 It had me ready to book the plane tickets straight away. Hi everyone, welcome back to my channel. I hope you are well. Here I am, fabulous and ready to slay. Since we've been stuck inside in lockdown, I've been wanting to go out more than ever and what I've really missed doing is going to bookstores and it got me thinking that I wanted to make a bookstore bucket list and so these are the bookstores that I wanna go to so bad one day. They are all across the world. I just think independent bookstores are something to be celebrated. I keep thinking about my video where I went and visited independent bookstores in London and I just wanna live that life again. Like sometimes I wanna watch that video just to live vicariously through it and know what it's like to visit a bookstore again. Today we're gonna talk about ones in different countries that I wanna visit. Like I think it would be so cool to visit bookstores in other countries. Even if they don't stock English books, I think it'd be so cool to discover the culture of a place through the bookstores that are there. I'm gonna be using some footage from other videos on YouTube and I'll make sure to credit one of them on screen and they'll also all be linked below if you want to go check those videos out. The first one on my list is Shakespeare and Company in Paris. Now this, like I could not make this video and not have this on the list. This bookstore is every book lover's dream. When I think of a bookstore, this is the kind of place I think of. The place feels like it has so much history behind it. You know, with all the classical authors that are linked to it like Ernest Hemingway. The building that it's in now used to be a monastery and stuff like that where there is history behind the place I just love. From the videos I've seen, it looks like it has so many nooks and crannies. It looks like it has a lot of old editions alongside some newer editions. They actually have young writers, writers that haven't been published yet that were trying to write their first book, come and live in-house above the bookstore and then they sell books during the day and then they try and write their books while they live there as well, which I think is a really great way of supporting up and coming talent and making sure that you are nurturing young writers in the community. I think it's such a cool part of it. They carry a lot of beautiful copies of books and whenever you buy a book there, you get a special stamp, which I feel like is part of the appeal, like getting that stamp. I wanna buy a book so, oh my God, I feel like they probably mark books up so high just for the stamp. Like you're paying probably like five pounds for the stamp. And yeah, this bookstore to me, it's like the ideal bookstore. That's exactly what you imagine when you think of a bookstore and yeah, it's just a dream for me to be able to go there. The next one on my list is a little bit of a cheat, but this is like the first thing that came into my mind when I thought of this video and it is the Strachov Library in Prague. So this isn't a bookstore, but this is a place I want to visit so bad. I first saw a picture of this on Lucy Richardson's Instagram. She also has a Booktree channel, which I will link below. I saw the picture of this library and I fell in love. I literally turned to Tom straight away. I was like, Tom, have you ever thought about going to holiday in Prague? Just like good as one library. Like it had me ready to book the plane tickets straight away. This is a dream personal library. I mean, that's never gonna happen. This is hundreds and hundreds of years old, but when I envisage my dream personal library, it looks like this. I wish, I wish. Again, in this case, it's the history of the place that draws me into it. A lot of the books housed here are from the 1500s to the 1800s. So a lot of first editions and I just think it's architecturally so, so beautiful. It's one of the most beautiful libraries I've ever seen and places like this to me just seem like a real celebration of books, which I love. I love when books are really appreciated. And to me, a place like this is really showing that appreciation for books. Next is the El Ateno Grand, splendid in Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires is called the bookstore capital of the world. It has more bookstores per 100,000 people than anywhere else in the world. I think it's something like about 30 per 100,000 people. So that is a crazy, crazy number. And this bookstore actually used to be a theater and they'd kept all of the original features and it was just gorgeous. It was then turned into a cinema after and then it became the bookstore that it is now. I think I would love to go to Buenos Aires just to see all of the different bookstores and just get lost in them. Every day I'd be like, right today we're going to be able to go to the bookstore and some books. This has been voted the most beautiful bookstore in the world and sis, like I can see why. I love bookstores that have a completely different vibe but really repurpose the old into the new. I also love bookstores. I haven't gotten on this list but like are in old churches or stuff like that. I just think it adds a completely different vibe to the books and the bookstore and I think it's just cool to go and visit places like that. Next is Sataya Books in Tokyo, Japan. I'm talking particularly about the one in the Ginza 6 shopping mall. Japan has always been a dream holiday for me. Like I have to go to Japan in my lifetime pretty soon but like it's the kind of holiday I want to do really well. Do you know what I mean? Like when you go to Spain or Italy you can kind of, you know, you can do it. Not on the cheap but like affordably. But Japan I want to go all out. Please watch my ads. I need the money to go to Japan. This bookstore is kind of actually like an art installation when I saw it. It's completely different to the other ones I've had on this list which are kind of a bit older. I've got that antique feel. This is completely modern and it's an art installation so it has exhibition part of it that shows art. It has an art gallery, an exhibition space, it has floor to ceiling windows. It seems so bright and I would love to go there and buy some manga. I really want to get more into graphic novels and manga kind of thing and I would love to go and get some of that there. I think it's really cool to visit bookstores with the different kind of vibes. You know, like I love an antique feeling like the floor is kind of all up and down and lighting's kind of weird and there's loads of like nooks and crannies and dodgy shelves. But then I also love visiting a place like this where it's got a really bright new modern feeling as well. And the last one on my list is Books Are Magic in New York. I'm sure we have all seen the Instagram URL, the Instagram hotspot that everyone takes their photos in front of. Yes, I want my phone in front of that. Books Are Magic seems so welcoming and friendly and warm. It also seems really community orientated which is so important with bookstores and independent bookstores. Your customer, you need them to return so you need to build a relationship with them and you need to serve the local community. And this place, this bookstore, seems so orientated towards the community. They've also got a great kids section where there's loads of places for the kids to play as well which I think is so, so important in bookstores because you need to encourage kids reading. You need to make it seem fun, like it's something that they can really enjoy, like it's something for them. I remember I loved going to the library as a kid because there was loads of kind of interactive stuff at the library. More chain bookstores won't really have that option for young kids, whereas independent bookstores, it's really the place that reading comes alive for kids. It's also a very aesthetic bookstore and I feel like they just kind of have books I like. Do you know what I mean, you know? Certain independent bookstores won't carry the kind of books you like and some will. I feel like this bookstore is very in the know about curating a collection of books that people like me want to read. And yeah, oh my God, I would kill to go to Books Are Magic. Whenever I watch like a New York BookTuber and they go there, I'm so jealous. Also, okay, don't judge me, this isn't part of the list, this is done, but I would kill to go back to Barnes & Noble. Girl, bye. Because what you talking is nonsense, girl. There's something different about that place than Waterstones. I do love a Waterstones, but the big thing for me is this is gonna sound so stupid. I love how in Barnes & Noble you have like the carts of books, the rows of books, right? But at Waterstones, it's often in the walls and I like being able to walk through the rows, like the aisles of books, more than I like the books being on the walls. Does that make sense? I agree, I've had it. And I'm so jealous. And I'm so jealous. I wanna go to a half-priced books. I wanna go to a half-priced books. Whenever I see Riley, Riley goes to them all the time and I get so jealous. I get so jealous. I wanna go to a half-priced books. This sounds so stupid because people who have half-priced books are probably like, it's just half-priced books. But in my head, I'm like, that is the best place on earth. I just wanna be there. So there we have it. That is all the bookshops on my bookshop bucket list. Make sure you let me know down below any of yours. I'd love to know more bookshops around the world that I could one day visit and not on my bucket list. I hope you enjoyed this video. Make sure you subscribe and ring the bell if you did. And I will see you very, very soon in another one. Bye.