📚Chicago's Hidden Labyrinth of 70,000 Used Books

Myopic Books is one of the most famous used bookstores in Chicago and, in my opinion, the most "soulful" bookstore in the city. Established in 1991 by John Chandler, it started as a small underground book stall. Today, it has grown into a three-story literary fortress with over 70,000 books. 📚 📍1564 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60622 Nestled on the main street of Wicker Park, this unassuming independent bookstore is easy to miss. But once you step inside, it feels like you’ve stumbled into a labyrinth made of paper and ideas. 🕸️ 📚 A City of Books, a World in a Building You might think it’s just an ordinary bookstore, but it’s so much more than that. 📜 The first floor is the battleground of literature and contemporary thought. Wooden shelves are packed with novels, poetry collections, philosophical essays, and fragments of bygone eras. Each book is well-worn, as if it has a life of its own. Some have inscriptions on the title page, while others hold yellowed ticket stubs—like whispered secrets between books and their readers. 📖 📖 The second floor feels like a tranquil reading room, with windows, light, and sofas. Time seems to slow down here. As you climb the creaky stairs, the sound of the floorboards becomes the perfect background music. 🪜 🪜 The basement is the most mysterious, housing non-fiction, history, politics, psychology, and more. It feels like stepping into a hidden chamber. The air is filled with the scent of paper, dust, and vintage wood, as if ancient souls are murmuring in the background. 🕸️ 📖 The Romance of Myopic: There’s no coffee, no文创products, and no trendy "Instagrammable" corners. But behind each bookshelf lies the gentle logic of a bookseller, categorizing books by interest and experience. 🎶 Sometimes you might catch a poetry reading, a jazz concert, or even an impromptu performance by a wandering poet. 👁️ Myopic’s "blindness" is actually a firm stance against following trends and commercialism. They simply guard this forest of paper, letting words and ideas grow freely. We move too fast in the outside world, so fast that we forget the sound of turning pages and the feeling of reading a whole poem. But the moment you step into Myopic Books, you just want to slow down and listen to the conversations between the pages. It’s like a brief yet precious pause between you and the world. ⏸️ #ChicagoLife #IndependentBookstore #ChicagoExploration #LiteraryLife #BookstoreWanderings #WickerPark #CityStrolls #NorthAmericanLife #SpiritualCorner #Chicago #Bookstore #BookLovers #SecretAncientBooks