Unity Books Auckland

Do you enjoy reading books? I never went to kindergarten as a toddler and only child till 8 years, and learnt to read and write young. As an adult I have a very good vocabulary. Author Max Rashbrooke in his book Too much Money describes childhood reading enabling a million word vocabulary in adulthood. At 10 years of age, I won a place on Canterbury Young Authors Conference and now I have written first draft of three books to publish through New Zealand Society of Authors. I strongly believe more people of all ages should read for an original strong mind, relaxing their breathing and pulse rate from books. This popular boutique bookstore has a lot of genres including essays, crime A-Z, poetry, travel guides, biography and memoir, science, sports, business, sci-fi and fantasy, movies and music, Aotearoa and politics. Books offer extensive depth, good for relaxing conversations. Trivial details and pleasant chat pale in comparison to the insight a good book will provide. The books I would like to purchase here include: Travel Guides Germany and The World, 111 places in London that you shouldn't miss by Author John Sykes, and Egyptian Arabic phrasebook dictionary (Lonely Planet). Other books to purchase from Unity Books include My book of Treasures - which is a collection of favourite writings, by Author Joanna Lumley, and The Royal Palaces - Secrets and scandals by Author Kate Williams

I think I’m gonna sneakily read a bit of something every day. Nice cozy book store. When I saw Gödel, Escher, Bach, I feel nostalgic, I used to be a math nerd, now I amount to nothing, can’t fit in anywhere. Guess sometimes you have to step back to leap forward. ☝️🤓

A gorgeous bookstore with the best range of books in Auckland! There are so many great queer, philosophy, and Japanese contemporary fiction for me, and there’s always something new to check out. Whatever you’re into - they should have at least a few books for it! The atmosphere of the store is fantastic. It’s very peaceful, but still very inspiring. I also love their loyalty card system.

This book store is amazing. Right downtown and literally piled high with books. Great section on New Zealand fiction and nonfiction.

Beautiful store with such interesting books. I was able to purchase a stack of NZ specific nature books to take back to Australia. I found the staff very helpful and friendly. Will absolutely return to this store and highly recommended for anyone visiting Auckland.

Customer service was really rude. Was in the process of collecting stamps from book shops around Auckland. The staff were forcing people to buy a book for stamp that wasn't required. Seems like they dont want to support the reading community. Really sad to see. Go to the book shop next door! They are much nicer.

It's the king of the Auckland inner-city bookshops for a reason! Too small for all the books and ideas packed inside, but at the same time an absolute treasure trove of interesting, well-curated titles in every topic under the sun with helpful staff and there is no way I can get out without collecting another haul. So good. Go support physical local shops! Amazon can't curate like these guys, and the chain stores don't cater for how smart you are.

Best bookshop in the country by a mile. Knowledgeable staff and a great vibe. Books on every possible piece of shelving, pillar and rack. And a brilliant, sometimes eclectic selection.

I love bookstores: the smell, the colors, and the possibilities for adventure and escape. Where I live there aren't many left, so it's exciting to visit as wonderful as Unity Books. In Auckland there are quite a few places to go, but this one is independent and probably the best. Unity Books has its main store and children's book separate on the same street; both are fun to browse through. I came here both to browse and with a mission. I wanted to purchase the complete Lord of the Rings and Hobbit filming locations books. They're printed in New Zealand and cover places we visited, and others we'd love to return to. Their prices were what I expected; with the exchange rate, I was happy. The store was organized and they were easy to find, but one of the books' spine was broken. I asked a friendly clerk and they quickly went to the back and got another copy. It made buying them there easy. They had so many happy customers, it's easy to see they're doing well. I will definitely stop here on our next visit.

I have a small obsession with books so much so when I'm grown up I will have a reading nook in my house that has the sun all year round , is there nothing more delicious in life but to read books or magazines in the sun ? The staff here know their stuff and there's no random junk like some other bookstores . Where else could you buy a graphic treasure on the family's of hip hop ? And that book of meat curing ? I hope this store is around for many more years .

Don't tell anyone this but I love to give books a good sniff, there's nothing more satisfying than breathing in the scent of new book smell. I have done this even as a small child, and was often regarded by my parents as a general oddball. Unity Books is the kind of place that if caught doing this, no one would even give you a second glance because everyone else is doing it as well. Its nice to be able to find my own sort of people. Whatever you need, whether it be travel guidebooks, more literary offerings, or seasoned advice from the shop assistants, you will find it at Unity. I just Gosh Darn love this place.

