Two of the best independent bookstores in the United States, both in Hyde Park: the Seminary Co-op at 57th and Woodlawn (a deliberately overwhelming academic bookstore with 100,000 titles in a basement space) and its sister store 57th Street Books at ground level two doors down. The Seminary Co-op has been operating as a cooperative membership bookstore since 1961 and remains one of the deepest and most serious independent bookstores in the country.
The staff are faculty and student-level knowledgeable; the selection in philosophy, social science, literature, and history is outstanding. The physical environment of the seminary building — cramped stacks, reading nooks, layered shelving — is part of the experience. 5757 S University; near the University of Chicago quad.