Bookstores in Wellington
If you judge a town by its bookshops, Wellington, Wellington gives you 24 to judge by. That's 24 bookshops mapped around Wellington, each with its own shelves and specialties. The used sections are where the real bargains hide. Staff picks shelves are the fastest way to read a shop's personality.
This guide covers every bookstore we could verify in and around Wellington (within about 40 km), built from OpenStreetMap's community-maintained data. Names you'll run into include Arty Bees Books and Unity Books, plus Archway Books. If a bookshop's missing from Wellington's list, it probably just hasn't been mapped yet.
The Wellington bookstore lineup
24 mapped within about 40 km:
Arty Bees Books
Bookstore
Arty Bees Books is Bookstore on 106 Manners Street. Arty Bees Books also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Th 09:00-19:00; Fr 09:00-21:00; Sa 10:00-21:00; Su 11:00-19:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
106 Manners Street
Hours: Mo-Th 09:00-19:00; Fr 09:00-21:00; Sa 10:00-21:00; Su 11:00-19:00
Phone: +64 4 384 5339
Unity Books
Bookstore
Unity Books is Bookstore on 57 Willis Street. Unity Books also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Th 09:00-18:00; Fr 09:00-19:00; Sa 10:00-18:00; Su 11:00-17:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
57 Willis Street, 6011
Hours: Mo-Th 09:00-18:00; Fr 09:00-19:00; Sa 10:00-18:00; Su 11:00-17:00
Phone: +64 4 499 4245
Archway Books
Bookstore
Archway Books is Bookstore on SH 1. Archway Books also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Su 10:00-18:00.
SH 1, 5024
Hours: Mo-Su 10:00-18:00
Marsden Books
Bookstore
Marsden Books — Bookstore, found on 159 Karori Road in Wellington. Also worth knowing about Marsden Books: it has a website with more detail.
159 Karori Road, Wellington, 6012
Whitcoulls
Bookstore
Whitcoulls — Bookstore.
Whitcoulls
Bookstore
Whitcoulls — Bookstore.
Pegasus Books
Bookstore
Pegasus Books is Bookstore on 204A Left Bank. Pegasus Books also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 10:30-20:00; Su 10:30-18:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
204A Left Bank
Hours: Mo-Sa 10:30-20:00; Su 10:30-18:00
Phone: +64 4 384 4733
The Ferret Bookshop
Bookstore
The Ferret Bookshop is Bookstore on 175 Cuba Street. The Ferret Bookshop also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as 11:00-17:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
175 Cuba Street
Hours: 11:00-17:00
Phone: +64 4 384 8786
Graphic Comics
Bookstore
Graphic Comics is Bookstore on 105 Cuba Street, Wellington. Graphic Comics also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Th 10:30-17:30; Fr 10:30-18:30; Sa 10:30-16:30; Su 11:00-16:00; it has a website with more detail.
105 Cuba Street, Wellington, 6011
Hours: Mo-Th 10:30-17:30; Fr 10:30-18:30; Sa 10:30-16:30; Su 11:00-16:00
Freedom Shop
Bookstore
Freedom Shop is Bookstore on 160 Riddiford Street, Newtown, Wellington. Freedom Shop also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Sa 11:00-16:00; it has a website with more detail.
160 Riddiford Street, Newtown, Wellington, 6021
Hours: Sa 11:00-16:00
Minerva
Bookstore
Minerva — Bookstore. Also worth knowing about Minerva: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 10:00-17:30; Sa 10:00-16:00; it has a website with more detail.
Hours: Mo-Fr 10:00-17:30; Sa 10:00-16:00
Homedale Bookshop
Bookstore
Homedale Bookshop is Bookstore on 122 Main Road.
122 Main Road
Tawa Books & Post
Bookstore
Tawa Books & Post — Bookstore on 181 Main Road.
181 Main Road
Paper Plus
Bookstore
Paper Plus — Bookstore on 215 Jackson Street.
215 Jackson Street
Book Hound
Bookstore
Book Hound is Bookstore. Book Hound also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 10:30-18:00; Sa 10:00-17:30; Su 11:00-17:00.
Hours: Mo-Fr 10:30-18:00; Sa 10:00-17:30; Su 11:00-17:00
Undercurrent
Bookstore
Undercurrent is Bookstore. Undercurrent also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as We-Su 11:00-19:00.
