Secondhand bookshops in Cape Town worth visiting
Curated neighbourhood shops, seaside book hunting, and plenty of books to get lost in.
Cape Town has plenty of places to go looking for secondhand books, from small neighbourhood shops where you can browse at your own pace to packed stores where the fun is in seeing what turns up on the shelves.
And then there are the bookshops that are worth visiting simply because of where they are. A bookshop by the sea? We’re not going to argue with that.
We’ve picked a few Cape Town-area secondhand bookshops worth knowing about and grouped them by the kind of book-hunting experience you can expect.
Curated neighbourhood bookshops
Paper Moon Book Shop is a small neighbourhood bookshop in Muizenberg with a mix of secondhand and new books.
The selection is compact rather than enormous, but that’s part of its appeal. Books are carefully chosen and generally in good condition, making this a pleasant place to browse when you’d rather take your time than work your way through thousands of titles.
The atmosphere is friendly and informal, with a personal touch that you don’t always get in larger bookshops. It’s the sort of place where a quick browse can easily turn into a longer one.
Prices are generally accessible, particularly for the secondhand books, with good value to be found depending on what happens to be on the shelves.
Best for: A relaxed local browse where you can take your time and see what catches your eye.
The Book Shoppe is a small secondhand bookstore in Plumstead with a distinctive library-like feel.
The collection includes general reading, collectable titles and more specialised sections such as history. The books are neatly arranged and well presented, making it an easy place to browse without the packed shelves and piles you sometimes encounter in larger secondhand shops.
There’s also a café-style element to the space, giving you a reason to linger rather than simply pop in, find a book and leave.
The selection is curated rather than enormous, with prices generally reasonable and some more unusual books mixed in among the everyday reads.
Best for: Readers who like their book hunting a little slower, quieter and more atmospheric.
Seaside book hunting
A secondhand bookshop by the beach? That’s already a pretty good excuse for a visit.
Bikini Beach Bookshop in Gordon’s Bay is a long-established secondhand shop packed with thousands of books across shelves, tables and stacks. It’s not the kind of place where you necessarily walk straight to exactly what you want — and that’s part of the fun.
There is some organisation, with fiction generally arranged alphabetically and nonfiction grouped by subject, but the sheer amount of stock means there’s plenty of room for serendipity.
You’ll find lots of popular fiction and genre reading alongside older, unusual and harder-to-find titles. Prices are generally very affordable too, making it easy to leave with more books than you intended.
Best for: Readers who like a bit of chaos, a lot of books and the possibility of finding something completely unexpected.
High-volume browsing
If your idea of a good bookshop visit is “give me a lot of books and plenty of time”, Bookwise Exchange is worth a look.
The shop has a large selection covering fiction, nonfiction, romance, self-help, classics and children’s books, with imported and harder-to-find titles appearing among the shelves too.
Despite the volume, the store is generally neat and organised, so you can browse methodically rather than having to dig through piles. Prices are another attraction, with plenty of affordable secondhand books and good-value finds.
It’s particularly worth exploring if you enjoy building a reading pile rather than coming home with just one book.
Best for: Big selection, affordable prices and a proper browsing session.
The Bookworm in Fish Hoek is another deceptively spacious secondhand bookshop. From the outside it may not look enormous, but inside you’ll find a broad selection spread across multiple sections.
There’s plenty to explore, including fiction, nonfiction, children’s and teen books, niche subjects and collectable titles. The stock is generally well sorted, so the size of the collection doesn’t make browsing feel completely overwhelming.
Prices vary depending on the book, condition and rarity, but there are plenty of reasonably priced reads alongside more valuable collectable titles.
It’s the kind of shop where you can go in looking for one particular book and come out having discovered several others you didn’t know you wanted.
Best for: Readers who enjoy a large selection with enough organisation to make serious browsing possible.
Stay home and browse thousands of secondhand books
Of course, you don’t have to drive across Cape Town to find your next read.
Bookle brings books from independent sellers across South Africa together in one place, so you can browse from home and find titles that may not be sitting on the shelves of any one local bookshop.
- Thousands of books: Preloved, rare and collectable titles from sellers across South Africa.
- Browse from home: No traffic, parking or driving from one side of the city to the other.
- Bundle your books: Buy multiple books from the same seller and pay just one delivery fee.
- Buyer protection: Payments are held securely through TradeSafe until your order is delivered.
So whether you love the thrill of digging through a packed secondhand shop or prefer browsing from the sofa, there’s always another book to discover.
FAQ: Buying secondhand books in Cape Town
Can I buy secondhand books online and have them delivered to Cape Town?
Yes. Bookle connects you with independent sellers across South Africa, so you can browse thousands of secondhand books and have your order delivered to Cape Town.
How long does delivery take?
Once your seller dispatches your order via The Courier Guy lockers, delivery usually takes 1–4 business days.
Can I bundle books to save on delivery?
Yes. Add multiple books from the same seller to your cart and pay just one delivery fee. It’s an easy way to build a bigger reading pile without paying separate delivery fees for every book.
Do I still benefit from visiting local bookshops?
Absolutely. Nothing quite replaces walking into a secondhand bookshop and finding something you weren’t expecting.
But Bookle gives you a much bigger pool to search — including books that may not be available in any Cape Town shop when you happen to visit.