Used bookstoresFair's Fair (Chinook)
104 61 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2H 0B2
The second branch sits on 61 Avenue SW in Manchester Industrial, about 700 metres east of CF Chinook Centre and 5 km south of downtown. Its desk works to narrower rules than Inglewood's: the chain's website, read in September 2026, says this branch only takes back books first sold by Fair's Fair and pays them in store credit. Curiocity's February 2025 roundup of independent shops described both locations as entirely secondhand, and credit earned at either one spends at the other.
Hours: Tue–Sat 10am–6pmWebsite Bookstore café with a used basementThe Next Page
1217A 9 Ave SE, Calgary, AB T2G 0S7
Coffee, new releases and remainders fill the ground level of the Burn Block, a 1912 heritage building in Inglewood, and the secondhand stock waits one flight down. The shop's site, checked in September 2026, pays $1 cash or $2 in trade credit for each book it considers sellable, on any weekday between 11am and 5pm, walk-ins welcome, and returns whatever it passes on. Curiocity's February 2025 guide found a seed library and a small hidden theatre sharing that basement. Fair's Fair is 400 metres west along the same avenue.
Hours: Mon–Sat 11am–6pm, Sun 11am–5pmWebsite Scarce and antiquarian booksSigla Books
1040 8 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2P 1J2
David Sidjak's shop on the corner of 8 Avenue and 10 Street SW, next to Loophole Coffee Bar in the building Wordsworth Books once occupied. He told The Sprawl in April 2026 that he opened downtown in 2015 and moved to this west-end address in 2017, after years spent working for Tom Williams and, before that, at The Booke Shoppe on 16 Avenue NW. His Instagram bio promises odd, obscure and choice books, and a 2024 Calgary Journal profile described titles chosen for rarity or obscurity more than price. Curiocity still listed the shop in February 2026, but Sigla posts no current hours, so call 403-903-3459 before making the trip.
Antiquarian bookseller and map dealerAquila Books
826 16 Ave NW, Calgary, AB T2M 0J9
Cameron Treleaven's antiquarian business on 16 Avenue NW in Mount Pleasant specializes in maps of Western North America and the Arctic, world maps from the 16th to the early 20th century, photographs, manuscripts and paper ephemera. Its listing with the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of Canada adds mountaineering, polar exploration, voyages and Canadian art and literature, and says the firm buys books, while the website warns that only a sliver of the stock is online. Weekday visits need an appointment and Saturday is the walk-in day, per both the site and ABAC. In June 2026, The Scene Calgary listed Treleaven among the speakers at the opening of Kindred Spirits, a Lucy Maud Montgomery book-arts exhibition at Central Library.
Hours: Sat 10:30am–4pm; Mon–Fri 10am–4:30pm by appointment onlyWebsite Used books, records and filmsBowness Records & Books
6324 Bowness Rd NW, Calgary, AB T3B 0E5
Out in Bowness, close to 10 km northwest of downtown, a basement room in the Bowness Arts building that its Instagram bio sells as a secret trove of vinyl, CDs, books and classics. The owners' website promises thousands of well-loved books, first editions and deep runs of 20th-century authors among them, with literature, philosophy, poetry and music history shelved beside VHS, DVD and Blu-ray titles, and it asks anyone with books or records to sell or trade to drop by, since the shop is always buying interesting collections. Its own site gives no hours, while a September 2025 page from Reliquary Cards next door lists the building's used-book corner at 10am to 10pm, closed Mondays. A January 20, 2026 post summed up the idea: pull a book off the shelf, sit down and let a record spin.
Back-issue comic shopCalgary Comic Books
532 42 Ave SE, Calgary, AB T2G 1Y6
A family-owned shop on 42 Avenue SE in Manchester Industrial devoted to back issues, Golden Age to Modern Age, superheroes through westerns and romance. Anyone selling a collection gets an honest valuation, the website says, then an offer from the shop or a referral inside its collecting network, with consignment offered for higher-value runs. The owners also organize the Calgary Comic Book Show, billed at 30-plus dealers for the Acadia Recreation Complex on March 7, 2026, and they plan to open applications for the 2027 show in fall 2026. Monday and Tuesday visits are by appointment, and the Instagram bio adds that nothing ships.
Hours: Wed–Sun 10am–5pm; Mon–Tue by appointmentWebsite Romance bookstore, new and tradedSlow Burn Books
1926 34 Ave SW, Unit 201, Calgary, AB T2T 2C1
Upstairs above the Penny Crown Tavern on 34 Avenue SW in Marda Loop, a romance specialist whose online catalogue runs from sports romance to fantasy and was showcasing its September 2026 releases. It is not all new stock: the Immersive Traveller blog reported in June 2026 that the shop takes used books for store credit, paperbacks earning $2 and hardcovers $4, and its site menu names a Recycled Romance Program, though that page would not load when checked. Curiocity's February 2025 roundup counted book signings, author talks, book clubs and writing workshops on its calendar.
Hours: Mon–Thu 11am–6pm, Fri 11am–7pm, Sat 10am–6pm, Sun 11am–5pmWebsite Coffee shop and used bookstoreGround Press Coffee + Books
111-106 Sierra Springs Dr SE, Airdrie, AB T4B 3G6
Up in Airdrie, part of the Calgary metropolitan area and 25 km north of downtown, a Sierra Springs café that bills itself as the city's first specialty coffee shop and bookstore. An Instagram post of June 9, 2026 describes shelves of gently used books across genres, alongside new releases from local authors. The buying desk came back that June on the closing Thursday of every month, from ten until three, and the site caps sellers at ten books in good shape, reviewed on the spot in 20 to 30 minutes at flat prices of up to $5 apiece. Budgets run out: a May 28, 2026 announcement turned sellers away once that day's buying money was spent.
Hours: Mon–Fri 8am–6pm, Sat–Sun 8am–5pmWebsite