The Elliott Bay Book Company

I love this place.
Great selection of books and easily organized. From the tiny slips of book suggestions made by the employees to the 3 – 4 people behind the counter waiting to ring someone up. They even have a cute area filled with gift selections (tote bags, creative socks, pens pencils, etc.). I buy most of my favorite books here (find me in the psych section) if I really want to get my hands on some paper instead of scrolling through Amazon. They even have a café inside!

this place is gorgeous and huge! the staff are super friendly and I could easily hang out in here for hours.

Powell’s it is not. But there is only one Powell’s. That would be like comparing my wedding ring to the Hope Diamond. So let’s talk about what’s great here. Little Oddfellows!
Super cute, stylish, little coffee shop within creates the perfect spot for your espresso in a cute green cup and saucer while you work on your computer. They have a great selection of unusual periodicals and zines. They have sections you don’t often find well stocked in chain bookstores, such as erotica, poetry, and eastern spirituality. The quirky, cool mainstays of an independent bookstore, such as beautiful hardwoods, interesting gifts, staff reviews are all present. They have kinda a little bit of everything; no super deep dives in any one section but again, diverse and nicely spread out amidst the upstairs and downstairs. I do wish there were more used books; they have some that are on sale here and there but on the whole it’s quite difficult to find a bargain.

If I still bought books I would buy them here. I do get coffee here and browse the books and this is the last standing great new book shop that I know of in the country. Seattle doesn’t do much grace. It does do this book shop great.

Elliot Bay Book Company is a great destination if you’re looking for coffee and a good read. The store stands as a testament of Seattle’s literary presence and while being fairly expensive for new books there’s still enough used books and variety that it’s a great place to find a gem.

Love this cute bookstore — I was surprised at how large it is and how extensive the book selection is. You can find anything and everything here it seems. It has a lot more soul than the Amazon bookstore but it’s not quite Powell’s, if you’ve ever visited Portland. I appreciate the cleanliness and no shortage of tables and chairs to study at or just read a book. There are comment cards that give recommendations of books and there are plenty of employees to ask for help if you need any. The books and merchandise are significantly more expensive than what you’d probably find at Amazon but my guess is that if you’re in the area and checking out this store, you won’t mind dropping a few extra dollars just for the buying experience. Little Oddfellows is located inside and has a beautiful aesthetic, much more minimal than its counterpart right on the same block. I haven’t tried Little Oddfellows yet but I am planning to make a trip back to study! I saw a lot of people with books and laptops, so it seems like a great environment to get some work done. You could easily spend hours here!

My visit to Elliot Bay was disappointing. My daughters (who are addicted book worms) got the bee in their to visit a book store while downtown. After obliging the request to go to the familiar big box chain store, I covinced them we should take the stroll up to Elliot Bay Book Company. Other than the fact that one can never have to much fresh air, the walk was not worth it. The customer service is sorely lacking. Not only were we not greeted at all by ANY of the employees we walked past, the employees exuded an air superiority and unfriendliness. Sad to say, my daughters’ and I were greeted with more warmth and approachibility at the big box, than at this independent. The only reason I gave 3 stars was for the excellent selection of kids/​teen books, which managed to impress my resident book worms.

I’m a book worm and this is where I found one of my favorite books of all time: Open by Andre Agassi. I think independent bookstores like this one are the best way to discover new (or new to you) books. This place is tres Seattle and is the perfect place to take shelter from a rainy day (which is just about every day). Great selection of books and cards, although the cards are definitely on the expensive side ($ 5 – 6). Tucked away in the back of the store is Little Oddfellows, a mini version of the Oddfellows down the street, that serves coffee, beer and wine, pastries and sandwiches. See, you can totally live here! Okay no, you can’t, they close at 10pm. Paid street parking is slightly easier to find in this area of Cap Hill, although there’s also a parking lot across the street if you’re too lazy for that.

I love this book store! It’s such a cozy space you can easily kill time here for hours perusing through the books. They inventory quite a solid selection — it’s rare they don’t have a book I am specifically looking for. It’s generally a bit more expensive than what you would find on Amazon which is to be expected since it’s instant gratification.
It’s helpful that towards the front of the store they have their staff favorites shelf, best sellers shelf, and newly featured shelf.
There is a café in the back to order food and drink from.

Elliott Bay Book Company is a great local bookstore in Seattle. As a huge lover of books and as a Denver-​resident who loves Tattered Cover Bookstore too much, I had to go check out this place.
The selection is extensive for a local bookstore and prices are higher than chain bookstores but I don’t mind since I believe in supporting local bookstores. However, the only drawback is the lack of used books at this location. Having a mix of new and used books is great for finding new authors you don’t want to splurge on until you know you like their writing style. I didn’t visit the café but from the looks of it, it seemed cozy yet popular among visitors.

