Over two visits in the first half of 2025, I took myself on a bookshop crawl of Asheville, NC. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, Asheville has become a tourist destination with lots to offer: Whether you're wandering through a colorful downtown full of indie art galleries and murals, savoring farm-to-table cuisine at a tucked-away bistro, or hiking along scenic trails with breathtaking mountain views—Asheville offers a little something for every kind of explorer. Much of this variety is reflected in the city’s Indie bookshop scene - from high-end antiquarian to anarchist and communist bookstores, I wager that you will find a bookshop that caters to your interests and reading desires. Malaprops, downtown AshevilleOpen since 1982, you can’t say “bookshop” in Asheville without also saying Malaprops. With its tenure of almost 50 years, Malaprops has become an institution. Hungarian immigrant Emoke B'Racz founded the store “to be a place where poetry mattered, where a woman’s words were as important as a man’s, where excellence was customary, where good writing had a home, where [she] could nurture [her] addiction to literature, and play, enjoy, and entertain people drawn to quality books.” In 2019 long-term employee Gretchen Horn (who I’m honored to share a last name with) took over the store to carry on the spirit and legacy of Malaprops (learn more here). When my husband and I stepped into Malaprops on Easter Sunday 2025, the store was quiet. We browsed every section in contemplative silence, from staff recommendations to books in translation, regional fiction to banned books, spiritual reading to cookbooks and witchcraft.  Over the last ten years, I’ve swung through Malaprops many times looking for a vacation read or even a very specific title - and never once left empty-handed. A testament to its curation. Many shelves boast not only the New York Times Bestseller List but also the store's bestseller list of that particular week. Also worth noting is a charming kids section and the cafe inside the store. Malaprops is the kind of bookshop you can - and want to - get lost in.  Imagine my disappointment when I enthusiastically introduced myself to the manager on duty that day and was met with a dispassionate look on her face. While I talked about my love for Indie bookshops, she took a step back and handed my card back to me with the words “You can just email the general store address.” She walked away as quickly as I felt my stomach sink. I bought a book but almost wish I hadn’t. There were many other booksellers I would chat with on this tour that were welcoming and could spare a minute to talk. But I guess even bookshop managers have bad days. What I bought at Malaprops:
Battery Park Book Exchange, downtown Asheville Our next stop was Battery Park Book Exchange inside the historical Grove Arcade, which was designed to be America’s first indoor shopping mall. Constructed in 1928, the building boasts high ceilings and intricate wrought iron decor. It has a certain art deco charme which is reflected inside the bookstore, which also serves as a champagne bar and restaurant. The ground floor is split between the restaurant on one side and comfortable leather sofas surrounded by bookshelves on the other. While the book floor looks inviting at first sight, small signs on each table remind customers to not simply seat themselves. Why not? I couldn’t tell you. All in all, while it looks cozy and comfortable, I’m not sure I would describe it as hospitable.  The book selection at Battery Park is geared toward the connoisseur: from Truman Capote to first Mark Twain editions, Homer to Richard Powers, Isabelle Allende to Ian McEwan - Battery Park trades in literature and antiquarian titles. I spotted rare editions in locked cabinets ranging from $125 to $400 with Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises as an outlier at $2,000. If you make your way upstairs past the bathrooms and kitchen, you find some of the lesser known, used books. As you make your way from business of the early 2000s to cookbooks from the former century, drama and gardening to psychology and spirituality/metaphysics you are walking through a labyrinth of books that didn’t quite qualify for the ideal ground floor customer. Nonetheless, it’s a lot of fun to browse upstairs and watch what’s happening on the floor below from the balcony view.  Personally, I didn’t find a book I wanted to buy and left empty-handed (though with a full belly). Like Malaprops, I wasn’t feeling the hospitality here but think both stores are worth checking out! Lucky for us, we ended the first part of this Indie bookshop crawl at Crow and Quill. If you ever wondered what kind of speakeasy Edgar Allen Poe would hang out in, this is probably it. We browsed classics and coffee table books - and - at last - experienced the type of hospitality that the first two shops had held back on. Downtown Books, downtown Asheville The second part of this Indie bookshop tour started at Downtown Books Asheville, a few blocks from Malaprops and - funny enough - owned by the same people. While Malaprops deals in new books and book-related gifts, Downtown Books