Destination Bookstore: West Michigan

Hello everyone! I love visiting independent bookstores and shopping at local businesses regularly. Because it’s important to #shopsmall, I have a series to showcase some indie bookstores in places that I’ve traveled. Here are just some of these shops you can visit in West Michigan. These stores also have websites as well if you can’t shop in person!

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The Book Nook of Saugatuck

The Book Nook of Saugatuck is a locally owned independent bookstore located on Butler Street (Saugatuck). They sell used and new books, puzzles, local photography and literary gifts. The store was opened in 2018 by Cheryl Whitfield, a school librarian who always dreamed of opening a book store. This store is small, but cozy in nature and carries a nice variety of books and more. You’ll even find some local indie/trad Michigan author books and they have a nook for children to read within the store.

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Schuler Books

Since 1982, Schuler Books is an independent shop with a wide array of new and used titles, plus gifts, stationery, and games. They have 4 locations in total and each store (I’ve been to two locations) I’ve visited provides its own unique experience. The staff is friendly and offers lots of great recs while also eing eager to chat about books. You’ll find yourself lost in the shelves of this wonderful indie store for sure!

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Books & Mortar

Books & Mortar is Grand Rapids’s proudly progressive, consciously curated, and fiercely independent bookstore. The store has a sleek open floor plan filled with fiction and nonfiction books that reflects the store’s mission to advocacy efforts related to literacy, education, and social justice issues. They host many community based and author events on a regular basis. plus the store is not too far from the Downtown district and the store’s surrounding area is full of other cool shops to visit.

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Vault of Midnight

Vault of Midnight is an amazing comic shop with a great overall ambience. The design of the shop alone had me in awe when I first visited. They have a wide array of comics and graphic novels from kids to adults. They also carry a lot of new titles and anything you can’t get your hands on can be special ordered for you. The staff is fun to chat with and they offer some great suggestions. They have three stores in total located in Downtown Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Ann Arbor.

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Stay tuned for another destination! What bookstores do you like to visit in Metro Detroit?