Hours: We-Su 11:00-19:00
The House of Books
Bookstore
The House of Books is Bookstore. The House of Books also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Tu-Sa 11:00-18:00.
Hours: Tu-Sa 11:00-18:00
Readers Book Exchange
Bookstore
Readers Book Exchange — Bookstore.
Twin Rivers
Bookstore
Twin Rivers is Bookstore.
Book Haven
Bookstore
Book Haven is Bookstore on 160 Riddiford Street. Book Haven also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as 10:00-17:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
160 Riddiford Street
Hours: 10:00-17:00
Phone: +64 4 380 0009
Schrödinger's Books
Bookstore
Schrödinger's Books is Bookstore on 137 Jackson Street. Schrödinger's Books also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 08:30-18:00; Sa 09:00-17:00; Su,PH 10:00-16:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
137 Jackson Street
Hours: Mo-Fr 08:30-18:00; Sa 09:00-17:00; Su,PH 10:00-16:00
Phone: +64 4 260 3777
XO Book Co.
Bookstore
XO Book Co. — Bookstore, found on 140 Willis Street in Wellington. Also worth knowing about XO Book Co.: the map lists its hours as Tu-Sa 10:00-16:00; Su 11:00-15:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
140 Willis Street, Wellington, 6011
Hours: Tu-Sa 10:00-16:00; Su 11:00-15:00
Phone: +64 4 381 0323
Aurelia Books
Bookstore
Aurelia Books — Bookstore, found on 109 Willis Street in Wellington. Also worth knowing about Aurelia Books: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 10:00-17:00; Sa 10:00-16:00; Su 11:00-16:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
109 Willis Street, Wellington, 6011
Hours: Mo-Fr 10:00-17:00; Sa 10:00-16:00; Su 11:00-16:00
Phone: +64 22 054 2696
The Children’s Bookshop
Bookstore
The Children’s Bookshop — Bookstore on 26 Kilbirnie Plaza. Also worth knowing about The Children’s Bookshop: it has a website with more detail.
26 Kilbirnie Plaza
What the map tells us about bookstores in Wellington
15 of the 24 list their opening hours on the map, which is genuinely useful — bookshops keep civilised hours, so the listed ones are usually reliable.
13 have websites listed. Worth a look for events — readings and signings get announced there first.
There's a cluster: 2 of them sit on 160 Riddiford Street, so you can string those into one walk and drive between the rest.
The Wellington bookstore crawl
Making a day of it in Wellington? Work this order: Arty Bees Books on 106 Manners Street, Unity Books on 57 Willis Street, Archway Books on SH 1, Marsden Books on 159 Karori Road, Whitcoulls, Whitcoulls, Pegasus Books on 204A Left Bank, and The Ferret Bookshop on 175 Cuba Street. That's the bookstore crawl in one sensible loop, no backtracking. 16 more are listed below.
Bookstore tips for Wellington
A few things worth knowing before you work through Wellington's bookstores:
- Check the staff picks shelf first at Arty Bees Books. It's the fastest read of a shop's personality. If the picks excite you, the rest of the store will too.
- The used section is underpriced everywhere at Unity Books. Books are heavy and slow to sell, so used shelves price to move. First editions hide here regularly.
- Note the shop's specialties. Sci-fi, travel, art books, philosophy — every good shop leans somewhere. Find the lean that matches yours.
- Kids' sections are goldmines. Even without kids. The picture-book art alone is worth the browse, and the middle-grade shelves hold genuine classics.
Good to know
We searched about 40 km around Wellington — that covers the town itself plus the surrounding communities you'd reasonably drive to. Listings come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by local volunteers, so a brand-new bookstore in Wellington can take a while to appear. Spotted a closure among the 24, or a bookstore we missed entirely? The map is the source of truth here — one OpenStreetMap edit corrects it for everyone.
We don't list prices — they change constantly and vary by edition. What we list is the where: real shops, verified by real mappers, in alphabetical order with no favourites.
If you run one of the 24 listed here and something's wrong — a closure, a move, new hours — the fix is the same: update the shop on OpenStreetMap and the correction flows through to this page on the next daily refresh.
Bookstore listings for Wellington: 24 mapped from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Photos from Wikimedia Commons contributors; individual photo credits appear in captions. Listing data was last refreshed automatically — verify hours before visiting.