Asheville is its sister shop that exclusively sells second hand titles. Like its sister store, it is vast. Downtown Books spreads across three interconnected storefronts and may hold more books than any Indie bookshop I’v ever seen. The fiction section alone takes up one entire sales floor with labyrinthian shelves running through and across. I don’t know that there is any genre that you cannot find: From angels, crystals and shamanism (it is Asheville, after all) to philosophy, current affairs and some really eclectic magazines and even black and white photographs that you can purchase for $1.50 - Downtown Books runs the gamut when it comes to variety. I didn’t know you could have four sub-genres of biography, but there they were: historical biography, literary bios, celebrity biographies and parental biographies!  If you know what you’re looking for, Downtown Books is a joy to peruse! And if your bookshopping legs get tired, grab a seat in their old theater-style rows of chairs and catch a rest while flipping through your latest find! I didn’t buy a book here either - but not for lack of choice! I simply didn’t find the titles that were on my to-read list and after thirty minutes of scanning book spines, I may have been a little overwhelmed and cross-eyed. Bagatelle Books, West Asheville  I’ll tell you up-front, this was my favorite stop on this Indie bookshop crawl. Collocated with Flora & Forage (think florist meets home decor meets coffeeshop & winebar), Bagatelle Books on Haywood Road may strike you as an unassuming storefront at first but will quickly raise your book-loving heart rate with a great selection of used books, hand-painted murals and a bookshop hamster called Lainey (who likes broccoli, books, burrowing and natural philosophy). I’ve been to stores where the bookseller will not take their eyes off my daughter as she speed-reads (or maybe just looks at the pictures of?) the books in the kids section. Not at Bagatelle. She nestled herself in an armchair conveniently placed in front of the kids shelves and only got up to visit with Lainey who put on a little show in the hamster wheel.  Meanwhile I oohed and aahed at the titles I recognized and others that I wanted to take home with me that very instant. Bagatelle curates an eclectic mix of genres: sexuality, literature, nature, sci-fi and fantasy, travel and cooking. What stood out was their impressively large music section that is only topped by their poetry selection - praised by those in the know as the best poetry section in all of Western North Carolina; or perhaps even all of North Carolina, who is to say?  Because the atmosphere is lovely, I started chatting with Patrick who was unboxing his latest finds (and turned out to be the owner) and Brit who holds an undergrad in literature and works at the shop. I asked them where they source books and Patrick explained, “Sometimes locals drop by the books they have read and other times we go into people’s homes to see what might sell at the shop. We look for books that are in great condition and that we know our typical customers will like - that often includes history, regional titles, literature and poetry.” “One of my favorite activities is to go on house calls and meet people and their libraries.” Patrick's recommendation
What I bought at Bagatelle:
Firestorm Books, West Asheville  A mere 5-minute drive from Bagatelle Books is the home of Firestorm Books (though we had to come back later because Firestorm didn’t open until 3 p.m.), a self-described radical, anarchist cooperatively run bookshop and event space in West Asheville. Anarchist bookshops are not always my vibe but here I instantly spotted titles I’d already read. I felt just woke enough to step through the door. Once more, my daughter went straight for the kids section while my husband walked straight back out. Firestorm requires customers to wear masks to keep their staff safe: in 2025, that may not be everyone's cup of tea but each their own. The Firestorm coop describes their book curation as “a unique blend of off-beat, underground and independently published materials” (learn more here) and I carried a few titles back and forth until I settled on Bunny by Mona Awad. While somewhat bookshop-fatigued that day, I didn’t stick around for a long chat but had to ask about the unusual opening hours and learned that following Helene, Firestorm - like most businesses that were open at all - operated on limited hours. Since there’s no one boss and decisions are made collectively by the staff, no one felt the urge to return to business-as-usual hours so for now, they’re sticking with afternoons (Monday - Friday: 3-7 p.m., weekends: noon - 7 p.m.). After 17 years in business, it seems to be working! What stood out before I even walked into the store was a packed event calendar. No weeks seems to pass without at least three events at Firestorm. They host four reading groups alone (Abolitionist Reading Group, Disaster Reading Group, Sacred Anarchy Reading Group & Skeletons in your Closet Reading Group) and events from crocheting to book launches and game nights. What I bought at Firestorm:
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