Sherman’s Book & Stationery Store

Limited selection of books. True crime was super small, mostly Whitey. Needs a better selection!

Maine’s
oldest
bookstore
Bill Sherman opened his first bookstore back in 1886 in the town of Bar Harbor. Since then his stores have also appeared in Freeport, Camden and Boothbay Harbor. All the stores have the same eclectic and old fashion feel to them.
Sherman’s sign says Books & Stationery but that is not quite true. A whole lot of other stuff can be found in these stores too. All kinds of toys, clothing, souvenirs, decorations, postcards and a vast amount of weird, sundry and unusual items.
The Boothbay store is quite large and has two levels. The books and stationery as well as lots of cool and useful nautical maps and charts are crammed in upstairs. The lower level contains the toys and souvenirs. Some of the stuff is tacky and cheap while other things are creative and nice.
The store is very friendly, interesting and a great place to spend some time just browsing and poking around. Things are always changing and you never know what you will find.
Sherman’s also has a large online catalog as well as the four stores. Definitely a unique and cool place that manages to survive quite nicely by changing with the times but also by keeping what made it successful in the first place. I suspect Sherman’s will continue doing business for a long, long time.

When you travel you want to find the swag, the swanky, the unique, and while your at it toss in something to stimulate your mind and appear to be a bit more refined than those around you… well this place provides all of the above and some other useless crap that someone you know wouldnt be able to live without.
This is a two story joint, the upstairs was a lot of books. The downstairs had chotskies of every color make kind description and style that you can imagine. Quite literally they had it all. You want a tile coaster that you can hand on your wall? Check. You want a beautiful piece of hoi paloi paper to write a note to someone (and scare the crap out of them if you mail it to them, I mean who seriously does that anymore?). Check. You want some fancy knickknack to adorn someone elses or your own shelf to show that you have been to BoothBay Harbor, Me aka well off the beaten path and that you are über kewl because of it? Check. Need some small artwork? Check… well we could go on but why? If you need it they have it.
Pro Tip: They DO take AmEx here unlike almost everywhere else in this town.
So in summation… come here for your crazy kookie auntie katie to get her that über special je né sais quoi… because they have it and she will love it. They wont even charge you an arm and a leg. Just an arm or a leg!

One of a local chain of independent book and tchotchke stores in Maine. Has everything from toys to tablecloths. I stopped in to buy a kite I saw in the window. I had looked it up online (I know, bad shopper…) and discovered the price here was cheaper than Amazon! Can’t say that’s true of everything in the store, but it was a nice surprise.
Now, there are books in the window, but I couldn’t actually find the books! They might need to improve the signage a bit.

kookie.
part everything store.
(me) «excuse me, do you ha-​«
(store) «yes, stuffed animals and house products aisle.»
(me) «excellent.»
tourist can achieve every purchase here.