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Sweet bookstores in Alabama
From a family bookstore in Mobile to a nearly 50-yr-old indie landmark in Birmingham, these five bookshops in the US state offer a different way into the place
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I was walking through downtown Mobile, Alabama, when I spotted The Haunted Book Shop. It was closed for the evening, but the name stayed with me. I went back the next morning and found a shop filled with books, local history, and the kind of easy warmth that promotes lingering.
Bookshops can be among the best ways to understand a place. Museums and historic sites tell you what happened there; bookstores tell you what locals are reading, discussing, and interested in now. Independent bookshops, in particular, often become community spaces, hosting readings, book clubs, signings and conversations.
In Alabama, several have histories of their own. Here are five worth seeking out if you’re ever in that part of the world.
The Haunted Book Shop, Mobile
The name comes from a much older Mobile institution. The original Haunted Book Shop opened downtown in 1941 and remained there until 1991. It was founded by Adelaide Marston and Cameron Plummer and named after Christopher Morley’s 1919 novel The Haunted Book Shop.
The current shop opened in 2018, carrying the name into a new generation. Its owner, Angela Trigg, is Adelaide Marston’s granddaughter, so the connection is more than just branding. Trigg has an explanation for the name: “We stock books that might be haunting you! You know, how there’s a book you’ve been meaning to read and it won’t let you alone until you finally do? That’s ultimately the meaning behind our name.”
The shop stocks contemporary and classic books and runs book clubs across different genres. It also has a small celebrity of its own: Mr Bingley, the resident cat, who can often be found in one of the windows.
Page & Palette, Fairhope
For 60 years, Page & Palette has been part of life in Fairhope, a small town on Mobile Bay. It sells new and used books, and regularly hosts author events, readings, and signings.
Founded in 1966 and family-owned since 1968, the Fairhope bookstore is operated by Karin Wolff Wilson and has served generations of readers. “Independent bookstores have always been about more than selling books,” Wilson believes. “They become part of the identity of the towns they serve.”
The shop is as much a place to spend time as it is somewhere to buy a book. Its Latte Da coffee shop serves coffee, tea, ice cream and pastries, while the Book Cellar, inside the historic bookstore, doubles as a bar and events space, with wine, beer, cocktails and live music. There’s also Plot Twist, a yoga studio that opened upstairs in January 2025.
Little Professor Bookshop, Homewood
Little Professor has been part of Birmingham’s bookselling scene since 1972, when the first store opened in Roebuck. It has since moved locations and changed hands, but remains Alabama’s oldest independent bookstore.
The current owners, Jonathan and Meredith Robinson, bought the business in 2020 and have taken it in a more contemporary direction. There are book clubs, readings, membership programmes and regular community events, along with a coffee cart serving drip coffee.
The Homewood shop is designed for lingering. Large windows bring in plenty of natural light, and there is seating inside and on the front patio. The children’s section has its own tables and regular story sessions.
The shop also makes room for activities that aren’t strictly about books, including Scrabble nights, local author book fairs and other events. You can come in looking for a novel, meet a friend over coffee, browse for a while or simply sit and read.
The store doesn’t focus on one genre. If a book is in print, the staff can try to order it. Its membership programme offers discounts on books and free coffee.
Sweet Home Books, Wetumpka
Sweet Home Books is one of Alabama’s newer independent bookshops, but it has already found a following in Wetumpka’s downtown.
Owner Diane Castro had wanted to open a bookstore for years. A lifelong reader, she had developed a habit of visiting independent bookshops while travelling and eventually began looking at opening one in her own town.
The timing wasn’t straightforward. She attended a bookseller bootcamp in February 2020, just before the pandemic put the plan on hold. Later, after recovering from serious health problems, she returned to the idea and found a space in a former barber shop.
Sweet Home Books opened on May 22, 2021. The response was immediate: the shop had to close for several days during its first weeks to restock.
Today, it runs events including Wine Down Book Talks and offers “book flights”, curated selections based on a reader’s interests or a particular book. It has also become a place where Castro gets to know local readers, from children searching for favourite books to young adults returning to discuss what they’ve been reading.
Alabama Booksmith, Birmingham
Alabama Booksmith has a different focus. The Homewood shop has built its reputation around signed books and carefully selected titles, including some out-of-print finds.
Rather than lining the shelves spine-out, the books are displayed with their covers facing the room, closer to browsing a collection of prints than a conventional bookshop.
Signed copies turn an ordinary purchase into something closer to collecting, and the curation gives the shop its own identity. For readers interested in authors, first editions and signed books, Alabama Booksmith is worth browsing slowly. It’s also proof that an independent bookshop doesn’t have to compete with online retailers by trying to stock everything.
READ MORE: The Alabama bookseller who reads before he recommends
Ninety percent of the bookstore’s customers live in the other 49 states of the US and in over a 100 foreign countries. Jake Reiss, the 90-year-old owner, says if forced to wager, he would bet indies “will continue to thrive in the near and far future”.
Across Alabama, these shops have different personalities and histories. But they share a simple idea: they give people somewhere to find books and meet other readers. And, for a traveller, they offer a chance to see a place through what its bookstores stack on the shelves.
Teja Lele is an independent editor and writes on books, travel and lifestyle.
