This is Auckland's best (and probably biggest) second hand bookstore. It's musty in a good "old…read morebooks" kind of way, and sprawling and welcoming at the same time. Set over two floors of one of Onehunga's old buildings, it's like a house full of books. Most rooms have a comfy old chair or two for reading, and visitors are encouraged to sit and do just that. The subject range is huge and varied, and the prices are of course, excellent. The staff are knowledgeable and will point you in the right direction if you are after something in particular. Which is helpful because if you haven't been here before you could get lost and never come back out. Sadly Onehunga has been on the decline in the last few years despite there being a number of really great businesses here. I would recommend coming for lunch at Luscious, followed by a fossick at the Hard to Find and then checking out Look Sharp Discount Store. This historic Auckland suburb has suffered from mismanagement for too long now but as while these unique places cling on, it's still worth a visit - there is so much character and potential.

What do you buy for the person who has everything? Something fun, interesting or ridiculous;…read moresomething they've never seen before. Hard To Find Bookstore is the place to go for the person who has everything - spend enough time in amongst the weird little nooks and crannies and you're bound to find something for that awkward person who requires a gift. Ohe of my most lovely memories of Hard To Find Bookstore was a Christmas morning, when the small family of academics I was sharing breakfast with handed out presents. All three of them had bought each other gifts from Hard To Find, and all were so appreciative of their gifts. Some of the books still had their HTF price tags pencilled inside but nobody cared - gift-giving isn't always about how much it costs, but how much it means. And to these bookworms, the gifts were priceless.

I'm of the opinion that you can never have too many good second hand bookstores in your repertoire…read more This one is so spacious and well designed you would be hard pressed to deduce that you were actually in a secondhand store, there are no dusty crammed shelves, that look like their about to collapse in on themselves in sight. It makes finding certain genres of books super easy as well, having everything so well set up. They also have nice little prints available for sale in the store as well, one which I bought for my office at home. Lastly I would just like to apologise to the cute sales assistant who I may have flashed, while going for a sneaky rearrange of my underwear behind a row of shelves that seemed to be private, UNTIL I saw the camera perched right above me. I hope I didn't scar you for life.

Evergreen has a great reputation in Auckland as a solid destination for second hand books…read more I always have a slight tinge of sadness that quite a lot of space seems to be taken up with popular fiction, and I really think the New Zealand fiction range needs work, but overall, it's a excellent place to spend more than you intended. The sci-fi range is particularly good and all the books are in really good condition, which makes a welcome change from finding a long-sought-after favourite only to discover that it's falling to pieces in your hands. Mucho disappointo. I've also had the welcome surprise at the till of having my order rounded down a couple of dollars, which is a really lovely way to reward customers who are buying a bundle. Overall, I would always come here for a browse when I'm in Devonport, but it's not really a go-to place if you have something specific in mind - in that case, I would head to Hard to Find books first.

Service was fast and friendly, called to put a book on hold and showed up about 35 minutes later…read more They had it ready to go and were very nice.

I love bookstores: the smell, the colors, and the possibilities for adventure and escape. Where I…read morelive there aren't many left, so it's exciting to visit as wonderful as Unity Books. In Auckland there are quite a few places to go, but this one is independent and probably the best. Unity Books has its main store and children's book separate on the same street; both are fun to browse through. I came here both to browse and with a mission. I wanted to purchase the complete Lord of the Rings and Hobbit filming locations books. They're printed in New Zealand and cover places we visited, and others we'd love to return to. Their prices were what I expected; with the exchange rate, I was happy. The store was organized and they were easy to find, but one of the books' spine was broken. I asked a friendly clerk and they quickly went to the back and got another copy. It made buying them there easy. They had so many happy customers, it's easy to see they're doing well. I will definitely stop here on our next visit.

No response no product no sale. Still trying to remove the hold on my credit card. It could be…read morethat the website was hacked and the sale was not legit but it would be nice if Jason's Books at least responded to my emails asking about it.

