Shop Hop: Bart's Books - Ojai, CA

It's been a while since our last Shop Hop post. Like all good book lovers, we cannot resist a bookstore, often seeking them out when we travel. Shop Hop is a way for us to showcase some of the bookstores that we come across in our travels.

Over the summer I went to Ojai, CA for the first time. Ojai is a picturesque, rural city north of Los Angeles near Santa Barbara that has wine tasting, beautiful vistas and much more. I was there for a relaxing bachelorette weekend.  My friend, knowing me well, did some research ahead of time and found out that Bart's Books was a well known and popular bookstore in the area.

Bart's is the largest independently owned outdoor bookstore. There are walls but there is no ceiling for most of the shop. Natural sunlight provides the lighting for the shop and it closes every day at sunet. The store is packed with wall to wall books with many aisles of books in between.

Everything is really well organized by genre in alphabetical order. The books spend most of their time outside in the sun and other elements and most of them are in good, but not mint, condition.

They do have a couple of real "rooms" in the shop that have a ceiling and are therefore more protected from the elements. One room houses the art and collectible books. The other their selection of new books. Nestled in the new book room is also the cookbook section, which was my favorite because it is set up in what looks like an actual kitchen. There is a sink and cabinets and the books are displayed throughout the kitchen.

collectibles and art

cookbooks in a kitchen!

Bart's has a pretty extensive collection of books from all genres. YA and children's probably had the smallest selection. The shop also had comfortable chairs throughout, where people sat and enjoyed the weather while looking through potential book purchases. There were a couple of small courtyards that had tables and chairs that invited you to sit down for a while.

We spent a couple of hours at Bart's wandering around and browsing books. I love used bookstores because you never know what you will find.

If you ever find yourself in Ojai, Bart's is definitely worth a stop. A charming and light filled wonderland, Bart's Books is a treat for any book lover. You can find more photos from my trip to Bart's in our Facebook album. Happy shopping!

http://www.bartsbooksojai.com/
302 West Matlija Street
Ojai, California 93023
Phone: 805.646.3755
Email: bartsbooksojai@gmail.com
Open 7 Days a Week: 9:30am – Sunset

 

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