The best bookshops Tours

Because the taste for reading develops from the youngest age, a specialized bookstore for youngsters is very welcome. It's called Libr'enfant, and it's for toddlers as well as teenagers (and their parents). In the shelves you can find comics, stories, novels, beautiful picture books... Here are plenty of possibilities to start reading or to devour big novels. Original stories, books that don't take children for idiots, but for real readers: that's what the two enthusiasts offer you, who welcome you with a smile and good advice. And as a bonus, workshops or readings from time to time.

Surrounded by restaurants, this bookstore offers you intellectual food rigorously selected by its passionate booksellers. On the tables where their choices are displayed, you will find demanding works that do not necessarily follow the fashions or the media. You can explore the mezzanine, the back room and the main room to browse between poetry, novels and essays, from famous publishers or from smaller publishers. If you don't know what to choose, let yourself be guided through the shelves by the advice of the hosts. Meetings with authors, publishers or translators punctuate the season, and seduce literature lovers.

Comics, manga, youth and more recently LGBT and feminist: the shelves are as varied as they are high quality. Here, the large wooden shelves and the smiles of the booksellers instantly fill us with a warm feeling. A Tintin figurine stands next to a favorite comic book displayed on the central table, a feminist book observes the signing session of a talented cartoonist... The icing on the cake? The team of passionate booksellers who will skilfully identify your tastes and advise you on THE comic book you need.

Spiritual and physical foods are combined here around an interesting concept, a stone's throw from the Opera. In this bookstore imagined by Jean-Martin Dutour and Christophe Baudry, from the Baudry-Dutour estate in Chinon, you will find many works: beautiful books, comics, novels, magazines... And all of them have one thing in common: their relationship with gastronomy, wine or more generally with Touraine. But you can also choose beautiful bottles here since the store offers all the wines of the Baudry-Dutour house (AOC Chinon, AOC Touraine, IGP Val de Loire). In addition to this hybrid and original concept, Les Saisons regularly offers dedications, meetings and tastings in a friendly atmosphere.

A must for science students in Tours, as a bookstore specializing in the subject, the Unithèque broadened its horizons a few years ago. Since 2017, it has welcomed the collections of the former Boîte à Livres de l'Etranger, which specialized in foreign language books. If we still see anatomy or biology books in the front of the library, inside, the habits have changed. The shelves of the two rooms are still well stocked, but more varied, with medicine but also methods and novels in English, Spanish or Italian. To find your way around, ask for advice, you will be well informed, and we can even order the book if necessary.

In the heart of the city, on rue Nationale (in the national galleries), the FNAC remains a cultural store of reference, as much for literature as for cinema, music or new technologies. You will find all the bookstore imaginable: thrillers, novels, testimonies, comics for children or adults, coloring books, the latest romance, fantasy, classics of the genre... And, for the rare books that are not available in the store, it is possible to place an order. The children's section is also well stocked with children's literature as well as games and toys. Moreover, at the FNAC, listening to a new album on the spot or trying a console game with the controller in hand is commonplace... The salesmen are specialists in their field and always give good advice. Not to mention the after-sales service, the ticketing area for upcoming shows, as well as the sale of gift boxes or the shelves of the partner Darty.

Here is a mastodon of the literary world in Touraine. Created in 1946, having moved several times before settling in rue Nationale, the Boîte à Livres welcomes readers on its three levels which are full of good books. An outstanding general bookstore, it competes with the big chains in its category. Novels, essays, travel, comics, university textbooks, children's books (and even some toys)... You can find everything! And if you don't find the rare pearl, the booksellers are there to advise you or place an order. The fans of literature will take advantage with happiness of the meetings of authors, and for a greedy pause one stops at the tea room.

Welcome to the kingdom of SF, manga, comics, thrillers... In short, geeks generally feel at ease here, as well as those who are curious to explore literature off the beaten track, and authors who are sometimes not given much attention in other cultural venues. If you don't know where to turn, Stéphane will be happy to advise you, because nothing escapes him when it comes to talking about literature and what he has on the shelves or can order for you. You can also order online on his website. But the best thing to do is to go there, to stroll between the shelves and let yourself be tempted by the book covers and the good advice of the bookseller.

No need to wait for the Japan Tours Festival when you are a fan of manga, anime, and more generally of Japanese culture. This little store is a paradise for Japanese culture lovers. The bookshop, specialized above all in the sale of new and second-hand mangas, also proposes DVDs, derivative products and other accessories and decorative objects. Dragon Ball, One Piece and consort populate the shelves in the form of comics and statuettes to collect. But the store also allows you to discover less popular and equally exciting books thanks to the advice of the team. And on Facebook, you can follow the arrivals of new products not to be missed.

Founded in 1925, this bookstore is in a way "part of the walls" in the rue de la Scellerie, which is teeming with antique shops. Marie-Thérèse Denis, the last heiress of this treasure store and an unusual character, handed over to Pierre Duchemin in 2008. Her former collaborator decided not to change the aesthetics or the spirit of the bookshop, for our great pleasure. He proposes all kinds of old and beautiful editions, engravings and photographs for which he has a real competence since he also officiates as an expert in old books for auctions. Do not hesitate to ask questions, we will be happy to inform you.

Installed in the heart of the city since 2020, La Vagabonde bookstore is a little more than a bookstore. The proof: you can have coffee or tea there (when sanitary conditions allow it), and in any case you can take your time to wander through the shelves. Brigitte, who runs the place after a career in HR, is spontaneous and gives good advice. On the tables and shelves, novels of yesterday and today await their next readers, with a nice selection of new books. On the walls, La Vagabonde exhibits some works of art, like a mini-gallery, and meetings with authors take place. You will have understood: we come here to take a cultural bath!