like book-lined worlds — part Pemberley, part Donna Tartt labyrinth, each shelf offering its own flicker of discovery.
Browse with Austen’s steady curiosity or hop between genres with the zeal of a first-edition hunter; Tasmania rewards the unhurried roamer. Here, stories seem to edge forward from their spines, drawing you in until your day rearranges itself around the quiet thrill of reading.
These bookshops in Tasmania are our top picks.
Five Leaves Left – Wine & Books
Five Leaves Left pairs unexpected reads with lo-fi wines in a way that feels instantly clever. The shelves favour indie presses, overlooked gems and beautifully seasoned secondhand titles, while the chilled wines lean bright, textural and small-batch. You step inside for a swift browse and suddenly you’re matching bottles with paperbacks, already plotting an evening steeped in both. A concise, delightful Tassie bookshop for anyone who enjoys discovery with a side of good drinking.
Ground Floor, Shop 2/41-43 Victoria Street, Hobart
Cracked and Spineless New and Used Books
Cracked and Spineless brings a thrilling sense of rummage to Hobart’s book landscape. Volumes tower in loose, improvised arrangements that pull you through noir, sci-fi curiosities, cult favourites and well-travelled classics. Each visit yields something you didn’t know you wanted — a neglected paperback, a strange relic, a story waiting to be reclaimed. The team knows this terrain intimately, adding a welcome human thread to the hunt.
Imperial Arcade, Unit 9/138 Collins Street, Hobart
The Hobart Bookshop
Anchored in Salamanca Square, The Hobart Bookshop brings a calm, deeply bookish charm to the waterfront. Shelves brim with new releases, beautifully kept pre-loved titles and a rich sweep of Tasmanian writing — art, history, memoir, fiction with a local heartbeat. The team guides with warmth, pointing you toward stories that stay with you long after you’ve closed the cover. A truly easy place to lose track of time.
22 Salamanca Square, Hobart
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Deja Vu Books
Inside Salamanca’s heritage arcades, Deja Vu Books feels like stepping beneath the skin of an earlier century. Hardbacks with weathered edges, sun-softened paperbacks and long-retired editions line the shelves, creating an atmosphere of textual archaeology. The owner moves through it all with instinctive ease, leading visitors toward titles they didn’t realise they’d been hoping to find. A compact stop for readers drawn to objects with age, detail and lived history.
Salamanca Arts Centre, 77 Salamanca Place, Hobart
State Bookstore
State Bookstore lives in step with its venerable cinema neighbour, carrying the same reverence for storytelling but giving it a tactile twist. Art monographs sit beside architectural deep-dives, travel writing unfolds like tiny escape routes, and the stationery wall reads like a love letter to paper itself. Nothing here feels incidental; every piece mirrors the building’s long creative lineage. Drop in before or after a screening, and the whole experience gathers a pleasing, quietly cinematic continuity.
377 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart
Black Swan Bookshop & Coffee
Black Swan sets its own assured pace in New Norfolk’s main streets. Books are chosen with a reader’s instinct rather than an algorithm’s logic, giving the shelves a pleasing unpredictability — contemporary novels beside old favourites, art titles nudging memoir, something intriguing always in reach. The coffee adds its own steady allure, encouraging you to linger over your finds. It feels deeply rooted in its town: warm, unfussy, and shaped by someone who genuinely loves the written word.
11 Stephen Street, New Norfolk
Richmond Reading Room
Richmond Reading Room keeps things refreshingly straightforward: early-morning coffee, flaky pastries and shelves of second-hand books priced for casual browsing rather than collecting. The space has an unfussy, lived-in feel that suits the pace of Richmond’s main street, drawing locals on their way to work and visitors exploring the village. You might come in for a flat white and leave with a paperback you didn’t plan on, which is exactly the quiet pleasure this little stop delivers.
28A Bridge Street, Richmond
The Book Cellar
Set beneath the stone arches of a convict-built inn, The Book Cellar offers one of Tasmania’s most atmospheric browsing experiences. Contemporary reads sit alongside antiquarian volumes, while its renowned Tasmanian history collection underscores the space with real weight. Coffee in hand, you move through cool alcoves stacked with titles that trace the island’s past, its writers and its obsessions. It’s an essential Heritage Highway stop — textured, historic and truly memorable.
132/132 High Street, Campbell Town
Quixotic Books
Hidden upstairs on Brisbane Street, Quixotic Books rewards anyone drawn to the strange or seldom-seen. The shelves lean toward rare, out-of-print and highly specific titles rarely found in larger shops. Sections shift from forgotten novels to curious non-fiction, with a book-finding service for deeper quests. The space feels a touch clandestine, like entering a private library where every shelf has its own agenda. A memorable Launceston bookshop for readers who relish the pursuit.
109 Brisbane Street, Launceston
From Hobart’s waterfront shelves to Launceston’s upstairs hideaways, Tasmania rewards readers with bookshops shaped by place, history and people who truly care about the craft. Whether you’re tracing the Heritage Highway, pausing in a village cafe or wandering through the city’s cultural pockets, each stop opens a new doorway into the island’s stories. Pack a tote, leave space for serendipity, and let the next chapter of your trip unfold between the covers. For more inspo around this wild, remarkable state, explore our guide to Bicheno and our favourite North Hobart restaurants.
