The Novel Neighbor

This book store is why I love bookstores. The Novel Neighbor makes buying a book an adventure. Each genre is separated with clear signage and every section is filled with employee reviews. I love that the kids section has reviews and written by age appropriate readers! I could waste an afternoon just basking in this ambiance. Excellent small book store!

We loved our visit here! The staff were very friendly and I liked that there were staff recommendations for books in each section. The books all were latest editions and we kept commenting on how nice they were. We bought some books that we actually already owned because we loved the new covers.

There are lots of other knick knacks and gifts here to buy as well. I especially liked the section with coffee mugs and tea. We signed up for their rewards program which was nice for them to have!

Fantastic little book store! Huge selection of books (including signed books) and gifts. The staff was super helpful and friendly. We will definitely be back.

My favorite local bookstore! It's such a joy browsing around. I love their little book recommendation cards and enjoy perusing their custom stickers at the end of my book hunts. If they don't have it in stock, they can always order whatever books you need, and the waits are never long.

This place was so cute! Not only a bunch of beautiful books, but also adorable merch. Including t-swift merch! There were a lot of fun nooks and crannies here, as well as unique displays. I liked the wall of the staff's favorite books!

The cutest little bookstore with competitive pricing to online retailers. The vibe was great, even during the busy holiday season - I went gift shopping there right before Christmas - and I found the pricing was pretty similar to online retailers, especially when you consider shipping charges. Plus you get to support a local bookstore! Will be shopping here again!

I just bought myself a holiday gift box from The Novel Neighbor, and had it shipped to my home in suburban Detroit. After following the store’s social media accounts and listening to their book recommendations, it was fun to actually purchase something from them! The gift box did not disappoint - I’m thrilled!

Best bookstore for 100s of miles, no exaggeration. Makes me wish my ADHD wouldn't have destroyed my attention span. Staff knows their stuff. Absolute destination.

I found this bookstore on TikTok two years ago, and was so excited I had the chance to visit it while in town for a work conference. It was such a great store, and I'm so glad I was able to spend some time time and money there! 🥰

I heard about Novel Neighbor months ago from my best friend who shared a Tik Tok made by them about book recommendations. Then STL Bucketlist posted about them ranking them as one of the top two book stores in St. Louis. So my husband and I decided to make the store the first stop of our date night. What a nice little treat in the middle of town this store is!

We went on a Thursday night and it looked like there was an author reading and signing in a larger section of the store. We didn't know the author, so we browsed the quiet store pretty much alone. The fiction section is well-developed and full of little notes written by staff on their thoughts about various pieces. The children's section was vast and even included the cutest little reading corner.

I also really appreciated the MANY themed trinkets (lots of different book and TV show fandoms) available for sale. There was truly something for everyone available here. I purchased All This Could Be Different (recommended on their Instagram page with specific interests listed that pointed to me enjoying the book), my husband purchased a collection of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest pieces, he bought a neat wooden Lord of the Rings bookmark, and I bought a Our Flag Means Death magnet.

Honestly, the only thing missing from this store is a cat or dog roaming the shelves.

This St. Louis bookstore is a standout favorite of mine. I appreciate the diverse selection of gift items they offer, the wide variety of book, the amazing special events they host, their commitment to supporting local businesses, and the exceptionally friendly staff.

I live in Tennessee and found the Novel Neighbor on TikTok. I am trying to buy from independent, minority and/or women owned bookstores versus the convenience of Amazon. I was so excited to get my 15 year old, avid reader nephew a mystery box subscription for Christmas. He thought it was the coolest gift. My mother-in-law gave me a gift card for Christmas. I am blown away by the customer service and the ease of shopping online! I ordered 2 books, one was available and one on order. At checkout, it stated that orders containing pre-orders or books on order would not ship until all books were in store and I was prepared to wait. Imagine my surprise when I got a beautifully wrapped package with one of the books and a hand written note. (They did send me an email, which I only read now- my personal email is a disaster!) Even from 400+ miles away, they provided above and beyond service that will keep me ordering books!

I love The Novel Neighbor!! The staff is so great and they have a fantastic selection of books and also other fun gifts. I try to stop in whenever I'm back in town.

The best book store to have ever existed. The sweetest, most knowledgeable book sellers, amazing events. I can't imagine St. Louis without them. Perfection.

I love The Novel Neighbor! It's wonderful to have an awesome female-owned indie bookstore in the STL area. The shop is just so profoundly charming: you can tell a great deal of time, thought, and care has gone into every detail, making the shop a tremendously inviting, pleasant place to browse and explore. Their selection of books is excellent (I always really appreciate their staff recommendation section, and the personalized recommendations from staff members you'll find throughout the store: they give a great, thoughtful reviews of books they recommend.)

The shop's dedication to inclusivity and diversity is also wonderful: there are always extensive displays and book recommendations for Pride, Black History Month, Women's History Month, etc., and their commitment to consistently highlighting authors of color, queer authors, authors of different abilities, etc. all year round is so much appreciated and so important. (They also go all out for Banned Books Week, which you love to see!)

The range of gifts for book lovers they have is tremendous (great journals, candles, bookmarks, stickers, and so much more--if you like Austen or the Brontes, prepare to drop a lot of money on adorable tchotchkes), and the staff is always so friendly and helpful--they really take the time to help each customer, and connect folks with books they'll love.

I also love their Mystery Box option (where you pick a price point and offer a description of the types of books you're interested in, and then staff members select books for you.) I've given Mystery Boxes as gifts to friends numerous times, and the selections they've received have always been new to them, and deeply enjoyed!

The events they host are also fantastic (they get so many wonderful authors to come to the store!), and they offer a wide range of in-person and online book clubs for just about any interest and genre (and their selections for these book clubs are also great!) That they have an associated charity, The Noble Neighbor, which works to provide books to students in area schools, also says a lot about the value they place on providing access to books to all readers.

Though visitors of any gender can (and will!) enjoy The Neighbor, I really appreciate how richly the store celebrates and lifts up female-identified authors and historically-female-dominated genres. (For example, it's not every store which has a really robust, diverse, and thoughtfully curated romance section and a romance book club!) This is a space in which women, femmes, and the feminine are really affirmed and valued, which is not always the case in bookish spaces (I've definitely been to shops in my travels where the focus remains on Great White Male Authors, and visiting author lineups only feature Current White Male Authors): it's great to see the shop highlight so many female-identified authors in their book selection, and bring a diverse range of female-identified writers for their events.

If you're a book lover in the STL area, the Neighbor is a can't-miss!

It feels so luxurious to have a real bookstore, with a real old fashioned bookstore feel, right here in the city. I've been to several events that they've held and they are always well organized and a good time.

Cutest little local place around here. Great book selection, fun items to purchase, and some awesome mugs, to name a few things.

Gorgeous shop, they do a wonderful job of highlighting authors who are a part of underprivileged communities, their non profit does great work for the STL area, I love them!

Incredible local bookstore. We ALWAYS stop here when we visit STL. Highly recommend for any book lovers!

Such a fun bookstore! Not only do they have a great selection of books, but they also have so many cute and unique knick-knacks. Definitely a good spot to find presents.