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Category: Bookstores
Neighborhood: Hyde ParkMon-Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Sat. 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sun. 12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
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The perfect Chicago day in wintertime:
Walk to Medici Cafe, pick up a spinach feta croissant and a coffee.
Continue on to Seminary Co-op, and buy a book from a place that is warm, local, and completely comprehensive when it comes to their fiction collection. Their books smell holy.
Cozy up in your bed.
Tres simple.
I'm not a member of the bookstore, but this place is a cozy maze. It's never too crowded for browsing (unless it's the start of the academic quarter and everyone is buying books for classes), and they have books on seriously anything and everything.
It's a nice change of pace from places like Myopic.
I love this bookstore. Been a member for about 11 years.
You can go here with 1/2 the title, without the name if the author & a brief description and guess what ! They will locate the book fo you!
No way would borders or those other chains do this. They would look at you strange and tell you to come back when you get the title, author, ISBN, copyright, edition...etc.. U get my drift.
The small " hands on " bookseller gets my vote and dollar every time. :-)
This is truly one of the world's great bookstores. It is an academic book store and they will find anything in print in any language for you. If you
are a serious reader or student and love having the books of the best thinkers and authors at your finger tips, this is your place. I have been known to spend hours there searching, selecting and buying books.
The staff really know books and the reference people are like librarians.
They can find anything even if you cannot remember the complete title, or the author's name. They can often make suggestions about the best translations of books written in languages other than English.
The stacks go on and on across subject matters. You can become a member for a relatively small fee and get a discount every time you buy from them.
The Seminary Co-Op's claim to fame (besides being in an amazing location: the basement of a church, basically) is that it is the largest undergraduate bookstore in the nation. Who knows if this statement is true or not, but if there is a bigger store, it certainly can't compare with the character and history of the seminary co-op.
I only ever purchased books for class at the Co-Op for one quarter, and immediately switched to online buying. However, I still have my membership that gives me a member's discount (basically you don't pay tax). Why you say? Because I can get lost looking for books to read when I'm not in class (its called pleasure reading, try it).
Some tips for the non UofC people that come here (do those people exist?)
1) avoid the Co-Op for the first week of any quarter, but especially during O-Week and 1st week of Fall Quarter. This is basically the entire end of Sept/beginning of October.
2) The Co-Op is NOT wheelchair/disabled friendly! Apparently the Co-Op didn't get the memo regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act.
3) Membership costs 30 dollars and is returned if you discontinue membership. I should probably do that since I've graduated...
4) Give yourself plenty of time (hours, even) to explore. If you're making a special trip here, chances are good you're a nerd like me, so plan to spend a couple of hours here.
5) ENJOY!
I'm glad it exists but I'd never buy anything there.
Every book ever cited is dutifully arranged on shelves. You can purchase them. There are walls to block out precipitation and other damaging elements, such as natural light. Space is alloted for movement. Employees exist.
It embodies Hyde Park: a world-renowned cultural haven that's completely sterile and uninviting.
You know, life's just unfair. I discovered this place AFTER my exams. Still passed (thanks for asking), but it would have been so much easier if I had known about this place.
It's pretty hard to get here without a car, but if you've got wheels (or friends with wheels), this is the first place to purchase academic books. The history section is just plain obscene (in the good way).
Ah yes, I recognize this bookstore--the type where I can spend over an hour rapturously browsing and yet make no purchases. The book prices are mostly prohibitive, only worth it if you uncover something in their vast stacks for which you have been searching with great desire. And let's face it--you can get anything you want on Amazon at a discount.
So I would never "shop" here but an hour inside is still delightful. Being long out of school myself--not U of C, but another, better top-rated institution far to the north (ha ha--take that, Maroons!)--I peruse with academic wistfulness all the racks of course books for intriguing classes that I can't take. :( But I can at least pore over the reading lists and imagine (or make fun).
The store is packed to the gills with books and marvelously labyrinthine. The little history room is probably my favorite, due to subject matter but also because it's secluded enough to steal a few quick kisses if you happen to be in the right company.
