No Longer a Secret! Discover Shanghai's 15 Must-Visit Bookstores and Find the Interesting Souls Behind Their Stunning Looks!

📍 Shanghai · 👁 2 reads · ❤️ 173 likes

With the rise and popularity of online bookstores, physical bookstores are stepping up their game. One after another, beautifully designed physical bookstores are emerging. The lingering scent of ink, the thoughtfully crafted reading environments—all these let you experience the beauty of humanity and the joy of reading. Follow in the footsteps of Yuzijiang and his wife to visit these literary bookstores in Shanghai that combine both aesthetics and substance, and find the interesting souls behind their high attractiveness.

1. Duoyun Books Flagship Store

2. Happiness Collection

3. Light Space

4. Geometry Bookstore

5. Pearl Life Aesthetics Museum

6. Sinan Books Poetry Store

7. Sinan Books (Fuxing Middle Road Branch)

8. JIC Books

9. Zhongshuge

10. Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore READWAY

11. Reader Bookstore

12. Writer's Bookstore

13. Yan Ji You

14. Sisyphe Bookstore

15. Jingzihao Bookstore

Duoyun Books Flagship Store

Address: 52nd Floor, Shanghai Tower

Admission: Free, reservation via "Century Duoyun"

Shanghai Tower, the closest place to the clouds in Shanghai; Duoyun Books, a bookstore floating in the clouds; what happens when the two combine? What is the world above the clouds like? Look up at the clouds, look down at books. The Duoyun Books flagship store on the 52nd floor of Shanghai Tower is the highest "sky bookstore" in Shanghai.

Renowned architect Yu Ting at a height of 239 meters drew inspiration from literati landscape paintings, using black and white colors and ink-like rounded lines to create a "Landscape · Secret Realm." Two sky gardens run through the "Landscape · Secret Realm"—Cape of Good Hope South and Cape of Good Hope North. Cape of Good Hope South faces the flowing Huangpu River, with a large lounge area that will later host new book launches, sharing sessions, and other cultural events.

Cape of Good Hope North is the dining area of C-Café, Century Duoyun's own brand, facing the soaring Huangpu River. It's incredibly pleasant.

Upon entering the Duoyun Books flagship store, the first thing you encounter is "Landscape," a fresh and natural white area with countless continuous floor-to-ceiling bookshelves forming a series of book tunnels. Because the shelves are translucent, at first glance, it truly feels like strolling through the clouds.

The black area opens the "Secret Realm" mode of the flagship store. Unlike the relatively open layout before, this is like a maze of books, composed of round spaces, serene and solemn.

The Duoyun Books flagship store consists of seven functional areas, covering a bookstore, lectures, exhibitions, coffee, desserts, and light meals. There are also selected branded cultural and creative products.

Happiness Collection

Address: 1st Floor, Blackstone Apartment, 1331 Fuxing Middle Road

Happiness Collection is located on the first floor of Blackstone Apartment. As soon as you step in, you'll see the original 1924 mosaic floor tiles of the building. An arched corridor, with white as the main tone paired with dark green wall tiles and mosaic floor tiles, is deep, serene, and rustic romantic.

The fishbone-shaped corridor has three rooms on each side, transformed into seven themed "collection rooms": Children's Collection, Inspiration Collection, Lifestyle Collection, Vision Collection, Music & Art Collection, Culture Collection, and Vinyl Listening Room. Rooms on the same side are interconnected, so each space is independent yet connected.

The whimsical Children's Collection is eye-catching.

The Vinyl Listening Room has record players and vinyl records where you can sample music you're interested in. You can also sit down with a cup of aromatic coffee, fully experiencing the renewed vitality of the old building and the unique charm of the music neighborhood.

Pick a good book and sit quietly to read.

The space also features derivatives and music elements full of traditional Chinese culture.

"Light Space" Xinhua Bookstore

Address: 7th Floor, Aegean Place Shopping Park, Hongjing Road

Xinhua Bookstore's transformational work, a landmark in Shanghai, designed by international master Tadao Ando. You could easily spend a whole day immersed in this sea of books.

Entering the Light Space Xinhua Bookstore, the first thing you see are wooden bookshelves of varying heights. The square cutouts in the shelves let you take in the layers of bookshelves leading deeper inside. The interplay of distant light and the beauty of repetitive squares creates a scene like a dream mirror.

The bookstore covers over 4,000 square meters. The core area connecting the 7th-floor Light Space Xinhua Bookstore and the 8th-floor Pearl Art Museum looks like a giant egg from the outside! This area is called the Heart Hall. The first thing you see are bookshelves wrapping around the entire function hall—tall bookshelves and double-height bookshelves are truly spectacular.

The most beautiful bookstore lives up to its reputation! Hold a good book and you can while away a whole afternoon.

