Kestrel Books

I really love this shop. It has great and interesting books. A really nice cat… and the owner is probably one of the nicest men you will meet. Very helpful, knowledgable and genuine. Fair prices.

Always has a few great books I want and is my local bookstore. I buy books of my favourite authors, artists, etc and when I get a few accidental duplicates or a some of my kids books I trade them here first. If you need something that is recently published you can also find it here. The owner is great and knows his stock.
For buyers
If you go in regularly for specific areas of interest (art, graphic novels) stock turnover is good and quick so do not wait to buy that graphic novel, art books and first editions you desire. Further, the prices are good, you always pay what you would expect from abebooks.
For sellers
If you are looking to sell/​trade books this is this best place to trade your books if you have good quality/​recent children’s, art, graphic novels and first editions. The owner is select but always gives a fair price for the books you offer them and you can bank your trade credit for later purchases and this system works well.
I recently bought a very expensive book from the owner, which I saw at the Antiquarian book sale and used my credit towards it; no hassle or rigmarole that other places offer.
A good place to go, if you like books.

I randomly went into this store and I’m glad I did! The owner is very kind and definitely takes pride in his store and books in general. Beautiful vintage books, but also a huge selection of other books to choose from. I was especially excited at the amount of spiritual genres the store had. Usually when I go into a used book store, I kind of scan through a bunch of books that seem uninteresting and random. Instead, This store has so many items that immediately catch your eye. I loved the amount of larger art/​coffee table books as well. So much to choose from and the owner is a very genuine person. Oh, and he has a gentle cat who likes to sleep in the aisles! I rarely write reviews but felt like I should after my experience. Definitely support this store, it’s great all around.

I used to go to Kestrel Books weekly when they were on Cambie Street. Unfortunately, due to the smoke damage (fire in the theatre in the same block) they had to close down the Cambie location. Fortunately the cat was okay and they opened up on West 4^th a few months later.
I always thought the prices were good, there was always something interesting to be found and read. The owner was nice to me even though I was just a kid/​teen and even though I would sometimes just browse and not buy. Now I’m an adult and still hold a soft spot in my heart for Kestrel Books – a fantastic second hand bookstore by people who care about readers.

I always stop in here BEFORE going to Banyen Books. They often have what I“m looking for at a fraction of the price.
Excellent selection, excellent prices. Apparently they have an enormous selection of books available offsite too, so you can look ‘em up online.
Nice cat roamin’ around too.

A store with little flair from the outside, but so much to offer on the inside!
Get ready to spend hours just checking out the offerings of books, collections and collectibles and other books normally not found anywhere else. As everything is used, it’s a bargain, but it has that charm — you know that charm of a dusty little bookstore maybe found on a European side street without a sign? This is it and it’s worth a little drive out of town.

Kestrel Books doesn’t look like much from the outside: it’s stuffed between furniture stores and alternative-​health stores on West Fourth.
But inside all the paper treasures you’d want in a bookstore are revealed. There aren’t the overflow quirks of MacLeod’s or the polish of Pulp Fiction, but I like Kestrel books just fine.
There are a huge range of books beyond the ratty paperbacks one may associate with used books. Prices ring in from a few dollars up to hundreds for devourable quick-​reads through antique tomes.
Although it’s a little out of the main shopping drag, you can check out the inventory on the web site if you’re hunting for something specific. And there’s plenty to find with lots of details on the books in stock.

NOOOOOO! The kind people and lovely Abyssinian cat of Kestrels are no longer in the Cambie storefront. Good news is that not all is lost, and can be found at this address.
A visit to Kestrel Books is as close to the the quintessential ‘spend hours in a dusty, delightful bookstore without a sense of time or purpose’ experience as you can achieve. It’s one where books are stacked and shelved endlessly together, where the owners will graciously accommodate hours of your presence whether you are scouring their store for a rare Nabokov essay for meandering the aisles for a sojourn from the rain.
I can’t wait for my next visit to Vancouver to visit the Fourth Street front to see what I can find, and to give that beautiful cat a sweet purr.