Left Bank Books Collective

Left Bank Books has held its spot in Pike Place Market since 1973, when a group split off from the University District's Red and Black Books to start its own collective bookstore, according to the store's history page. It is still owned and run by its workers, with no bosses or managers: a core of about six paid members and roughly twenty weekly volunteers, making decisions by consensus at collective meetings. The collective also ran Left Bank Distribution from 1980 until about 2001, publishes its own titles and sponsors the Books to Prisoners program.

The store carries more than 10,000 new and used books in close to 70 sections, with a focus on antiauthoritarian, anarchist, radical and small press titles. Shelves run from anarchism, labor history and queer and trans studies to Black, Native and feminist studies, poetry, graphic novels and science fiction. A two person bench waits in the top floor loft; the front room is wheelchair accessible, but the upper levels are up several short flights of steps. A QTBIPOC poetry open mic meets on the last Thursday of each month, and the 2026 calendar lists writers meetups, book releases and book talks. The store closes on May Day.