Geometry Bookstore

Address: LG1, Century Link Mall, 1192 Century Avenue

Located in Century Link Mall in Pudong, this is a mysterious "cave" with unique arched doors and a primordial cave design.

In the spacious, geometrically shaped open area, a wide variety of books are displayed, enough to dazzle. Fortunately, the categorization is well done, so you can quickly find your favorite books.

Deep within the bookstore hides a café called "Geographer," continuing the cave style of the bookstore. It feels like an escape from the world, relaxing both body and mind.

Pearl Life Aesthetics Museum

Address: 1 Century Avenue

Many might not know that right in the heart of Lujiazui CBD, at the foot of the Oriental Pearl Tower, there is a library tucked away. This glass house is a quiet oasis amidst the bustling city, lush with greenery, making the Shanghai Pearl Life Aesthetics Museum a truly special place.

Besides indoor space, there are two open-air gardens—front and back courtyards. The abundance of greenery contrasts sharply with the towering buildings. And this is not just a library; it also serves coffee and cakes, providing a quiet, healthy, and quality living space for busy white-collar workers and first-time visitors.

There is a large collection of books. The library area is a collaboration with Dayin Books, featuring over ten thousand selected books on design, architecture, art, creative living, etc. You can read them on-site or buy them to take home. The reading spaces aren't conventional desks and chairs but mostly comfortable, casual armchairs.

Sinan Books · Poetry Store

Address: 16 Gaolan Road

Admission: Free, reservation via "Century Duoyun"

The Sinan Books Poetry Store is converted from a historic Eastern Orthodox church, with a towering onion-shaped dome that gives it an exotic feel.

Inside the church, bookshelves are made of metal perforated panels. When sunlight streams through the transparent windows, it mingles with the store's lighting, creating a magical world of light and shadow.

The bookstore is not big, with spaces divided by the original columns, consisting of a central bookshelf area, a cultural and creative products area, and a picture book area. The central area is filled with thousands of poetry collections, essays, criticism, and other books from eight countries. Poetry comes from 11 major countries, including China, Japan, France, the UK, Poland, Germany, the US, Italy, Ireland, Russia, and Austria.

The eye-catching cultural and creative products are mainly small, playful items that are very appealing. Sycamore leaf chocolates, church-themed ornaments, etc., are quite creative.

Sinan Books (Fuxing Middle Road Branch)

Address: 517 Fuxing Middle Road

Admission: Free, reservation via "Century Duoyun"

Sinan Books is located in a street-facing building in the Sinan Mansions area. This building was once the residence of Feng Yuxiang and has now been converted into a bookstore. The three-story Western-style house shows the designer's care in every corner, perfectly combining all the concepts of a modern-day influencer spot while keeping the theme of books at its core. It's undeniably a cultural influencer.

Sinan Books has four floors, and every corner of each floor has a living-like reading space where readers can "sit and read":

On the first floor, there are "One Person Reading Spot" and "Two People Reading Spot," individual desks scattered among the bookshelves. Each reading nook provides ample light and comfortable chairs for readers who want to stop and read.

On the second floor, the coffee bar and sofa seating area has warm, bright orange lighting, exuding a noble vintage feel. Books are neatly arranged.

The staircase from the second to the third floor is particularly unique, lighting up automatically with text displayed on the steps, full of creativity.

The third floor is a literary reading space.

The fourth floor, "Banmu Cloud Room," is not yet open.

JIC Books

Address: 1st Floor, Jiayu Building, Building 8, 18 Gongping Road

Situated on the North Bund, adjacent to the Huangpu River, the bookstore is by a yacht marina, with Lujiazui financial district across the river. The whole bookstore has a strong British academic style; some readers call it the Hogwarts School of Magic Bookshop. JIC Books is highly artistic, with a finely crafted layout. The corners are decorated with sculptures, floor lamps, photographs, and plants, giving it an artistic vibe.

Each section is a small world. Soothing music and soft lighting make it easy to calm down. The store has a large collection of books and also sells art pieces, stationery, tea sets, interesting ceramics, etc.

Zhongshuge (Réel Department Store)

Address: 4th Floor, Réel Department Store, 1601 West Nanjing Road

You're probably familiar with Zhongshuge in Thames Town and the branch in Minhang District, both with exquisite decor and design. This new branch in Réel Department Store is again stunningly beautiful! The store is on the fourth floor, not large, but once inside, you'll find there's much more than meets the eye—a whole world within.

Clever use of mirrors creates a disorienting beauty. Taking photos here gives a sense of spatially staggered beauty, as if you're in "Inception." Bookshelves line both sides, forming a massive corridor of books, like an endlessly extending path, giving a powerful sense of awe.

Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore READWAY

Address: 4th-5th Floor, Xintiandi Plaza, 333 Middle Huaihai Road

As you step off the escalator, you see this bookstore with natural wood-toned decor—this is Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore READWAY. Although it only has two floors, there are plenty of Instagrammable spots. The staircase inside the store and the offline café by a famous magazine are photo hot spots! The most eye-catching is a highly artistic spiral staircase.

READWAY stands for the way of reading, hoping that through reading, one can embark on a path of growth. Its target readers are mainly young people aged 18 to 35, so the book selection inclines toward fashion, design, and youth literature. It has two floors with tens of thousands of titles.

Look at these rows of neatly arranged books, like a vast ocean for you to swim in.

READWAY is not just a bookstore; it's an innovative cultural space and a lifestyle aesthetics space. The cultural and creative products here are also dazzling.

Reader Bookstore (The Bund Flagship Store)

Address: Room 103, 230 Jiujiang Road

Do you still remember the magazine "Reader" that accompanied our youth? For a whole generation, this was a very familiar magazine. On Jiujiang Road near the Bund, a bookstore has opened—the Reader Bookstore Shanghai flagship store. It incorporates many elements of "Reader" magazine.

Bringing Dunhuang and Gansu features into the bookstore, you can stand inside a "real" scripture cave, with walls covered in Dunhuang art pictures and unique lighting—perfect for memorable photos.

A small spiral staircase has a strong Republic-era flavor. The bookstore specially allocated this area, filling it with furniture and lamps that evoke the era's style.

The Magazine Bridge on the second floor is a signature feature, with different-year issues of "Reader" spread across, presenting frozen moments of time.

Writer's Bookstore

Address: 677 Julu Road

On Julu Road is the Shanghai Writers' Association, with magazines like "Sprout" based here. At the entrance of the association is its own bookstore, called Writer's Bookstore.

Occupying a whole street-facing small building with two floors, the bookstore exudes the charm of old Shanghai villas inside and out. The tones are subdued, matching the historic architecture and traditional style of the association, aiming to provide a composite reading space.

The bookshelves hide many signed copies by authors. Dig and flip through them, and you might find a precious signed edition.

The second floor is a reading space combining coffee and books.

Yan Ji You (Changning Raffles City Branch)

Address: B1, West Zone, Raffles City Changning, 1139 Changning Road

With several branches in Shanghai, this exploration is at the Changning Raffles City branch. The name "Yan Ji You" comes from splitting the traditional Chinese character "設" (design). It's a new lifestyle experience space combining a physical bookstore, coffee culture, creative products, and literary salons. You can enjoy the pleasure of reading in a physical bookstore while experiencing all kinds of culture-related lifestyles.

The space uses black as the main color, accented with wood's dark yellow. Here, whether it's the "floor-to-ceiling" bookshelves or the whimsical children's literature area, everything is fascinating.

Here, you'll unconsciously slow down and enjoy the "scenery" you're already part of in this design-conscious living space.

Sisyphe Bookstore (Super Brand Mall Branch)

Address: 2nd Floor, Super Brand Mall, 168 West Lujiazui Road

With multiple branches in Shanghai, this is the Super Brand Mall branch in Lujiazui. The store uses "CITY" as its abstract conceptual core. Entering the black label store, readers feel as if they are in a calm, warm city study. The main color is black, with spot lighting, representing the bookstore's dual response to urban life. This bookstore is both steady and cool, yet warm and approachable.

Jingzihao Bookstore

Address: 414 ZiZhong Road

Hidden in a quiet Shikumen lane off Middle Huaihai Road, it feels like a hermit in the bustling city. Pass through a big iron gate, enter the courtyard, and follow the white staircase straight to the second floor.

The space is neither big nor small, about 50 square meters, but size isn't the point. Upon reaching the second floor, the first thing you notice are the niche publications and illustration derivatives displayed. In fact, Jingzihao is a bit like an illustration-themed general store, with various derivative products like canvas bags, phone cases, irregular postcards. Although not as many as the publications, they still take up nearly a whole wall.

Travel Directory

1. Shanghai's 15 Bookstores

2. Duoyun Books—Shanghai's Highest "Sky Bookstore"

3. Happiness Collection—Happiness "Gathered" at Blackstone Apartment

4. "Light Space" Xinhua Bookstore—Look Up at the Stars, Read Art

5. Geometry Bookstore—Geometry of Life, A High-Popularity "Cave Bookstore"

6. Pearl Life Aesthetics Museum—Read in an Open-Air Garden at the Foot of Oriental Pearl Tower

7. Sinan Books · Poetry Store—Read "Poetry and the Distance" in a Church

8. Sinan Books—Read "Poetry and the Distance" in the Former Residence of a Famous General

9. JIC Books—The "Hogwarts Magic Bookshop" Stunning Shanghai

10. Zhongshuge—As if in "Inception"

11. Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore READWAY—Boutique Bookstore in a Popular Mall