The bookshop map here looks nothing like the rest of Metro Vancouver's. Chinese-language bookstores and stationery shops sit inside the Golden Village malls, carrying imports from Hong Kong and Taiwan, calligraphy supplies, manga and study material for a city that takes tutoring seriously.
Alongside them: the mall chain at Richmond Centre, second-hand shops with strong local-history shelves, and Steveston stores stocking cannery and Japanese-Canadian history titles you will not find elsewhere. The public library branches in Brighouse, Ironwood, Steveston and Cambie shape reading habits across much of the island, and the shops nearby feel the effect. Each listing shows hours and the neighbourhood.
Chinese-language bookshop on the upper level of Aberdeen Centre, carrying traditional-character titles alongside stationery and magazines. One of the few places in Metro Vancouver to browse a serious Chinese book selection in person.
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Small independent bookshop in the middle of Steveston Village selling new and used titles, with a genuine specialty in British Columbia history, local maritime subjects and regional writing. Worth a browse if you are researching the fishing village's past.
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Steveston bookshop and cafe in one room, stocking mostly secondhand titles with some new releases. You can trade in your own books for store credit, and the espresso bar means people settle in rather than browse and leave. Separate kids' and adult sections.
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From the blog
Guides and roundups written for Richmond, with the businesses linked inline.
Nothing on Alexandra Road is a hidden gem. It is just in a strip mall with bad signage and no patio, which is why visitors never find it. Here is how I actually use Richmond's plazas and food courts, which specialists are worth the drive, and when not to bother.
The West Dyke Trail is about five and a half kilometres of flat gravel between Terra Nova Rural Park and Garry Point, and I ride it most mornings. Here is what is actually at the north end, which way to walk so the wind is on your side, and why winter is the better season for it.
I live four blocks off Moncton Street, so this is the Steveston I actually use: where to park before the Bayview lots fill, how to buy fish straight off the boats at the wharf, the honest answer to the Pajo's versus Dave's question, and why the history here is not decoration.
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