Cancel

    Open app

    Search

    Blackwell's

    4.1 (33 reviews)
    ModerateBookstores
    Open 9:00 am - 8:00 pm

    Blackwell's Photos

    Recommended Reviews - Blackwell's

    Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
    Yelp app icon
    Browse more easily on the app
    Review Feed Illustration

    Reviews With Photos

    Emma C.

    Blackwells on South Bridge is not only a bookshop, it's a labyrinth! Seriously, you could get lost in here. Spread out over three floors, this shop caters for all your literary needs. As it's closely affiliated with Edinburgh's Universities there is a comprehensive academic department covering everything from Medicine to Media Studies, and the staff can provide useful guidance if you're feeling a little overwhelmed by it all. If you're here for something more recreational, the ground floor is a good place to while away an afternoon browsing the shelves. There is also a music department with a lot of Scottish and classical CDs and a nice children's department in the basement. Cafe Nero has cleverly set up camp in here too, so you can start your new tome with a cup of coffee in hand without even leaving the building. Unfortunately there is no student discount (although there is a loyalty card scheme) and it can't rival Amazon's prices, but the shop is open pretty late and I think it's the best large bookshop in Edinburgh.

    Em C.

    Blackwell's is one of the most neatly organised, concise book shops in Edinburgh. Emma is spot on - comprehensive is the best word to describe this place. While Borders' layout used to baffle me at times, there is no room for confusion in Blackwell's. With everything placed in the most precise category they can put it in, you will be able to find what you need in a matter of minutes. You are greeted with tourist driven books at the front of the shop, but they are definitely of a more interesting variety as they showcase photography journals and up to date information books on Scotland's cities. They have a wide range of affordable classics, an endless wall of fiction and some book related merchandise. But above all, Blackwell's is a student's best friend as it houses university approved anthologies on every subject under the sun. They also have friendly reminders that "the clock is ticking" as far as exams are concerned - posters are plastered over the walls. The panic propaganda is meant to assist the student but I couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat looking at them. I'm not even sitting exams this year. But at least it'll lead people up the stairs who are and loading themselves up on knowledge!

    Blackwells gains a huge amount of business from the nearby University of Edinburgh's students, and there's a good reason why. Reliability, a simple layout and plenty of stock result in a fully justifiable first stop at least when it comes to looking for academic books. There's usually plenty of enticing 3 for 1 offers and informative helpful staff to accompany. An all round good bookshop.

    Cafè Nero at Blackwell's

    See all

    4 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    12 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    10 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0
    Photo of B L.
    41
    233
    1344

    10 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 1
    Photo of Sarah-Jane B.
    280
    1096
    3360

    16 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    10 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Emma C.
    10
    219
    153

    16 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Em C.
    203
    1185
    783

    16 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Jonny L.
    28
    316
    325

    16 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    14 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Gavin M.
    108
    1090
    546

    16 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    13 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    12 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Emily T.
    24
    570
    287

    16 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Sam C.
    16
    339
    350

    16 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Rezzi I.
    8
    290
    306

    16 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Eleanor M.
    52
    1240
    974

    16 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Gibson A.
    9
    406
    414

    16 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Matthew L.
    1
    298
    265

    16 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    18 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Alex L.
    0
    45
    42

    11 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    11 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    13 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of J M.
    7
    464
    443

    16 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    17 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    17 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    15 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    16 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    19 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    15 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    13 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    10 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    Blackwell's Reviews in Other Languages

    Review Highlights - Blackwell's

    Blackwell's on South Bridge received my valued custom just about the whole way through my first and second years.

    Mentioned in 2 reviews

    Read more highlights

    Verify this business for free

    People searched for Bookstores 143 times last month within 15 miles of this business.

    Verify this business

    The Old Town Bookshop

    The Old Town Bookshop

    3.7(11 reviews)
    0.3 miOld Town
    ££

    If you're only going to visit one antiquarian bookshop in Edinburgh, I'd recommend Old Town…read moreBookshop. Aside from being on one of the loveliest streets in Edinburgh, it's a delightful wee shop that stocks an eye-watering selection of books from the 1850s onwards. There's a treasure chest of Scottish history, architecture and topographical studies alongside special editions of literary classics from Shakespeare, Dickens and Burns. As the shop is run by a painter, they also sell some lovely prints, lithographs, etchings, paintings and maps of Edinburgh and beyond. Tourists hoping to pick up a picture of the Castle should note these are priced £30 - £300 depending on the age, quality and scarcity of the work.

    Edinburgh's Old Town Bookshop, set at the top of the winding Victoria Street, is more like a museum…read morethan it is a book store as they specialise in collecting antiquarian literature. From the books jauntily placed in the window to the many within, each is treated with tender loving care. It shows, since the books aren't falling apart at the spine, but are rather tainted with age. The majority of their books date from the 1700s onwards and are priced as such. You can gather from the pristine condition of the stock that it's not the kind of store you'd pick up a lovingly creased copy of Harry Potter from. But they do have a collection of classics (of predominantly Scottish origin), so tourists and avid fans of Burns can have a ball gandering the shelves. I wouldn't necessarily go here for a browse since it is so specialised although the staff are welcoming if you just fancy a nosey. But this store is a trove for Antiquarian collectors, who can hope to find anything from literature pre-dating the enlightenment to old prints and lithographs. It's largely a pricey venture, but for people well versed on antique auctions the Old Town Bookshop displays some lucrative books that would bring back a substantial amount of money when under the hammer. For tourists, this place is a quirky homage to Edinburgh's literary culture of old.

