William Stout Architectural Books

This is my second and last attempt at purchasing something from this store. Both times the store was closed during their posted open hours.
I thought that they may have hard to find books, but decided to try my luck online. Turns out the $ 190 book at William Stout was just purchased by me online for $ 91.83 including shipping and tax (they’re selling it for over double what I just paid)…HWY ROBBERY!
I try to shop local, but with their seriously egregious prices and when they’re not open during posted hours, there is absolutely no reason to shop here. NONE!
Do yourself a favor and go online…
COMPLETE RIPOFF!

I love this store. Great stock, great staff, great Solano location. And I’m utterly mystified by the Ruby R review criticizing their service – I’ve had nothing but first-​rate experiences with the people who work here. They’re really knowledgeable and endlessly helpful. I make a point of buying whatever I can here rather than Amazon, even if it’s a little more expensive, because I so want the store to stay in business.

ADORE this small book shop on Solano. In an era of the disappearing independent bookstores, it’s a real joy to find one that seems to be thriving in my own backyard. I’ve found many wonderful architecture and art books here to add to my collection and the staff is always personable and knowledgeable… and very helpful! Love it!

As a designer I seek out bookstores whenever I travel around the world and I’ve never found anything like William Stout. Although in its current form the Berkeley outpost is much smaller than the Jackson Square store in San Francisco there are plans to expand into the back. The atmosphere is serene, modern and serious, just how I like my design/​architecture/​planning/​gardening/​fine art bookstores.

An intimate and much needed Eastbay addition to William Stout’s two other amazing Architectural bookstores (in my mind the best Architectural bookstore in the world.)
The store is managed by a very pleasant
and very knowledgeable young man with
many years of experience at the main store on Montgomery St in SF.
Definitely a great addition at the Eastern
Terminus of Solano Ave!!!

terrible service!
a book store specializing in certain areas would, one would think, be willing to offer ~basic~ assistance in those areas. but not at this store. my husband called them, asking for some really general info on a designer/​architect — i.e. «do you have any ideas on what kind of anthologies i should look at if i want to find out about this particular guy who works in this particular country in this particular era?» — and the guy he spoke to at the store could barely disguise his boredom, annoyance and unwillingness to be of any assistance. he half-​heartedly said he would ‘have a look’ and call back in a couple of days — which of course he never did.
the dumb thing is: we burn thousands and thousands of bucks on books every year, as serious art book collectors. we were willing to drop some serious cash at this guy’s store (partic. because we live in the area) and now we’ll be going out of our way to avoid doing so.