Jason Books is a wonderful rare and second-hand bookstore tucked away in an underground shop along…read moreO'Connell St. Many of the second-hand books are in immaculate condition and at a fraction of the cost of what you would pay full price, which is great news if you are a penniless book lover like me. The books at Jason's provide an easy-to-navigate selection of more alternative reading, with many authors and book types you would not find in mainstream chain bookstores, and they are all organised in logical categories around the shop (which sometimes is a rarity in second-hand book stores). I could spend hours navigating this well-organised literary treasure trove and chatting to the well-read staff members about book recommendations, however there always comes a time where I have to snap back to reality and emerge from this peaceful underground refuge.

Cute well-managed shop on the college campus. This would be a good location for a truly local…read moresouvenir - they set AUT sweatshirts, tshirts and other items as well as notebooks, cards and pens. Textbooks are available of course, should you need something to read.

Auckland University's bookstore is where it all goes down on campus. It's where students buy all…read moretheir textbooks and stationary, as well as sell old books and find the perfect diaries and organisers. The selection of textbooks downstairs is pretty amazing, but novels, poetry, specialty and art books are also available upstairs. I purchased my copy of The Book Thief from UBS during one of my breaks and even got to use my student discount which was an added bonus! Though all students rely on UBS, it can be a bit of a love-hate relationship. The textbooks are all pretty pricey and although it's possible to sell old textbooks back to the store, UBS will not re-purchase any books that aren't being used that semester or are deemed 'too old'. This can be really frustrating! However all in all, the staff are pretty helpful when it comes to finding the appropriate books and the student discount helps too.

Devonport Wharf is generally a fairly depressing place with lots of empty retail space and places…read moreseeming to be perennially closed - a failed retail experiment if ever I've seen one. Among such mediocrity, this second-hand book shop is a beacon! It's the one redeeming feature of the wharf. Behind the counter is a lovely lady who is most convivial and knows her store inside out. And what a store it is - a ridiculously good selection of old novels, art/photography books, travel guides, even found some stuff on city planning and urbanism which tickled my fancy as a planning student. All cheap too. Anyway, it's nice to know that in a space like this something can thrive - and of all things a book store. Perhaps there is hope yet in the face of the onslaught of the eReader!!

St Kevin's Arcade holds a superb little book store, unobtrusively sitting between K Road and Myers…read morePark. The shelves are laden with second hand books and your eyes will be racing around the walls faster than your brain can process all the information. Personally, the fantasy/sci-fi and the horror sections just inside the door are my favourite. I can always find something to tickle my interest or some missing book for an incomplete trilogy I own. The staff will quietly let you browse but know their store remarkably well and can answer most, if not all, of your questions. There is also a fantastic comic book section and an AHEM adult section. Book lovers should have this cluttered little shop clearly on their radar.

I like this place a lot. I like that they have comics strung up in the window, and I like that…read morethey're terrible Marvel comics from the mid-nineties because that's when I started reading Marvel comics as a kid and so I will always have time for steroidal men with glowing eyes and too many shoulder pads. I also like that this place is tiny. There's something about small, cluttered bookshops that's just so appealing. And there are more comics inside and they're a cool mix of old ones and new ones, and they're all only a few dollars, and there are obscure books about old TV shows and I'm pretty sure they had a copy of the first Tintin book in there once plus there's even a dirty section behind a curtain and that's probably got comics in it too because that's just how awesome this place is ... I think I've only ever bought like two things from this place. But I just like that it's there.

You would be forgiven for thinking this place was merely a stationery shop but they have a very…read moregood selection of books too. I guess they know there are some literary types in Parnell who know good fiction from the dross you get at Whitcoulls. I think it was this store that got me into the writer Paul Auster as I bought 'Moon Palace' here a couple of years ago. They also have a good choice of hardback books for your coffee table and I often used to browse at these when I visited the shop. They have good diaries too and I considered buying one only that I figured with a smart phone I probably did not need it. I am surprised there is not more good bookstores in Parnell but they are not really economically viable these days anyway. If you are in this neighbourhood and have an interest in books, you should definitely pop in here and have a look.