It's sad that places like are probably hurting on account of the internet and it's unlimited range and scope. It's sad because places like this are kind of special. Unity books is an independent bookshop on HIgh Street with a great range of both popular and more obscure fiction and non-fiction books. The staff are well informed and amiable. The store is a warm and pleasant place to be. It's just a great place to find that little joy where you find a really handsome edition of a book and just click with it. The only and obvious drawback is the price. Books are pretty expensive when you buy them from bookshops. They're especially expensive if that store is a high end and independent one, in the ritzy part of the central business district.

What a wonderful book store! Such top quality books and hard to come by titles... it is a book worms heaven. LOVE their adult coloring in book range. They staff are really helpful too and can order you in specific books a lot of the time :)

What's more addictive than cigarettes and a better investment than Microsoft shares in 1986? That's right, it's a top-notch independent bookstore, like Unity. I visit for my fix of local literary journals (JAAM, Sport, Landfall, etc), and my beloved Literary Review, new domestic publications, and the best range of hand-picked literary fiction in town. They also have a children's section stocked with reprinted classics like Tove Jansson's Moomin series. It's also good for tasteful greeting cards, wrapping paper, and magazines. The kind of place where you can suddenly find you've spent an awful lot of money, but be brave, they have a discount loyalty card to assuage your anxiety.

Comprehensive books store with a wide selection. I found it to be more a generic bookstore, that you can find anywhere. I feel like it need more local personality/charm. Still, a very good book store.

Saw a book at the airport and couldn't leave New Zealand without grabbing it. Walked to Unity Books from the hotel and found the book within minutes. The staff was very friendly and plenty of people to help customers with questions or to find a book. Wish I could have spent a bit longer looking around.

Unity Books reminds me of the Meg Ryan's bookstore in You've Got Mail, The Shop Around The Corner. It's jam packed full of interesting reads and, more importantly, the staff are really passionate and knowledgeable about, well, books. I recently went in there hoping to find book about the Southern States (other than the Lonely Planet) for an upcoming road trip i;m doing. The ladies at the desk were lovely and incredibly helpful, they even popped downstairs to grab the owner, who clearly had read a lot about the area. She admitted, that a couple of books she'd normally recommend weren't in stock but she still managed to find me a some really interesting and informative books (Fiction and Non Fiction), the first of which I have just finished! Until now, I will admit that I used to buy all my books from Whitcoulls - partly bc there's a store close to my house and partly bc I didn't know what I was missing out on - but no longer...Independent bookstore all the way!

Came in today looking for some kids books specifically from New Zealand and the lady in the back left corner helped us find what we were primarily looking for. She heard our toddler yell "whale" and she grabbed a whale book to occupy him while mom shopped for native story books he can grow into. We were satisfied with the New Zealand based fictional kids books and can't wait to give them to family and enjoy them ourselves. Thank you for the dog book for our son as well.

I find big book stores slightly overwhelming. When I am faced with long tall shelves stacked with thousands of books, I find it very difficult to know what to read, I usually end up leaving with nothing. I have always liked Unity Books, a small, cosy bookstore with friendly staff, and an inspired collection. The lady who I spoke with when I went there last was a real enthusiast of classical literature. She recommended a few books which I felt excited about leaving with. My previous experiences with staff members have also been positive - they understand that purchasing a book is a commitment for a lot of people, they can be quite time consuming you know?. They also have a great range of tactile books, great for gifts, waiting rooms and coffee tables. If you are used to e-books you might find the prices a little bit high, but in my opinion there is no substitute for being able to flip through real pages.

An essential place to visit if you are a literary type in Auckland. I find it sad that many tourists probably arrive in Auckland and wander around Queen Street without checking out the much more interesting High Street. The shop itself is an inspired collection of books and simply being there gets your creative juices flowing. On the wall at the back are pictures of all the big players in world literature; Paul Auster, Ian McEwan, Haruki Murakami etc all surveying the comings and goings in the shop. I find the Fiction section the best as all the famous novelists are well represented here. I believe indepedent bookstores need all our support in this day and age and it's encouraging to still see people buying books here.

Downgraded to one star after their condescending attitude about the range of children's books they sell at their new store.

The single best bookshop in town. This cool place has a great selection of modern fiction and non-fiction (poetry, biography, cookery and travel guides) calendars, diaries and cards. Like its Wellingtonian counterpart, it is staffed by people who know and love books. It's a great hideaway from the busy CBD and almost impossible to come away from without a purchase. I dare you.

This is my favourite book shop in Auckland it's probably one of the last apart from chain stores. Every inch of this store is covered in beautiful books, for such a small shop they have an amazing selection.