This is a very cool bookstore… has wifi and plenty of cool books and a café.

GREAT bookstore, one of the best actually. I often come here to use their restroom which is open to the public (the keys are available at the coffee shop) I also buy a book sometimes. The last book i purchased was The Secret Teachings of Plants by Stephen Harrod Buhner which explores the the heart as an organ of perception. Great book A++. you will most certainly NOT find this book at the amazon book store (also a 5star experience btw).
When asking the young person at the help desk about this particular book i picked up on some dark vibes. almost as if they had some sort of personal beef with stephen harrod buhner himself. I managed to ward off the negative energy and find the book in the section she directed me to.
That being said, I would never judge a book by its cover, nor would i judge a bookstore by the dark vibrations emanating from it’s employees.
A++ would use their restroom again.

I really enjoyed my first visit to this cozy but spacious bookstore! As a book lover, it was easy for me to stay here for what had to be a couple hours. The Little Odd Fellows café (love the name) is in the back and has plenty of seating. I had a soy latte which was decent with really nice foam. They have a wide selection of books with tables and chairs for those inclined to linger and do some sampling. The charm of this store was my favorite element and what made me enjoy myself as much as I did. Some of my favorite touches were the beautiful hard wood floors, tall bookshelves, and cute little employee comment cards lining the shelves. The comment cards had mini-​reviews written by the employees as well as some information about any awards or accolades won by the book. All together, this is, by far my favorite bookstore in Seattle!

Elliot Bay Book Company is the best place on earth. Its presence makes me stoked that I live in Seattle!
When I lived in Honolulu, there were very few independent bookstores available and those that were in existence had to downsize due to a lagging economy for small businesses in general. I LOVE (highlight and underscore) bookstores and libraries. My grandparents and parents would buy us books on birthdays and special occasions. When I got older, boyfriends would gift me books and I would use my college job money to buy the occasional book from Barnes & Noble. Ever since I started making «grown-​up» money, I spend a lot of it to appease my BCF (beautiful cookbook fetish) at Elliot Bay! Now that Little Oddfellows café has opened up in the back, I may never leave this place (much to the chagrin of the shopkeepers)!
*Seattle Celeb Alert!*: Don’t be surprised to see Sherman Alexie, an award-​winning Native American author, hanging out here!

Great, expansive bookstore with lots of staff recommendations – which is what I liked best. I was in town for a week and although I DID have a book with me, I was looking for more of a page-​turner. I saw a staff reco on Fates and Furies near the front of the shop that said: «You think you know what’s going on in this book but you are wrong, wrong, wrong.» SOLD! It turned out to be one of my favorite books I read in 2015. Thanks, very concise staff person!

One of my favorite Seattle bookstores, Elliott Bay is a great addition to the Pike/​Pine neighborhood. Of course you can find a huge selection of books there, but they also have great Seattle souvenirs, gifts for writers and readers, lots of author readings and events, and even a fancy new café. So many reasons to visit!
This is pretty much exactly what I picture when I think «bookstore»: hardwood floors, shelves crammed with books, plenty of thoughtfully chosen staff recommendations, and lots of room to browse. It feels light, airy and spacious on the main floor, while the upstairs has a cozier feel (and more chairs for reading).
I like to come here for Seattle-​themed gifts — they have a good selection of cute totes, socks, journals, notecard sets, local chocolate, and more. There’s a large bargain-​book area upstairs that I enjoy looking through, because you never know what might be up there. The food and cooking section includes food writing and memoirs as well as cookbooks. They also have a good selection of Washington-​themed travel, photography, and hiking books in a section near the front.
The children’s section in the back is pretty big, and includes some stuffed toys and games as well as coloring and activity books for a range of ages. Heck, I found some vintage fashion paper doll books back there that I wouldn’t mind owning!
A fun place to take out-​of-​town visitors and book lovers, or just to browse around for a while on a rainy day.

Lovely place with lovely people, with a fantastic selection of books. There’s always something interesting to browse in this book store. There are small written recommendations from staff members in each section.
My favorite section is the cookbook section over by the café inside the store. There’s always the most interesting full color cookbooks from fantastic restaurants around the world. I also enjoy the section of unique cards and postcards both from local artists and quirky, more widely known people.
There are seats at which you can take a book and browse it more in depth. There’s two levels, and plenty of checkout counters and staff to assist you in finding what you need.

