The Cleveland book and record store guide covers shops across the whole region. The book and record stores on the west side of Cleveland are the easiest to string together in one outing, because most sit on or near Detroit Avenue and Lorain Avenue as they run west from Ohio City.
The route below starts in Ohio City, follows Detroit Avenue through Detroit Shoreway into Lakewood, then drops down to Lorain Avenue for Kamm’s Corner on the far west side. Old Brooklyn and Parma, south of the city along Pearl Road and Ridge Road, round it out for anyone still looking for records.
Many of the shops on this side of town specialize. There is a sci-fi, fantasy and horror shop, a romance shop, a fantasy and romantasy shop, a record store built around electronic music and a nonprofit used bookstore, alongside general stores that carry a little of everything.
West of the river
Where to shop for books and records on the west side
Ohio City
Visible Voice Books
Best for: Books with a cafe and bar
Visible Voice Books on Lorain Avenue in Ohio City is the easiest place to start, because you can stay a while. The shop sells new and used books and runs a cafe, a full bar and a food menu in its newer, larger space.
It also holds regular events, so look at what is coming up before you plan the day around it. Starting here with a coffee leaves the rest of the route for browsing.
Ohio City
Parallel Universe Books
Best for: Sci-fi, fantasy and horror
Parallel Universe Books is on West 28th Street in Hingetown, the part of Ohio City around Detroit Avenue. The shelves stick to sci-fi, fantasy and horror, so it is a focused stop for genre readers who know what they want. It sits right where the route turns west onto Detroit, which makes it an easy second stop after Visible Voice.
Detroit Shoreway
Bent Crayon Records
Best for: Electronic and experimental vinyl
Bent Crayon Records is inside 78th Street Studios in Detroit Shoreway, a short drive west along Detroit Avenue. It specializes in experimental, electronic and house music, a narrower focus than any other record shop on this route.
If dance and electronic records are what you collect, this is the stop to plan around. It is not open every day of the week, so confirm it will be open before you go.
Lakewood
My Mind's Eye Records
Best for: Rock, punk and metal records
My Mind’s Eye Records is on Detroit Avenue in Lakewood, just past the Cleveland city line. It carries new and used vinyl across rock, indie, alt, metal and punk, plus CDs, and it keeps new releases in stock. If guitar records are the reason you are out, this is the most useful record stop on the west side, and it is a few blocks from Flame & Fable.
Lakewood
Flame & Fable
Best for: Fantasy and romantasy
Flame & Fable is also on Detroit Avenue in Lakewood, a short walk east of My Mind’s Eye. The shop focuses on fantasy and romantasy titles. Readers who started the day at Parallel Universe can compare the two shelves, since between them they cover sci-fi, horror, fantasy and romantasy in one afternoon.
Kamm's Corner
Under the Covers
Best for: Romance books and gifts
Under the Covers opened on Lorain Avenue in Kamm’s Corner in 2026. It is a romance bookstore and gift shop, so it works for picking up a present as well as a book. The Reading Room CLE is a few doors down on the same block, which makes Kamm’s Corner a good two-shop stop at the western end of the route.
Kamm's Corner
The Reading Room CLE
Best for: Used books that fund literacy
The Reading Room CLE is a nonprofit used bookstore on the same stretch of Lorain Avenue in Kamm’s Corner. It resells donated books and puts the profits toward literacy programs. The stock depends on what people bring in, so it rewards a slow look and a return visit, and anything you buy goes back into reading programs.
Old Brooklyn
The Vinyl Groove Records
Best for: The widest mix of formats
The Vinyl Groove Records is on Pearl Road in Old Brooklyn, south of downtown. It sells new and used vinyl, 45s, CDs, cassettes, posters and stereo equipment, and it hosts in-store events. It carries more formats than any other shop on this route, so bring your want list and leave time to go through the 45s.
Parma
The Current Year Records and Tapes
Best for: Tapes and stereo repair
The Current Year Records and Tapes is on Ridge Road in Parma, in the same building as Rudy’s Strudel. It sells vinyl, cassettes and used records, and it also repairs stereo gear. It throws a Record Store Day party too. Bring a receiver or tape deck that needs work along with room in the car for whatever records you find.
Planning the route
How to order the stops
Detroit Avenue and Lorain Avenue run roughly parallel as they head west out of Ohio City, so the simplest plan is to go out on one and come back on the other. Start at Visible Voice and Parallel Universe in Ohio City, follow Detroit through Detroit Shoreway to Bent Crayon, then keep going into Lakewood for My Mind’s Eye and Flame & Fable.
From Lakewood, cut south to Lorain Avenue and continue west to Kamm’s Corner, where Under the Covers and The Reading Room CLE share a block. Old Brooklyn and Parma are south of the city, so The Vinyl Groove and The Current Year work better as a second trip, or as a detour on the way home if you live in the southern suburbs.
Most of these are small independent shops with their own schedules. Check each one before you set out, especially anything you plan to reach late in the day.
Across the river
East side bookstores for another day
The east side has its own cluster. Loganberry Books on Larchmere Boulevard is a large independent store with new, used and rare books, first editions, and readings. Mac’s Backs Books on Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights has three floors of new and used books, and ThirdSpace Reading Room on East 105th Street near University Circle sells used and rare books.
Further out, Fireside Book Shop has been selling new and gently used books in downtown Chagrin Falls since 1963. All of them are in the full book and record store guide.
Good to know
Questions before you go.
Is Lakewood part of Cleveland?
No. Lakewood is its own city, bordering Cleveland on the west. Detroit Avenue runs through both, so the shops feel like one continuous stretch.
Can I donate books to any of these shops?
The Reading Room CLE resells donated books to fund literacy programs. Contact the shop first to ask what it is taking right now.
Is there a record store worth the drive east?
Record Den on Mentor Avenue in Mentor, in Lake County, has big crates of used LPs and friendly staff. From the west side it makes more sense as its own trip.
Keep browsing
See every book and record store on the map
The full guide covers shops across Greater Cleveland, from Larchmere and Coventry to Lake County, with addresses and a map.