Southside Books

Gosh knows I like a bookstore… now give me a bookstore that’s so packed to the rafters that at any given moment I could be buried by a falling stack of books? Best way to spend an afternoon in my books (PUN ALERT!).
So when I walked into this wee used bookstore, with its precarious stacks and strange, acoustic music playing on the radio in the back, making it feel like a tiny tomb of fiction — I had high high hopes.
Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed with their fiction selection. I was ready to grab books by the armload but left empty handed.
The one thing I will say, is that this place seems to be a mecca for text books and most non-​fiction in general. So if you’re looking for course material or a study on an obscure hobby, this would be a good place to have a go. (Also, mystery novels.)
But having the task of combing through stacks and leaving without anything is a bit anti-​climatic. I do love the idea of a treasure, and that’s a hard pill to swallow when it doesn’t come to be. Will definitely give it another go when i’m in the area but for fiction — there’s bigger fish in the used bookstore sea.

This is a good place to start if you’re looking for textbooks e.t.c for university as it’s full of all sorts of second hand ones and saves you a bit of cash too. It’s also a good place to look just for something to read as you never know what you’ll find in the stacks of books covering the little shop.

This is a favoured place of mine to pick up textbooks from and they’re usually of good value. As you walk around you’ll find that generally things are well categorised, but there are a few items that are in unexpected places and the place isn’t perhaps as tidy as it could be.
It’s main drawback as a shop is the fact that it can commonly be closed, although it does seem to be alright at the moment, but it’s well worth a look if you have a subject in mind and you don’t want to buy a brand new textbook.
For second hand books you occasionally get a few good items, but really it’s about the education and non-​fiction books.

A few doors down from Blackwell, Southside is a trusty independent bookshop with bags of character. Specialising in new and secondhand tomes, it has dozens of wooden bookcases groaning with the weight of academic textbooks on everything from politics, socialism, science, history, geography and medicine to language and literary criticism.
For post graduates that would rather lose a pinkie than read another textbook, they also stock some interesting fiction and hardbacks on travel, photography, art and local history. I found a mint copy of David Hockney’s Alphabet sandwiched between well thumbed books on Picasso and Monet. The latter were reasonably priced but the former was a bit too expensive with just £4 shaved off the original RRP.

Like Jonny I’ve also noticed the plethora of publications in here that seem to see life from the other side of The Iron Curtain, and while neither queueing up for six hours to buy a loaf of bread, or being murdered and buried in a mass grave by secret police are tasks currently high on my agenda, it does certainly add to the uniqueness and quirkiness of this store.
Dusty and old fashioned, but better organised and with far more modern and useful tomes than you might at first think, the owner certainly has got the business acumen to go with the olde worlde charm.

I wonder if the owner of this shop is some sort of old guard communist. For some reason every time I 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.

This is indeed a treasure trove of books and as the other reviewers have mentioned, the shop owner is very friendly and helpful and is clearly very enthusiastic about literature which is inspiring.
Southside Books stocks a whole host of second hand books some relatively new, some older classics and if you’re looking for a good read this place is definitely worth a rummage as there are books everywhere. I’m funny with books, I love reading but I very rarely find books that I like and when I do find one I could read it from cover to cover without putting it down. That’s why I like books stores like this place, they have much more character than chain book stores such as Waterstones and the dog-​eared appearance of some books gives them personality and makes them more inviting. Everything inside it a bit of a mish mash with books everywhere but it just adds to the excitement of discovering a fantastic new read.
Some of the books can be quite pricey but it’s good to support little independent places like this.

Located just two doors up from the gargantuan Blackwells on South Bridge, Southside Books offers an alternative 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.

Firstly, dont feel ashamed to walk past this place and head straight into Blackwells, which is cruely placed next door to this tiny bookshop. Frankly, I dont know how it does any business.
Sometimes however, Blackwells just wont have what you are looking for. Pehaps your book is too old, out of print or just really obscure. Thats when Southside books comes into play. It has such a lrge selection of books that you may just find what you are looking for, and much more besides that.
Southside Books can get rather expensive however, so bear that in mind when you are looking for that one book in particular.

Southside Books is a lovely wee bookshop bursting with character (and novels) in the heart of South Bridge.
As Sam has said it is a cheaper alternative to Blackwell’s, which might as well be nudging it out the road as it is a much smaller space. But the owner makes use of what he’s got effectively and books are neatly crammed into many bookcases.
For a secondhand bookstore everything is in good nick and it’s well ordered than most. They had a great selection of art books when I was in last week, not to mention an extensive amount of novels of all shapes, sizes and dates.
The owner is exceptionally helpful and gracious — he even offered to order me in whatever I was looking for! But since I had no idea and merely wanted a look, I wasn’t much help to him. I just went in for inspiration since I want to start getting tucked into books again, and got some inspiration in here.
Useful for students (especially his ordering policy), affordable and offers books with more character than you’ll find on the high street.

Every now and then it’s advisable to check this second hand book store as a cheaper substitute to its looming neighbour (Blackwells). Even if I’ve popped in for a fleeting glance the owner always asks what I’m looking for, suggests an alternative if the book is not available and eagerly helps me find exactly what I’m looking for. Admittedly some of the mark up prices will have you questioning if the shop is worthy of the second hand label (some are a little expensive) but nonetheless you may one day take heed of this advice and find a bargain.

There are much worse places to find some cheap gems than Southside Books. It carries a good stock of general fiction, classics, crime and fantasy (its possible to pick up a suprising number of decent reads for less than a fiver), but also has an excellent backstock of Scottish literature, history and other Scots related paraphernalia. Well worth a browse.