Melbourne secondhand bookshops

I will be visiting Melbourne for a few days later this year. Any suggestions for good secondhand bookshops would be welcome.

I started to gather some of these a couple of years ago here. I discontinued it as the Local feature came more online. Now, of course, if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch you can get LT's Local Books app for free.

Thanks for this!

My pleasure. Give us a hoy when you're in town and I'll buy you a good Melbourne coffee!

>4 justjim: There are bad Melbourne coffees...? ;)

Of course not. Some are just better than others.

To be honest, some of these places that make coffee in a $20,000 machine that looks like a cross between a bathysphere and the TARDIS, and that have a guy in the corner channelling Kerouak don't really do it for me. "Just the beans, Ma'am."

Not if all the American chains are gone, anyway. McDonald's will still do you a bad one, I'd imagine.

Yes. Yes they will. And there are office tea-rooms all over the city with nasty powdered instant stuff they call coffee.

But there is good stuff too, JessamyJane. I shall ensure you get the good stuff.

(Bloody Sydneysider, probably drinks nothing but Resch's DA!)

And to think that here, in the US, Starbuck's is considered wonderful!

Starbucks nosedived here and had to shut many outlets. Melbournian coffee drinkers want coffee not BS grande half-caf frappe with a shot of syrup and a twist of lemon!

Mine's a long black thanks.

Jim, you forgot the crappy floor sweepings that is offered up on construction sites; not quite the bane of my life, but close!

I'm sorry, if you're on a construction site and someone offers you a coffee and they don't leave the site, it's your own fault if you drink it.

Exceptions may include the construction site being a refurb of St ALi!

If you follow the St ALi link, follow the machines link to the Slayer. That's the $20k machine I was referring to in #6

if you're on a construction site and someone offers you a coffee and they don't leave the site, it's your own fault if you drink it.

You only fall for that one once! Trust me.

Nope, never touched Resch's in my life. And I am proud of the fact that I have never had a Starbucks coffee!

Ah, Melbourne! In the old days people used to discuss the weather, now all they talk about is coffee!

Come on justjim, you haven't mentioned the bookshops that also do coffee.

Personally I think mine's the best, though I can't draw those cutsie patterns in the crema. We've got a Rancilio Sylvia and a burr grinder. I use Cottle's Espresso Supreme blend and store the beans in a vacuum canister bought from ThinkGeek. Visitors to Melbourne, and justjim, should give me hoy and I'll make them a good Melbourne coffee!

There is McClouds in Nunawading, just across from the Railway Station. They have a lot but it is entirely unorganized, not alphabetical or anything, with big piles on the floor too. You could spend 20 minutes hunting for one book and not find it because you just can not tell what is there or end up with a bunch of other material.
Wormhole in Belgrave Heights, you can catch the 697 Bus from Belgrave station to the place and back. They have a good collection.

Wayward Books on Bellair Street in Kensington is one of my favourite haunts.
Its small but packed with good condition books and Judy is willing to go looking for the stuff you are after if she hasn't actually got it on the shelves.
Everything is ordered and sectioned so it makes browsing easy despite being a very cosy space!

For those traveling by public transport, it is right opposite Kensington Railway station. there are a great selection of cafes and boutique shops including White Rabbit nearby.

I went to Corner Lamp Books during the week, just across and up the road from Moorabbin station. It had a varied well organized collection.

Is Grinders still operating on Lygon St?

I notice that Grinders Coffee is now available in Canberra at some coffee shops. But I wondered if that just means that the original hole in the wall shop is gone and the name has been sold on to a bigger concern

(does anyone remember when the King Island Dairy was a small concern and you couldn't get the Brie when the cows were calving?)

If you want good Coffee up here you can't go past Cafe Essen in civic - and as for bookshops - Canty's and Gaslight in Fyshwick are hard to pass up.

Cheers

My last trip to Melbourne (May) showed me that the original Grinders is still there on Lygon St :) YAY !!!

However my exceptional wife bought me a bag of Grinders Coffee beans from a supermarket in Canberra - on the bag was "A Division of Cocoa Cola-Amatil Aust Ltd"

so it looks like the name has been sold on.

Cheers