This Washington, DC, indie bookshop crawl didn’t happen all at once. Some visits were squeezed into cold December afternoons, others unfolded months later on warm June days with friends and their kids in tow. Taken together, they offer a view of the capital’s independent bookshop ecosystem: long-standing institutions, newer niche shops, neighborhood anchors, and spaces intentionally designed for readers of all ages. What connects them is not size or genre, but care.
It's only fitting that my very first and very last Indie bookshop visits for this project were in Washington, D.C. Here are the bookshops I visited throughout #40BookshopsUnder40: 
On a frigid December weekend, I set out for my final indie bookshop visit for this project. Not forever, just for 40 Bookshops Under 40. I had spent the morning as a guest speaker at American University, and I had carved out the afternoon for Old Town Books in Alexandria.
I briefly forgot one very important lesson I learned early on when I first launched this project: trying to interview booksellers on a December weekend is a losing game. The shop was busy and humming; exactly as it should be.  A week of hygge, books, and the understated magic of Danish booksellersIn the summer of 2025, I spent a week in Copenhagen with my longtime friend Shelly and my seven-year-old daughter: three travelers with different priorities: pastries, beaches, and books (I’ll leave you to guess whose is whose). Between café stops, ice-cream breaks, and explorations of Denmark’s culinary scene, I carved out time to wander through a handful of independent bookshops that offered English-language sections.
What I found was a small but mighty constellation of shops that reflect Copenhagen’s personality: thoughtful, design-driven, community-minded, and quietly excellent. Below are three of my favorites. |
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