One drawback of living or traveling in Korea is the difficulty of finding books in English. Good bookstores are rare, and if you only know one or two, you are unlikely to find the range of books you would like. Luckily, there ARE good English bookstores in Korea; you just have to know where and how to find them. Many of us also enjoy browsing in used bookstores.
Bookstores come in three flavors. First there are the chains, relatively easy to find through web searches. Second are mid-sized stores catering primarily to English readers; these are a bit harder to find, but many expats know where they are. More difficult to find, but fun when you do, are the small used bookstores that dot traditional markets in Korean cities. These, you find at the expense of shoe leather.
List of English Bookstores in Korea
Arc N Book, Seoul
Arc N Book is one unique bookstore and lifestyle store with branches in both Jamsil and the City Hall area. Its unique design with shelves in the form of arcs has made it into many social media posts, which tuned it into a popular spot. Although their focus is not on English books necessarily, they do have a selection, as well as many art books that can be enjoyed by anyone. Visit them if you are looking for a unique space to share your love for books with others.
The Foreign Bookstore | Noksapyeong, Seoul
Foreign Book Store is exactly what a second hand bookshop should be. With its narrow aisles and tightly packed shelves, it invites keen browsers to scour the stacks looking for their next read. You’re bound to find some gems within the cosy clutter. For those looking for a bargain, you’ll find the shop’s collection of Lonely Planet guides particularly pleasing.
Book Park | Yongsan-gu, Seoul
This store is a must-see purely for its “Insta-worthy” aesthetic. With its cubby areas and various hidden spaces set up for reading, it’s like the treehouse/library hybrid you never knew you wanted. Although it has only a very limited range of English titles (mainly children’s fiction and art books), swing by to enjoy a beverage from the in-house café and soak up the atmosphere.
Kyobo Books
Kyobo Book Centre’s flagship store in the basement of the Kyobo Life Insurance Building is reputed to house approximately 2.3 million titles. It has a decent English section – offering new releases and bestsellers alongside a strong selection of classics. There’s also a specific children’s section for those with young bookworms in their life. Not only is the store enormous, it’s also furnished with many little nooks and benches to encourage shoppers to sit down and read – although these spaces are snatched up pretty quickly during busy periods, so you have to be fast!
MAJOR CHAINS
Seoul
Books from the bestseller lists, books that have been or are about to be turned into major motion pictures, and classic literature are all available at any large chain including Kyobo, Bandi and Lunis. Look for sections called English, Foreign, or even 외국문 (“waegugmum” foreign books).
In Seoul there is a cluster of chains in the Jongno-gu area. Kyobo Book Centre, Korea’s largest bookstore, stocks about 2,300,000 books and on weekends draws over 120,000 customers. For a truly surreal/jam-packed experience, visit Kyobo or Youngpoong the day before Christmas or any other gift-giving occasion. If you frequent chains, get a membership card, which offers various benefits. Check out our article on how to use points cards in Korea.
If and when you manage to find a small store with English books, be sure to make friends with the owner. If you are a repeat customer, they will start squirreling books away for you.
So get out there and get reading!
15 comments
Lucy
For me, the best option is Book Depository. They are an online bookstore and they have free delivery to South Korea, no matter how many books you buy. Worth a try! bookdepository.com
Lucy
For me, the best option is Book Depository. It’s an online bookstore with free delivery to South Korea. They have 20 million books and no matter how many books you buy, you always get free shipping. Worth a try! http://www.bookdepository.com
Nguyen Huy Hung
Aladin is also the good bookstore chains for every people who want to buy a used book. If someone wants to buy a new book, it offers an online service with free domestic shipping fee. I have bought a lot of used book in the Aladin websites or have gone directly to the used bookstores
kunal
any fashion book store from korea?
kangnamdragon
eBooks are a great alternative. Try iBooks, Kindle, Nook, etc.
Travis Landers
try this again… electronic readers seem like a better option to me… especially if you read a lot… ipad kindle…. they offer other services as well… mags… etc. for those that only need a few books here and there..check out the jungangno library in daegu…. free for a card…. other libraries may be similar…. you can only check out one book at a time but still… free….
Travis Landers
if you have the extra dough… a new reader or ipad seems appealing… you can get magazines and books…. I used up the local library here in Daegu….. jungangno library in the park with the bell located near downtown… not a huge selection but it does have some mags, books, and newspapers that are pretty recent…books are mostly just classics though and award winners… newberry award, etc.
Whisper Chase
Oh and What the Book, did move. It’s closer to the Burger King in Itaewon. It’s a great new set up. Roomy and lots more books.
Shawn
Good to know. Thanks for the info. I want to head there next weekend to get rid of some used books and pick up some new reading material. Your post will save me from walking in the wrong direction.
Whisper Chase
This is a good resource as well. I didn’t know that there were so many other foreign bookstores.
Julia Johansen
I think What the Book moved.
I love Kyobo, and what I love even more is that if they don’t have a book that I’m looking for, they order it on Amazon and I don’t have to pay shipping 🙂
Kane Kim
mm..
I recommend another site : http://bookinbooks.com
it looks kinda a search engine..
pretty simple… good price..
and they say they order books from lots of bookstores in korea..
and among offline stores,
Bandi and Lounis is good for me as well, isn’t it..??
kunal
hi
any fashion book store frpm korea?
Matt
BTW,
In Busan…
YoungGwang Book Store in Seomyeon is the best. I can’t believe it didn’t make this list.
The Kyobo Bookstore in the Shinsegae Department Store is a joke. I keep a bigger and better selection of books in my bathroom.
There are a few other big stores that have a ho-hum selection at best.
Matt
Nancie,
You must have an APO box because when I try to get books shipped from Amazon, they kill me with shipping. I wanted a $10 book, but the 18-30 day shipping rate was $29.95. It got much worse if I wanted the 6-18 day shipping ($39.95), and the express shipping (2-3 day) nearly killed me ($50).
I love Amazon when I’m in the USA, but I hate it here.
I agree with you about the excessive premium on books here, though. It seems they use 1500 KRW = 1 USD as their set exchange rate.