Horizon Books

It’s nice to see actual brick and mortar bookstores. This one was on par with any of the big box stores. They surpassed the borders and Barnes nobles types by having an above average café in the basement where you could drink a coffee, hang out, or read. There is a piano in the café for patrons to play. The day I went, there was an amazing teenage boy playing various songs for those chilling in the café. It had a very downtime feel to it.
Support your local bookstores and go here.

Wonderful little bookstore. It’s a great place to leave my husband while I browsed other shops. They have lots of seating and a coffee & bakery shop. I liked that they had a collection of signed books by various authors and a collection of books by Michigan authors. Huge variety of children’s book which are great for grandchildren presents.

Great bookstore! My family enjoyed our time here while stepping out of the rain. The employees were so friendly and helpful. We will stop in again.

Lovely book store downtown. Was able to buy a few books for our young one will away from home!

Traverse City, where the citizens bought the State Theater to keep it from going multiplex, and you can still go to a great bookstore. That’s a perfect afternoon. Keep it up!

I love that this place is open until 11pm every single night. They also feature tons of local writers, photographers, and artists and have many events and book signings. The only thing that could make this place better is more comfortable chairs to sit and pass the time in.

I am glad to see that there is a successful independent book store left in Michigan. There are great bargains! And three stories of books. Make sure to make some time. You will need it!

I might do 4.5÷5 stars if I could. The wife and I visited this place while strolling along downtown.
This place (if you’re into books or not) is worth a peak. 2 stories and a basement, guys. Tons of books and selections. And they have board games and two cafes with comfortable seating.
It’s like a home-​grown Barnes and Noble /​Borders.
My only issue is the décor. It’s… all over the place. Eclectic might be a better word. The store’s flow is weirdly dictated by the books, so it can feel a little cramped with their selection, but it is very organized.
If I lived here, I would prefer this over any library. Can’t wait to come back!

A really nice independent bookstore. Great non-​fiction section and lots of indie periodical titles. They also offer some awesome bargains, if you dig around for awhile amongst the clearance section items. A well-​appointed café and well-​rounded children’s section round out this two-​level bookshop in the heart of downtown. I never ever bypass an opportunity to visit when I’m in town.

It makes me miss Powells in Portland, OR but it was a good sized store! Everything else was closed– this place was open and we were happy to stop in.

Terrific independent bookstore in downtown Traverse City. Three floors — café downstairs, along with a number of bargain books and tons of periodicals. Yeah, they have Gun Dog magazine and the Paris Review. Coffee on premises! Of course. Nice selection of signed books. Agreeable vibe.

My standard for bookstores. Go in, you don’t think you need anything, but there is something in there!

Love this book store. We bought our daughters Autographed Michigan Chiller books here. We can see why they have been in business all these years.

Great bookstore. Great place to browse and shop.

One of the few remaining local independent book stores, that you find in smaller cities, that services their community in many ways. Horizon books has three floors, right on front street in the middle of the downtown track of Traverse City.
There are three floors, with the bottom floor having clearence books, a large coffe bar, and some Internet terminals. The main floor has a small coffee station, the main cash register station and most current books. The top floor has many of the non-​fiction special categories. An unique feature is the top floor looks down onto the main floor, and they hang 20 – 25 quilts from local quilting guilds. I assume they have other pieces of art (most of these quilts are at the art level), but I’ve only seen quilts on display.
The books have a local Michigan flare and a large focus on handy man, photography and craft topics — I guess catering to their primary customer base.
I like these bookstores, where you wonder around and look at the various topics. It worth dropping in and seeing if you can find something to read.

A local bookstore with something for everyone. It is a hot spot for all ages, offering live music, readings, room for groups to meet, food and designer beverages. Great magazine selection takes up an entire wall on the lower level. I can spend hours in there browsing and almost always run into someone I know. Friendly and helpful staff and lots of places to sit. Love this bookstore!

Need to make note of all the events that go on here, from live music to book signings. I just really love this place. It still smells exactly the same as it did when I would frequent as a child to get my latest Baby Sitters Club fix. Yeah, I totally was into those books. I know I mentioned this in my original review, but it’s crazy how a place and smell can take you back in time 20 years.
Grabbed an Americano at the café today for my downtown stroll. Delicious coffee, as is the ice tea. Sometimes I like to bring my computer here and sit in the front, people watch, and enjoy the free WiFi. It’s a great place to work, if you can manage to focus without looking out the window.

I’m surprised I haven’t reviewed this already, and yes I think that Horizon books is a great place. And now that borders is liquidating, I will probably be here more often (plus I dig their downtown location on Front Street). Also of note, this store is open until 11pm, which is late for N. Michigan. I enjoy their staff recommendations too. They have a good magazine and newspaper selection as well.
Also, home to the Rise and Shine café (downstairs) and a coffee shop (upstairs). If you work downtown, you can get a discount/​frequent buyer card for the coffee shop. Since the coffee shop is associated with Java Joe’s you can also pick up buy 10, get 1 card. This store occasionally has live music downstairs.

I’m a big fan of Horizon Books. It’s nice to still have such a prominent and well appointed local bookstore right downtown in Traverse City. They have a pretty solid selection of books and periodicals, and as a regular fiction reader I’ve always been pleased with their offerings. It helps that they have a friendly staff, as well, very useful when looking for something specific or needing a recommendation. They also support local authors and community events here — most recently I saw an interesting presentation about birds in our area by Wings of Wonder — they had owls and a raptor in the building and gave a cool demo. It’s awesome that Horizon can help facilitate these kind of events for Traverse City.
But more than all of that, I really like to be able to just walk int here, order a drink and maybe some food and sit around in the up or downstairs café areas to read and hang out for a bit. Great place to learn new things, meet people, and relax with a book or magazine anytime of year.

By far the best bookstore i have ever been to. Here are the reasons why:
— Awesome location! Located in downtown Traverse City, you can easily find parking, stop by the bookstore, then check out a movie at the restored theater (thanks Michael Moore!) or take a walk to Cherry Republic and get some tasty samples.
— Great book selection and frequent book signings/​readings. We all want to support independent business, but sometimes to do that you have to sacrifice selection, but fear not, that is not the case at Horizon.
— Cute little café with delicious snacks and coffee. Also free WiFi which is a huge plus. My parents live in Elk Rapids and the Internet is sooo slooow I often go into TC and camp out at Horizon Books café so i can actually get some work done.
No offense, Borders/​Barnes/​all giant chains, but Horizon Books is far superior!