    Photos
    The Old Town Bookshop
    The Old Town Bookshop
    The Old Town Bookshop

    See all

    Southside Books

    Southside Books

    4.0(12 reviews)
    0.0 miOld Town, Newington
    £

    Located just two doors up from the gargantuan Blackwells on South Bridge, Southside Books offers an…read morealternative through selling second hand books. People are able to come in and sell their second hand books, both fiction and non-fiction, and they also buy in large orders of books of varying condition. I have bought several books from this shop for my course and the owner is an extremely friendly and helpful man who always offers to order or reserve any books which he doesn't happen to have in stock. However, sometimes the books are in such good condition that he only sells them at the standard recommended retail price which can erradicate the point of it being a second hand book shop. Despite this, Southside Books has an excellent supply of books for a variety of reading tastes and is certainly worthy of a visit before heading to Blackwells.

    I wonder if the owner of this shop is some sort of old guard communist. For some reason every time…read moreI go into Southside books I end up flicking through many books on Trotsky or the fall of rise of the Soviet Bloc. Actually this second hand and discount book shop has a great selection. It tends toward nonfiction, with a good selection of philosophy and religion. There is also a selection of university textbooks for these and other subjects. Don't come here expecting to find every textbook you need, but you might just get lucky and find that needed book for cheaper. Southside books might stock a good selection of nonfiction but it also sells fiction, with a particularly decent range of classics. Southside ticks all the boxes for me for a second hand book shop , it has lots of books, lots of genres, the owner is friendly and happy for you to browse. The only problem I did find was the prices. I know this shop is second hand and discount but every book I checked seemed to be discount. Even then the books are often only a pound or so cheaper than its recommended retail price. Even if there is a pricing problem, Southside books still remains a good independent book shop.

    Photos
    Southside Books
    Southside Books
    Southside Books

    See all

    Forbidden Planet - Lots of comics, majority of what they have

    Forbidden Planet

    3.6(31 reviews)
    0.1 miOld Town, Newington
    ££

    Really pleased to have found this shop while in Edinburgh! Picked up a couple manga and some…read morefigures with my friend, we looked it up later and found out that I guess the Kitagawa he got was a UK exclusive and only £25 so this made it extra special for us given that we are from the US. Didn't interact much with the staff other than the fact that the cashier accidentally put an extra figure in our bag, which we realized and handed back to him before leaving. He seemed very friendly though

    Came here looking for Pokemon cards for the kids or possibly a small souvenir. They didn't have any…read morecards and despite a pretty large merchandise section the thing they had the most of was comics. The comics were all retail and all of the merchandise was fairly priced. We didn't have a lot of space for presents but my kid was eyeballing a trade paperback. I liked how they had a curated display of comics but my favorite part was an independent small publisher section from companies I've never heard about before. They had toys, plushies, and funko pops along the right side of the store. Pretty good mix of lots of different items and franchises but not enough if you are a collector of something specific. I think this store started in NY but have expanded globally, there were a steady stream of people coming in and staff was helpful and kind when I asked for Pokemon cards. There were some places that seemed irritated after hearing the same question for the 20th time that day.

    Photos
    Forbidden Planet - Curated selection of comics

    Curated selection of comics

    Forbidden Planet - Small publishers section

    Small publishers section

    Forbidden Planet - They have other collectible stuff but it's mainly comics

    See all

    They have other collectible stuff but it's mainly comics

    Edinburgh Books - Storefront

    Edinburgh Books

    4.8(10 reviews)
    0.6 miOld Town
    ££

    Antiquarian books Rare & first edition books…read moreOld classics Modern classics Penguin classics Scottish classics Scottish culture & history books Architecture books Art books Photography books History books Military books Greek & latin books European books Irish books Theology books Philosophy books Political books & Book marks In short, Edinburgh Books offers story lovers and book-worms 8 rooms of awe and wonder. To top it off, the staff are lovely and they play fantastic music from Dylan and Tom Waits to Gram Parsons.

    There's a reason yelpers have almost unanimously given Edinburgh Books 5/5. It's a bloody good book…read moreshop! Somewhere between the Grassmarket and Lothian road lies this gem of a second hand book shop. Bringing class to the area unfortunately called "the pubic triangle" given the nature of the other establishments nearby, Edinburgh books remains central whilst retaining a slightly quieter location. Perfect for browsing, Edinburgh Books provides truly a great range of fiction and nonfiction, mostly well known titles and classics, as well as collectors items and antiquarian books. But make no mistake, this isn't some stuffy, up themselves store where you feel the piercing eyes of the owner follow you round the room. No no no, this is a friendly, browsing welcome gem. The first time I visited I spent about thirty minutes perusing their wares without buying and I got a nice smile and a 'goodbye' on my way out. There are signs up that say "please leave bags at the counter" which surprised me at first. But these are quickly countered by others which say "please don't hesitate to ask for help". I now presume the bag thing is to do with not knocking things over/making more room for fellow visitors. I should add here that though Edinburgh Books covers nearly all genres, its "Scottish Room" covering, yes, all things Scottish, is particularly good for its specialisation. The last time I visited I came away with a copy of Dostoevsky's The Demons, for about half the price it would have cost in Blackwells. A bargain! A lovely second hand book shop with great titles across a range of genes. A must for all book lovers living or visiting Edinburgh.

    Photos
    Edinburgh Books - Forget my own head next

    Forget my own head next

    Edinburgh Books
    Edinburgh Books

    See all

    Blackwell's - bookstores - Updated May 2026

    Loading...
    Loading...
    Loading...