This store has the largest selection of Dover Thrift editions that I have seen--along with the Tattered Cover in Denver--three rotating racks' worth. I love those books as a cheap way to scratch a literary itch without a substantial commitment, or as a nice low-impact gift for someone.
The building itself is quite handsome, one of the neo-Gothic gems of Hyde Park. Apparently you can poke around a little bit with some discretion; there's a chapel and library directly upstairs and a cool half-cloister on the ground floor around the corner.
The serious bibliophile's Nirvana. You won't find the same breadth or depth of works anywhere else. It's true, the books are new and come at higher prices than used or online booksellers, but it's worth contributing to a co-op bookstore rather than a big corporation. The Seminary Co-op also sells hard to find titles, banned or censored works. Support independent booksellers, you definitely won't regret it.
Best academic bookstore in the world, hands down. I would live here if I could.
The only bookstore in the world that compares to the Coop is the original Blackwell's in Oxford, UK. That's the only one. No other single store in the US has the kind of selection, quality of service, and incredible atmosphere that you find in the maze of rooms in this near-perfect store.
My single complaint is that there's no comprehensive foreign language section. That's where Blackwell's has the upper hand.
I cannot adequately describe the wonder that is the Seminary Co-Op. Nor can I count the number of times I've thought, "Why don't I just sign my paycheck over to these good folks every month?"
Neither can I fault them. For anything. Not even for being in Hyde Park and not, say, down the block from me.
Their philosophy, history, literature, criticism, and economics sections make me go weak at the knees.
When civilization collapses and zombies and ravening ice weasels stalk the frozen tundra hungry for human flesh, this place will stand against the darkness.
I have to run out of here every time I enter. It's such a danger zone.
Turn left, ohhh... he wrote another book! Turn right... oh my gosh, I didn't even know that you can link those two subjects together! Look up, holy cow... illustrated??? Look down... oh no..... a new edition with better content?
Spent so much money here the amount that it would have cost me to get a membership would have balanced out with the amount I saved.
This places is DANGEROUS! It's go so many good books! So many good authors. I mean, how is it possible that everything is so freaking INTERESTING????
Sigh. Co-op. I miss you so much. And yet I don't. Too much temptation I say. Woe is me.
Our favorite book store as well and we don't even live in Chicago.
The building itself is a wonder to look at as well. Down the hallway where the nice padded benches are (by the very old drinking water fountain), there is a dedication plaque that says this was built in 1921.
Great coat check service as well for those heavy snow days, hahah wo hoo. (see photo from this January 10th). We get excited about snow... :)
This is the best book store I've ever been to- both atmosphere and content. There are so many books. On so many subjects. That I'd never seen before. It had me in awe the entire time I was there- I will never again fear that there aren't enough interesting books in the world.
I highly recommend anyone interested in books check it out- immediately. If you're a bookstore fanatic, definitely worth the bus ride out from downtown.
I'm considering getting a membership even though I live nowhere near Chicago.
Best. Bookstore. Ever. If you're looking for something specific then you may need help...or a map. Perfect for browsing and I get all of my academic text books here. If you become a member, you can save 10% on all purchases here and also at 57th street books. Memberships cost $10 so if you make a lot of book purchases, it doesn't take long to pay you back.
I hope that if we ever experience an apocalypse, someone can just seal this place off and preserve the body of written knowledge for the next group of folk.
This place is great.
I've always wondered how they find people to work here. They're all good-humored, a little bit hip, and have a creepy Mary-Poppins-esque sense of what I'm looking for. I don't really "shop" here regularly, per se, unless it's for a class that requires specific translations, but it's great for browsing. They have a lot of cheap paperbacks on the racks near the checkouts, too. Lots to see, both in academic and not-so-academic fields.
I do wish, however, that their foreign language section were a bit more extensive, or at least matched up to the breadth of UChi's language offerings -- Harvard's coop's definitely got an advantage there. Barring that, it's the best college-affiliated bookstore I've ever seen.
