Blackwell's

Though Blackwell's is now a large chain with book stores all over the U.K, its Oxford store was its original outlet. When it opened on Broad Street in 1879, the store was 12 square feet. It now consists of 4 levels and is much more than a standard bookshop. There's a coffee shop, a 2nd hand bookshop and it holds plenty of events like live theatre and book signings. The below ground floor, The Norrington Room, is an academic's wet dream. Part of me wants to spend a day there trying to pick up phd students. It contains 5km of shelving and at one point was entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the largest single room selling books.

Blackwell's is also a publishing company and began the careers of many important authors. They published J.R.R. Tolkien's first poem in 1915.

 

The Norrington Room