A map of shops

Yoyaku

My favourite. Minimal, modern space that behaves like a laboratory — a physical filter for Electronic / Experimental / Jazz, categorised with surgical clarity. Almost every record has a preview station, zero pressure from the staff. The room itself turns crate digging into a cultural encounter.

OYE Records

A taxonomy nerd's treasure room. Techno divided by label and sub-genre to a pathological level, all tags hand-written. Nearly everything is playable at the booths. Efficiency is off the charts — come when you already know what you're looking for.

HHV Store

A street-front hybrid sharing walls with a clothing shop — at the booth you’re also on display to passersby. In-store categorisation is a little lazy; the online range is deeper. But the vibe is easy. Caught an old-school Berlin head playing an impromptu in-store set, walked out with a signature.

Tower Records 7F

Staff-written rec cards everywhere, full of warmth. Twelve listening stations, someone eyes-closed at each one; I guessed the genre from the way their bodies moved. The trembling handwriting carried all the sincerity in the building.

Northside Records

My favourite in Melbourne. A deeply local feeling — Local Jazz, Rare Groove, Dance, Funk stacked up front; Radiohead pushed all the way to the back, which feels correct. Prices on independent Australian records are fair enough that you can buy blind.

Vinyl & Plastic

Hyundai Card's 10,000-record collection, housed in a building by Samuso Hyojadong — the architecture alone is worth the trip. Less a record shop than a design manifesto. You end up crate-digging the building first, then the bins.

Keibunsha Ichijoji

• Keibunsha Ichijoji (恵文社一乗寺店)
• Seikosha (誠光社)
• HO HO HO ZA (ホホホ座)

Keibunsha gets called the world's most beautiful bookstore; it earns the name by not chasing new releases. Every book on the table is hand-picked and introduced with care. Seikosha — opened by ex-Keibunsha staff — keeps the same lineage but trades rural calm for a street-level window. HO HO HO ZA lives next door to independent publishing itself.

Shanghai Bookstore Pilgrimage

• Paper Moon
• 半层书屋 (Half-Layer Bookhouse)
• 乐开书屋 (Lekai)
• 上海香港三联 (SH-HK Joint Publishing)
• 外文书店 (Foreign Language Bookstore)
• 思远旧书店 (Siyuan Used Books)
• 上戏艺术书店 (Drama Academy Art Books)
• 神兽书店 (Divine Beast)
• 茑屋书店 (Tsutaya)

Nine stops, one city, one season. Winter is suited for heavy books — Russian literature, Northeast Chinese literature. You need to absorb things like Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov in cold seasons. Paper Moon for design magazines, 半层 for quiet corners, 思远 for used treasures, Tsutaya for the shelf that feels more like a TikTok of books than a library.

Melbourne — Bookshop by Uro / Happy Valley / World Food Books

• Bookshop by Uro
• Happy Valley
• World Food Books

Part of Melbourne's indie spine — sits cheek-by-jowl with Northside Records and the rest of Gertrude St. World Food Books is cult-status for food writing; Happy Valley does design and art monographs; Bookshop by Uro keeps the editorial heart in Fitzroy.

Studio Mule

Late-night wine bar run by an artist couple. Every decorative bottle and vessel scattered through the space is hand-shaped by the owner's partner. Food unexpectedly delicious, vibe like a deep-night food hall — books, flowers, a whole lifestyle curated into one corner. Not a shop, not a bar, not a gallery — and none of the signage bothers to decide.