Academic bliss and a staple of the U of C. Love the section dedicated to Penguin by the counter and yeah - if it exists, you can find it here (or they'll find it for you). Location is incredible - as is the banter you'll overhear.
I can't claim to have read every book I picked up here (the syllabi only made us read excerpts!), but being at the Sem Co-Op gives me an intellectual boner.
If you needed a book on certain subject, happened to be in the corner of Hyde Park in Chicago, and didn't mind a slightly higher price for immediate gratification and to support a venerable institution... this would be the place. I would say stuff about how I love the space so, but I hear they have to move which is a real bummer.
I can't tell you how many times I spent good chunks of my rent money here and had to scramble for extra hours at work.
This is an outstanding bookstore. Prices are about on par with what you'd expect from the big guys (Borders, etc.), but the ambiance is better and the selection contains more unique and unusual stuff.
For example, I read a lot of Bukowski. I can always find his best-known novels at chain stores, but their selection is never particularly diverse. Co-Op Bookstore has pretty much everything by him that's still in print, plus some stuff I didn't even know existed.
Irvine Welsh did a book signing here 2 or 3 years ago. This place is THAT cool.
Staff are very friendly and helpful, not arrogant and surly as they can sometimes be in places like this.
Do yourself a favor and stop in.
Best bookstore in Chicago. I've been coming here since my undergrad days at the U of C. Nowadays, I bring my wife to spend a couple of hours browsing through books. Something about the way books are arranged brings up my intellectual curiosity whenever I am at the Co-Op. I always manage to find a couple of those 'ooh, this is very fascinating' type of books to bring home and read. Books here do not have the steep discounts that Borders and Barnes & Noble offer, but membership does give you a small discount.
Not for those who get dizzy seeing books everywhere from floor to ceiling, or those with claustrophobia, since it is located underground and everything is very packed.
If there were a God, the Seminary Co-op would be proof that He loves books.
I feel no shame about buying most of my books online (now that I live in a building where recieving packages is not a pain in the neck), nor about doing most of my browsing in large chain bookstores with incredible shelf-stock. The number of bookstores in the country that give the serious reader something he can't get at Amazon or Barnes & Noble is very small. This is one of them.
The selection of academic press books is simply incredible (in both breadth and carefulness of selection), and includes huge numbers of things that I had never heard of, would never have known about, but suddenly could not live without. A friend of my family's continues to take a trip to Chicago at least once a year to browse here, saying that there is simply no better way to keep up with the literature in his field. I don't know if I would go that far, but I don't that I wouldn't.
OK if you like books and there is ever a nuclear winter, this is the place where you want to be ...
This is by far one of the coolest places I have been to in Chicago. A sort of basement/bomb-shelter full of the best books ever written ... Their collections of history and philosophy are amazing (it is a seminary after all). I am taking one star off because I wish they had more comfortable sitting options (though I have to admit I might never leave if they did) and also they could do a better job at organizing/cataloging their shelves. Other than this the place is great, be sure to stop by and you will be amazed ...
[Alarm sound!] Oh Oh threat level is going to red ..... better start driving for the Co-Op bookstore ...
You're a philistine if you don't like this place.
When I visited UofC while trying to decide whether to come here, everyone told me to check out the Sem Co-op bookstore. I listened (read: I got lost and ended up in front of it, so I went in), and when I got back home to Providence I talked about it more than most of the rest of the school. It's a true nerdy scholarly book paradise. There's a back section where UofC course books are stashed, but the rest is a glorious labyrinth of different subjects.
The books cost what they're listed at, but if you think you're going to be back it's worth it to become a member and save 10% every time you come in... especially if you're buying course books that cost $49 a piece (often arbitrarily).
I even love the smell of this place.. that awesome new book smell. The staff are very friendly and knowledgeable. I've had to ask for help finding sections a few times. There are chairs tucked in various corners and theoretically you could sit there and read for hours without anyone noticing.
