Chicagoland Independent Bookstore Day

Chicagoland Independent Bookstore Day

It’s Independent Bookstore Day this Saturday, April 26, and Hyde Park has FOUR participating bookstores, including:

57th Street Books – 1301 E. 57th Street
Call & Response Books – 1390 E. Hyde Park Boulevard
Powell’s Books Chicago – 1501 E. 57th Street
Seminary Co-op Bookstore – 5751 S. Woodlawn Avenue

Each year our growing bookstore community welcomes thousands of bookstore lovers to spend the day celebrating all of the unique and welcoming independent bookstores in Chicagoland!

To make it fun, each year we challenge you, dear reader, to “crawl” your way across the city and suburbs exploring as many bookstores as you can. If you make it to 10 bookstores and get your passport stamped at each one, you get 10% off at all participating bookstores until Indie Bookstore Day in 2026! Make it to 15 bookstores and get 15% off! Both 10 and 15 completions go home with some bookstore day swag and bragging rights to all their friends.

How does it work? Starting the morning of April 26th, 2025, start at one bookstore and receive your passport for the day! While a purchase isn’t required, we do hope you support these bookstores as you make it through the day. We suggest wearing a backpack or bringing/purchasing a tote!

Now check out the map—which lists all the participating stores—and start planning your route!

Your first bookstore will provide you with a stamp.

While this year’s passport will have all store addresses and a QR to the map, it will not have a map on it, so plan ahead.

Additional bookstores you visit throughout the day will provide you with a stamp — no purchase required! (However, showing them some love that day, too, would of course be a very cool thing to do.)

And to remind you of the goals:

• Visit TEN stores in one day and get 10% off at all participating bookstores for an ENTIRE YEAR!

• Visit FIFTEEN stores in one day and get 15% off at all participating bookstores for an ENTIRE YEAR!

After visiting 10 or 15 participating bookstores, on your last bookstore visit show your passport and receive a some swag!

Readers are encouraged to post a snapshot of themselves and their Independent Bookstore Day haul on social media with the hashtag #TEAMINDIE and #CHILOVEBOOKS