When you visit Crow Books you are immediately struck by its great layout, with its beautiful wooden shelves, ornamental rugs, funky posters and stylish leather couch. The ambience is just right, and so it should be as it is owned and managed by the same guy who set up and managed Planet Books. About a year and a half ago he left Planet and created the only independent bookstore in the Victoria Park/eastern suburbs area of Perth. Crow Books sits in the hub of the Victoria Park shopping precinct (900 Albany Hwy to be precise), an area filled with restaurants, cafes, curio shops and stores selling colourful gourmet stuff in fancy jars.
As soon as I entered the shop and found the fiction section I immediately spied a dozen books I could have easily given a good home. I ended up buying three books, but it could have easily been more. This is a shop where you will find the books you have always wanted to read and unknown books that will entice you with their weird allure. Of course there is something for everyone – a cult section, poetry (with some beautiful special editions), art, new releases, lowbrow, classics, music, philosophy, cooking and pretty much any subject your overwhelmed brain can think of.
Crow Books has extremely friendly opening hours, retailing seven days a week from mid morning till 9 -10pm or so (check the website for specific days), which is great going for a relatively small independent bookstore. They encourage extended browsing to a hip soundtrack (they were playing TV On The Radio while I was there). Crow Books would be great fun to visit at night after a meal at a nearby restaurant, which is just the right time to revel in the atmosphere of rows of books and weird animal posters containing strange aphorisms. Oh, and there’s a somewhat macabre crow overseeing proceedings as well.
Why not visit and a support a bookstore that’s pulling all the right moves? Crow Books will prosper because it understands what book lovers want and they are willing to give it to them at a decent price. They'll also give you a 10% discount if you have a RTR FM subscribers card – don’t leave home without it.
Not heard of this store. Must check it out. Looks pretty cool...apart from what looks like a real stuffed crow??? Ack.
ReplyDeleteHey Jeremy, did you checkout The Good Store when you were out that way? Marshal from Mills Record Bar owns the place. There are soooooooo many small bookshops in Paris! It's really lovely :):) Merry Christmas to you, Liz and all the kids :)
ReplyDeleteHi Colleen. no I didn't, although i've heard of it. I was too focussed on the books. Paris hey? Have you seen the recent Woody Allen film? Midnight in Paris? Don't get stuck in time!
ReplyDeleteHave great Christmas!!!
Yeah I loved that film! Have visited a few bars here that have a bit of history :) may travel forward soon though to 2012 :)
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