Provincetown Bookshop

Great selection of books, however, the woman behind the counter is the grumpiest person I have ever met in P-​Town. Never fails, every year, always in a bad mood. You’re better off searching the shelves of used books in Tim’s Used Books just up the street. Cheaper, way more fun and much friendlier staff.

A Provincetown legend, this is the place to buy your vacation reading. John Waters worked here long ago, and it’s an institution that keeps current on the books you need to sound smart at the gallery openings.

I’ve been coming here to Provincetown for a long time, and want to love this store. I want to love the history of the authors and poets who lived here– John Dos Passos, Norman Mailer, Mary Heaton Vorse, and others who have found this delicious town and called it their own.
I want to be able to talk to the people who own the store. get a good feeling while walking over the antique creaky floorboards.
But I can’t, and I think I never will. All the owners have been surly and unapproachable. Unhelpful, and uncheerful. You’d think the old smell of the store and the pages of books would be enough. But, alas, it’s only a business and the atmosphere is awful because of it.
I’ve NEVER in all the 40 years I’ve been coming here have I had a pleasant conversation with the owner. The woman who owns it now is unfriendly, chastising, and loves to yell at the merrymakers outside the store on the sidewalk. Afterall, this is Provincetown. The end of the world and road for freedom seekers.
With the decline of paper books, you’d think they’d try to make the store a part of the history and cherish the lovers of books and Provincetown lore that come through its doors. But they don’t.
Too bad. I’m even afraid to ask them if they have a book. I hope someone liberates this store real soon. It’s a classic. But, now it’s a classic in old, stuffy, and unfriendly.

I’ve never bought a book from here that I didn’t like.
Good selection, good prices. Lots of signed copies of books by people who have some relation to Provincetown (John Waters and Mary Oliver, for instance).
All of the staff I’ve encountered at this store were polite and helpful. Often staff members have recommended books or engaged me in conversations about the books I was buying.
An added bonus is that the store is across from the Crowne and Anchor, so you can often see drag queens barking for their shows outside the window. I think that’s kind of an amusing contrast.

Outstanding independent book store, nicely merchandized and a good selection of titles.

Visited the Provincetown Bookshop on Saturday, July 24 and the woman behind the counter was phenomenal! Extremely helpful and conversational. Bought the classic, «To Kill a Mockingbird» for my book club’s August selection and she engaged us in a wonderful conversation about Harper Lee and Truman Capote and a wonderful film she had recently seen. Very pleasant experience and I found the classic book that I wanted! I’ve been coming here for almost forty years, YIKES!

Great little bookstore. My niece and I, both being bibliophiles, love bookstores as it is, but we were lured inside by the sign in the window that indicated that they have signed copies of books by poet Mary Oliver (who lives in Provincetown). I left having spent only $ 14 for a very cool literary souvenir of Cape Cod.

This bookstore could be a nice charming piece of Provincetown if it weren’t for the woman who owns it. She was the grumpiest, rudest, most irritable shopkeeper I have ever encountered. She consistently walked around the store snapping at customers in the shop and snapping at customers on the phone. She even spoke very rudely and crossly with my wife when she was trying to hand her money to pay for books. I will NEVER go there again. Stay away and go somewhere else that’s friendly.

I love the Provincetown Bookshop for its intelligent selection, stately staff people, and support of local writers. I can never leave Provincetown without buying a book or two here. A small but quiet escape from the Commercial Street nonstop parade.