It's a basement bookstore. No windows! This makes it more like a labyrinth. Avoid the beginning of the UofC trimesters if you can, because you'll have to check your bags outside in exchange for a closepin. (You have to check anything larger than a small handbag anyway inside, but it's faster there.)
Full disclosure- sometimes I can't justify paying Co-op prices when Amazon used prices are so much lower... particularly for text books and as a poor grad student. I'm hanging my head in shame. On the other hand, with Amazon used you generally get marked up (as in "written in") books, so I've decided in the co-op's favor before. (Oh, and you can get the exact text book everyone else in the class has, which is useful during class time.)
For bibliophiles, I'd say this is worth the trek if you don't have the great fortune of living in Hyde Park ;)
My little brother kindly referred to it as "swanky," however I don't think that's what it's going for, nor is it what it is. The Sem Co-Op is definitely one of the better bookstores I've been to. It's Judaica selection is pretty outstanding, and they usually have whatever I'm looking for. My only beef? The prices. I mean, they're book-list prices, but sometimes you hope and pray for something cheaper. Luckily, you can buy into the co-op for 30 bucks and get 10 percent off each purchase, which is nice. And you can even sell the stock back after a certain period of time. The other downer? This place is in a basement and thus it gets SUPER warm in the summer and it doesn't have handicap access. This is too bad.
In a crunch, the Co-Op is my go-to over Amazon.
This is basically the best best best bookstore ever, and I've been to a lot of them. I went to the University of Chicago and majored in a science, so I never technically had to go here to get any textbooks-- but I still found myself down in the catacomb-like aisles of books all the time. They have an amazing Neuroscience section!
If you love books, you MUST visit.
Books. Books. Books. as far as the eye can see. And they wind corners. There are probably close to as many books in here as there are at Harper Memorial Library on the main quad. But the tables are where it's at. For the newest in cerebral stimulation, just check there. Or you can find obscure language texts or psychology books or whatever you may want. Just don't go at the beginning of the quarter, unless you're a student who needs their books, as you'll have a hard time moving. Definitely worth the time.
New social science and humanities publications on display all over the store, and the largest philosophy section I have ever seen in a bookstore. Wow. Bookstore philosophy sections are often a bit of a joke for anyone actually studying it, but this one is quite serious. They had a lot of what I was looking for, and a few things I didn't expect or hadn't heard of.
You have to know what you're looking for, though. This is a very narrow, dense, easily crowded store in a basement, with a labyrinth of bookshelves. Not for relaxed browsing, and certainly not for 'hanging out' like the bright, large chains it competes with.
Finest academic school bookstore on the planet. Mind-boggling and exhausting. A UChicago junkie's dream.
Kind of stumbled into the Seminary Co-op one day when I missed my bus on campus. It's a cozy little bookstore of the HP variety--basemented, windowless, and crammed top to bottom with books. I really liked poking around in the bookstore and finding random stuff on strange little scholarly topics. Things I don't like, though: I prefer for my bookstores to have a bit of a view (not really possible given the whole windowless thing), the layout's a bit confusing (think maze + maps all over the place + totally hard to navigate + at the end of a dead end, you find a great book that makes you stop in your tracks and forget what you were looking for in the first place), the place is a bit hard to find, I imagine parking is a nightmare (from downtown, try the Metra + #171 bus) and they take your bag at the door (I guess helpful, but also distrustful?!).
Would go again--definitely more fun to feed your mind here than at your local Borders, which is chock full of glossy bestseller stuff.
I own too many books, and will probably double my collection in a few years. What can I say I love to read....boy I am such a nerd but my optometrist loves me.
If you like books this is the place to be, especially for hard to find books (Barnes and Noble rarely carries Zizek) and academic books (history, sociology, philosophy, art).
I have spent hours down there drooling at the book selection. There are other great book stores, but I love this one probably because U of Chicago is home to Johnson, Park, and others.
If you want to find books that challenge you, you can find them here. I highly recommend joining the co-op which is now $30 (I think).
