A Bookworm’s Guide to Downtown Ann Arbor Bookstores, Ann Arbor, Michigan

As the rise of e-readers and digital books threatens the survival of mammoth brick-and-mortar book sellers, independent bookstores are still very much part of the fabric of downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan. Recently, I browsed five Ann Arbor bookstores in partnership with Destination Ann Arbor and Wanderful. As you’ll see, some of these shops are traditionally bookish, while others uniquely quirky. Yet all five are independent and locally-owned shops bookworms will love visiting.

In one coffee-fueled morning, I found today’s best sellers and favorites from my childhood. There were local comic books and rare first editions. Perhaps most unique was a book filled with notes typed by one of these bookstores’ patrons on an old typewriter in the store.

What I discovered on my book-shopping stroll in downtown Ann Arbor is niche bookstores have found a home here.

Two downtown book sellers - Dawn Treader Book Shop and West Side Book Shop - have specialized in rare and antiquarian books for decades. Today, you’ll also find books on spirituality at Crazy Wisdom Bookstore & Tea Room and comic books at Vault of Midnight.

However, this Southeastern Michigan city hasn’t been immune to the economic hardships felt by retailers in this digital age. In 2011, the Ann Arbor-based international bookstore chain Borders Books and Music shuttered 40 years after the original store opened downtown. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).