Well-​stocked bookstore ~
* YES — Huge bookstore offers fiction, nonfiction, bestsellers, bargain, hardback paperback, educational, children’s books and etc; categorized into sections
* YES — 2 levels to this bookstore
* YES — Little Oddfellows white-​themed café is located in back of store: offers coffee, pastries and a place to catchup/​read
* FYI — For booklovers, this can be a great way to spend hours in a day
* FYI — Accepts credit cards
* FYI — Offers free wi-​fi
* FYI — Street parking available right out front

Pretty much as good as it gets. Large selection of books, well organized sections, and fun stationary to boot. This bookstore reminds me of a much smaller version of Powell’s (in Portland). The high ceilings here make for a beautiful open space, and the hardwood flooring make the store come together nicely. There’s also plenty of seating for readers.
In terms of browsing the many aisles of books, lest you bd overwhelmed, the staff help out by placing paper bookmarks underneath various books and writing their «reviews» to help you along. Now that’s service! Read on.

I don’t usually frequent bookstores, but I came here because I was looking for a geocache just across the street. I never really understood the appeal of independent bookstores until my bf explained it to me, and I had an ah-​ha! moment.
It felt very welcoming, had a lot of space for people to sit/​read/​study, and was pretty quiet too. Kinda like a library feel. I liked how the books were organized, especially the «attention span» shelf in the middle of the first floor (short, medium, and long) haha
Unfortunately, the café and bathroom on the first floor are currently being renovated, so just beware!

War eine Erfahrung, Bücher, Bücher, Bücher

Ein Traum von Buchladen. Man vergisst den Rest der Welt, wenn man dort ist. Eine Riesenauswahl an allem Geschriebenen, das man zwischen 2 Deckel pressen kann. Auch mir kommt es vor, als sei der Laden organisch gewachsen und hat sich, wie im Märchen die Riesenbohne, auf das ganze Gebäude ausgedehnt. Und wächst weiter. Leider, so habe ich im Dezember erfahren, muss der Laden seinen Standort wechseln. Die Miete im Bereich Pioneer Square ist einfach zu hoch. Der neue Standort soll am Broadway sein.
Dem Inhaber ist alles Glück zu wünschen, damit «The Elliott Bay Book Company» weiter wachsen kann.
Übrigens: Bei meinem letzten Besuch Mitte Dezember hat es an 15 Tagen nur an einem Tag geregnet (absolut untypisch, aber ein ganz neues Gefühl).
Das Schönste ist jedoch, dass die Mitarbeiter des Buchladens zu vielen Neuerscheinungen persönliche Empfehlungen schreiben und diese, wie tibetische Gebetsfähnchen, an die Bücher heften und unterschreiben. Das finde ich sehr bemerkenswert.
Hektik ist hier ein völliges Fremdwort, es wird einem freundlich mit allem geholfen und im Souterrain gibt es ein Café und einen netten Platz, wo sich Kinder aufhalten können.

Vielleicht regnet es in Seattle ja eigentlich gar nicht so viel. Vielleicht ist das wirklich nur Zufall. Tatsache ist: Ich habe Seattle bisher eher von seiner nassen Seite kennengelernt. Und dementsprechend einige trockene Lokalitäten aufgesucht, um dem Regen immer mal wieder für ein paar Stunden zu entkommen.
Einer dieser Zufluchtsorte war der Elliott Bay Buchladen. Und so schnell wie hier sind die Stunden kaum sonst wo verflogen! :) Dies ist ohne Frage einer der schönsten Buchläden, die ich je gesehen habe. Man hat mehr das Gefühl, in eine Wohnung zu kommen, die sich im Laufe der Zeit allmählich auf das ganze Gebäude ausgedehnt hat, weil immer mehr und mehr Bücher angehäuft wurden. Kein glänzender, blitzender Chrom, keine abgetretenen Teppiche, keine Rolltreppen, kein Thalia-​Hugendubel-​Borders-​Einheitslook. Stattdessen geht man hier auf knarzenden Holzböden durch verschiedene Räume mit schönen offenen Steinwänden und Holzregalen bis unter die Decke. Es gibt eine unheimlich große Auswahl an neuen Büchern, ein gut sortiertes modernes Antiquariat und sogar eine brauchbare Comic-​Ecke. Der Service ist ausgesprochen nett und natürlich kann man sich hier auch erst einmal eine Weile in die Bücher vertiefen, ehe man sie nach Hause schleppt.
Falls es also doch nicht nur an mir liegen sollte und ihr in Seattle mal eine Regenzeit überbrücken müsst, probiert es mal im Elliott Bay Buchladen. Bei mir hat es nämlich funktioniert — als ich rauskam, schien die Sonne. :)