4.5 stars
An amazing bookstore in a beautiful building and filled with an amazing collection of books.
One of my favorite places in Chicago. Huge selection, unique set up, helpful, informed staff, and customer owned. They've either had or speedily ordered anything I've ever wanted. I would like to be locked in this place and have to read my way out.
The Holy Trinity* of bookstores in my personal life is as follows:
1. Strand in NYC
2. City Lights in San Francisco
3. Seminary Co-op
So, what makes these bookstores so special:
Strand: 8 1/2 miles of books...many at a discount, particularly great for art and photography
City Lights: one of these full moon nights, I will dance naked in their poetry room
Seminary Co-op: who can compete with their rows of literary criticism?
I was first introduced to the Seminary Co-op while visiting a friend at the University of Chicago. The rows upon rows of books blew my young mind away.
Then, there were many empty years when I had to find my literary criticism elsewhere...but in the back of my mind, I was always aware that the Seminary Co-op existed. And although I visited Chicago a few more times since, none of the trips were long enough to allow me to get to the U. of Chicago campus.
Finally, I had the chance to revisit Chicago for a long weekend this past year. And it lived completely to expectations. What did I buy:
Jacques Barzun: Classic, Romantic and Modern
Helen Vendler: Poets Thinking
Paul Fussell: Poetic Meter and Poetic Form
plus, BFI Screen Guide's 100 Anime
These were very hard choices...many's the book I held in my hand during that ecstatic afternoon and put down reluctantly, including the recent translation of Yves Bonnefoy's poems.
However, I will not let another decade pass before I visit the Seminary Co-op again.
*There is the possibility that Powell's could knock out one of the Holy Trinity since I haven't visited Powell's yet. I've only heard descriptions of it from many friends...I can't wait to browse there although I might OD.
A great bookstore for social scientists. Particularly you anthropologists who want to live your Indiana Jones dream. You'll love creeping along the bizarre, twisty aisles until you uncover a treasure.
Be sure to watch your head, watch your step, and leave a trail of breadcrumbs so don't get lost.
And bring money. Lots of money.
Portland's pride, Powell's, and SF's City Lights have got nothin' on the Seminary. They carry everything worth reading, and if they don't have it they can get it (in any language). The staff is smart, real bibliophiles and the tight, dark basement space is best part-- you'll wind up talking to other shoppers and discovering new things.
One tip: set a time and spending limit when you go. Trust me. I once spent 5 hours in there.
I will be a member forever, no matter where I live.
Whenever people visit me in Chicago, one of the places I make sure to take them on the unofficial campus tour is the Seminary Co-op. The labyrinthine, seemingly halls of floor-to-ceiling books never fail to impress anyone.
This is really more of a browsing bookstore than a buying bookstore for me; even with the membership, their prices are too rich for my blood. But for browsing, the Sem Co-op is fantastic. The books they put out on the "new and interesting" shelves are always, ALWAYS interesting. Every time I come here I see at least a dozen books I want to buy, within five minutes of entering the store. They're good at what they do.
You can find most things here, and if you can't, the friendly people working will quickly get it back in stock. It's a great place to go to keep informed of new releases in academia - a boring feature for some, but as a proud shareholder, I strongly approve.
Unless you become a member/owner (which I strongly recommend, as it involves a significant discount along with feelings of awesome) you will pay full price on most books - but even as a poor student living loan check to loan check, I would rather give my money to an independent well-run bookstore over some silly chain filled with less exciting books. (And you better believe the books here are exciting. Oh man.)
In a world full of Borders and Barnes and Noble Inc., it's a shame that there aren't too many independent bookstores like this anymore. This place is where I went to as a kid to pick up everything from fiction and comic books to reference books for school.
From obscure texts to the common classics, this bookstore holds everything. They supply the U of C, so they have to be good. If they don't hold something, which is rarely the case, they WILL order it for you.
Bottomline, Borders can keep tending to the masses, this place is flat out great!
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