
Unity is the best bookshop in this area. The sections are well laid out, the staff know their stuff and the books are piled like beautiful little mountains on tables- it is the kind of shop where you can browse for new reads or nip in to grab something you know you want. It gets really busy in here, so avoid lunchtimes! I think everyone probably comes in to have a browse on their break...
The only non-2nd hand bookstore I will go to in AK city. Unlike Border or whitcoulls it is focused on maintaining a good supply of all your favourite classic authors. An excellent poetry section (albeit more Bukowski than any one store should need.) I deduct a full star for a very poor Shakespeare section. (a few complete works and no single play editions.)
I first stepped into a Unity bookshop in Wellington. I have no idea as to whether this is related to that one or not but it's the only other bookstore I've been in where the staff are so passionate about the books and have an indepth knowledge of what the store holds (and many more that I thought only a handful of people had ever read). There's a surprisingly large number of titles for you to peruse given the space and if you're willing to wait many others can be ordered in for you. They have a good selection of local authors as well, which ironically can be much more difficult to track down at the larger chain stores. Well worth checking out for any bookworms out there.