Craft guide
ORBISBOOKSELLERS & STATIONERS IN SEATTLE6 stores · curated ORBIS register
Seattle (Capitol Hill, 1521 10th Ave)
Elliott Bay Book Company opened in Pioneer Square in 1973 and now fills a landmark Capitol Hill space with cedar shelving and deep stock. A long-running author-reading series accompanies its staff picks.
Best for Independent bookstore browsing, staff picks and author events
Downtown
Worker-owned anarchist collective bookstore at Seattle's Pike Place Market, operating since 1973 with no bosses or managers; stocks 10,000+ new and used radical, anti-authoritarian and independent titles.
Best for Radical books, poetry and movement history
Left Bank Books has operated as a worker-owned collective at Seattle's Pike Place Market since 1973, when a group split off from the University District's Red and Black Books to start their own store. It has no bosses or managers; decisions are made collectively at bi-monthly meetings run by consensus. For much of the 1980s and 1990s the collective also ran two related projects: AKA Books, a used bookstore in the University District, and Left Bank Distribution, a mail-order operation supplying radical books, zines and magazines. The current Pike Street store carries more than 10,000 new and used titles across nearly 70 sections, specializing in anarchist, anti-authoritarian, independent and small-press publishing.
Pike Place, Seattle / Online
Metsker Maps sells printed maps and atlases alongside globes at Seattle's Pike Place Market. The business traces its roots to Charles F Metsker's work in Tacoma in 1901, later developing into a Seattle map shop. Its selection serves travellers and map collectors as well as people looking for a wall map or a different way to explore a place.
Best for Printed maps, globes and atlases in Seattle
Metsker Maps puts physical geography back into the shopping experience at Seattle's Pike Place Market. Maps and atlases share the selection with globes, making it possible to compare a place at several scales rather than viewing it only through a phone screen. The shop serves travellers and collectors as well as people choosing a wall map for home. Its history began with a different audience: Charles F Metsker founded the business in Tacoma in 1901, producing maps for industries such as surveying and logging.
The company's own history describes its later development in Seattle, followed by a move to Pioneer Square and eventually Pike Place Market in 2004. The current shop is in the Sanitary Market Building. Those changes matter because the long business history should not be mistaken for more than a century at the present address. Today the range extends beyond the Pacific Northwest, while the business retains ties to local cartography through Kroll Map Company. For a purchase, start with what the map needs to do: help plan a journey, show a region in detail or serve as an object to study on the wall.
304 Alaskan Way S, Seattle, WA 98104 / Seattle / United States
Peter Miller opened the architecture-and-design bookshop in 1980; returned to Pioneer Square in 2017; ~8,000 titles.
Best for Architecture and design books from a Pioneer Square shop founded in 1980.
Seattle / United States
Seattle's National Park Store, run by the nonprofit Discover Your Northwest, sells books, gifts, and outdoor-themed merchandise from its Pioneer Square-area storefront, open Wednesday through Sunday. Its online store stays open 24/7, with sale proceeds returned to Klondike Gold Rush and other public lands to fund visitor services and youth programs.
Best for Bookstore, gifts, souvenirs
Seattle / United States
The Wing Luke Museum's Marketplace, open Wednesday through Sunday at 719 S. King Street in Seattle, is a gift shop and bookstore that sources from more than 100 small businesses connected to the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. Its online store is currently paused for a refresh, but in-person shopping, phone orders, and online order pickup are all available, with proceeds supporting the museum's exhibitions and youth programs.
Best for Museum shop, books, gifts
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