New Orleans · 10 places · 4 districts
Bookstores and Record Shops in New Orleans.
All 10 bookstores and record shops we cover in New Orleans, from French Quarter, Frenchmen & Marigny and Lower Magazine & Garden District, on one map with addresses, hours and directions.
All 10
Bookstores and Record Shops, district by district.
Tap a place or a dot to see it.
French Quarter4 places
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Small bookshop in the Pirate's Alley house where William Faulkner lived, selling fine literature, Faulkner titles, Southern and New Orleans books, and rare, signed and out-of-print editions.
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Densely packed used and antiquarian bookshop behind St. Louis Cathedral, across from the Bourbon Orleans Hotel, with books stacked floor to ceiling for patient browsers.
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The Quarter's oldest bookstore, opened in 1967 and on this Decatur block since 1979, selling used books. Its founders retired and sold the shop to bookseller Steve Lacy.
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ABAA-member bookshop in one bright room on Chartres, with collectible first editions, used titles, new local-interest books, and vintage New Orleans maps and prints.
Frenchmen & Marigny4 places
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Record store founded in 1992 and on Frenchmen since 2014, specializing in jazz, blues, Cajun, zydeco and R&B on CD and LP, plus music books, sheet music and posters.
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Independent bookshop on Frenchmen Street billing itself as radical booksellers since 1978, with new releases, classics, cookbooks, small gifts and art pieces.
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Coffee shop and bookstore at Elysian Fields and St. Claude, named for James Baldwin, with books by Black and BIPOC authors and New Orleans titles, plus readings and author talks.
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Bywater outpost of the St. Louis record shop on Chartres, stocking thousands of new and used LPs including rare pressings, and a regular stop for vinyl collectors.
Lower Magazine & Garden District1 place
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Independent bookstore founded in 1979 in The Rink at Washington Ave, selling new books plus rare and signed first editions, with the Bar Epilogue cocktail bar inside.
Uptown Magazine Street1 place
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Local record store in a former Woolworth's building, selling vinyl, music memorabilia and merch, with a 1940s lunch counter inside.
Nothing in that category here.
Good to know
Questions, answered.
Where is the best area for bookstores and record shops in New Orleans?
French Quarter has the most, with 4, followed by Frenchmen & Marigny (4) and Lower Magazine & Garden District (1). Each district page has the full store list with hours and directions.
How many bookstores and record shops does this guide cover?
10, across 4 districts. Every listing has its address and hours and links to the store's own site.
Are these listings kept up to date?
Yes. Every store is re-checked against its own site, brand locator or mall directory at least every six months, and closed stores come off the list.
Read more
Guides that name these shops.
Royal Street Shopping Walk: Antiques, Galleries and Estate Jewelry
Royal Street from Canal toward Esplanade: M.S. Rau and the antiques dealers, gallery row, estate jewelry at Wellington & Co., plus the afternoon pedestrian hours and where to eat.
Read guide →Shopping Near UNO: Gentilly, Lakeview & Elysian Fields
A guide to shopping around the University of New Orleans, now LSU New Orleans: the campus bookstore, move-in runs in Gentilly and on Elysian Fields, Harrison Avenue in Lakeview, and where to eat with parents.
Read guide →
Shopping Near Xavier University of Louisiana: Carrollton Avenue & Bayou Road
A guide to shopping around Xavier University of Louisiana: the campus bookstore on Dixon Street, Mid-City Market and the shops of North Carrollton Avenue, the Black-owned bookstore and record shop on Bayou Road, and where to eat with parents.
Read guide →Keep shopping
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