Top bookstores in Tehran

Tehran has several great bookstore brands with some becoming the staple academics and bookworms alike. Today we’ll highlight some of the most famous brands currently offering books, toys and much more across the capital.

A big growth in recent years has seen several interesting large and small bookshops pop up across Tehran, some all-singing, all-dancing, some more low-key. But whatever your choice in reading material is, be it hardcover book or magazines, Tehran’s booksellers have a plethora of reading material.

Cheshmeh Publications

One of the older chains with a a few stores in the capital, Cheshmeh Publications has a wide variety of books and gifts available. The original branch at the junction on Karim Khan and Mirza Shirazi is easy to spot if you’re passing as it’s on the corner of the block near the Karim Khan Bridge.

There are other centres for Cheshmeh across the Iranian capital city including the large Kourosh Shopping Mall complex in the west of the city. And another in the Shahrak-e Gharb area of the city. But our choice is downtown!

Book City (Shahr Ketab)

Probably the biggest bookstore chain in Iran, Book City offers plenty for families to do while looking for books, in some of their locations, they have special events for kids to learn and play, while also offering a fantastic selection of gifts to pick from.

“One of the best book cities both for English and Farsi books, l usually find what I’m looking for here. good stationery + good books and educational toys for children.” Niloo said.

You’ll find Book City spread across several locations in Tehran, but the one we like most is on Shariati Street below Moallem Street. It has to be the biggest location for the bookstore with a great café on the side for your caffeine and reading session.

You’ll find the biggest chain book store in Ebn-e Sina, Pasdaran, Fereshteh, Central (Shariati Street), Boostan, Vanak Square, Alef Street, Manzarieh, Mirdamad, Tajrish and so on. There are several other locations across the wider area, but we find the Central Book City of Shariati Street the most comprehensive for its size and mix of different items to read. It also has a great foreign language section where you can find books in English, French, Russian, German and Spanish.

The kids love this one as they also COVID-19 coronavirus permitting, have children’s reading hours and other activities for young kids, giving the location a great feeling of warmth. It’s probably our favourite place to buy gifts for friends and families as they have such a large mix of items beyond books which the inquisitive mind will enjoy!

You can find book city everywhere across the capital

Book Land

In the north of Tehran, inside Palladium Mall, you’ll find Book Land, the store has a great selection of both Persian and English language books to read, with several best sellers translated into Persian. Following the launch of that launch, a second Book Land opened up in the Ava Shopping Center in Tehran.

So, if you’re in the north area of Tehran, remember they will probably charge a little more than the other stores, according to Settare who recently visited.

“A beautifully designed and very expensive bookshop. Everything here is about 10%-30% more expensive than regular shops around the town. They always disappoint me by not having the book I want.”

Here you can find a selection of CDs for sale as well, remember them? The range of items in these modern book stores across Tehran continues to grow, and like Book City, Book Land also has a great selection of books non-reading items especially for the kids, but with obviously marked up pricing considering their location.

Small bookstores

Tehran is a city of small shopkeepers, with them making up the bulk of the city’s economic activity. There are so many, we do not have the capacity to mention them all in this space, but rest assured you will find a great selection of neat bookshops all over the city.

We have seen several small shops dotted all over the city and it would be hard to tell you them all, but one which was prompted to us was Bagh publication, a bookshop which has stood the test of time in the Iranian capital.

One of our first bookshops we were treated to when we arrived in Tehran was Bagh Publication, a small shop on the north end of Valiasr Street The owner of the shop was there to greet us and helped with our pick of foreign language magazines.

David in Tehran

Street booksellers

As Alex pointed out to us, we can not forget to mention the many street book sellers across the capital. Some with booths and some selling on matts on the sidewalks of the city. You can spot them on Ferdowsi street for example near the British Embassy complex.