Thirty years of steady operation have earned By The Lake Books the informal title of Burlington’s most diversified bookstore, a claim the shop backs up with shelves that stretch from mainstream fiction and mystery to military history, philosophy, and true crime under one roof at 5295 Lakeshore Road, at the corner of Kenwood, in southeast Burlington. Unlike a chain bookstore focused mostly on new releases, this shop trades primarily in gently used books, alongside out-of-print titles and harder-to-find collectible editions, appealing to readers who want a specific backlist title, a first edition, or simply a well-priced copy of something they might otherwise pay full price for elsewhere. The genre range is unusually wide for an independent shop of its size, covering general and contemporary fiction, science fiction and fantasy, romance, horror, young adult, and children’s books on the lighter side, and biography, memoir, current affairs, politics, and business on the nonfiction side, which means a single visit can serve an entire household’s differing reading tastes rather than catering to one narrow niche. Free parking is available directly at the Lakeshore Road location, a small but meaningful convenience in a neighborhood where street parking can be scarce, and the shop keeps an accessible schedule for browsing, open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 5pm and Sunday from 11am to 3pm, with Mondays reserved as the shop’s one day fully closed. That six-day availability, paired with a Sunday afternoon slot for weekend browsers, has helped the store build a loyal base of regulars over three decades in the Burlington and Oakville area, a tenure that predates most of the big-box and online competition the used book trade has weathered since. Beyond the physical storefront, By The Lake Books maintains a presence on AbeBooks, the specialist marketplace for used, rare, and out-of-print books, extending its reach to collectors and researchers well outside the Halton region who are searching for a specific edition rather than browsing locally, and the shop posts regular updates on Instagram to highlight new arrivals and notable finds as they come in. For readers who prefer physically flipping through a book before buying, comparing editions, or discovering something unplanned on a shelf they were not specifically looking for, that kind of in-person browsing remains one of the clearest advantages an independent used bookstore holds over online retail, and By The Lake Books has built its three-decade reputation squarely around delivering that experience. The shop’s combination of depth across nearly every major genre, a used and rare book focus that rewards patient browsing, and three decades of continuous operation on Lakeshore Road is what has made By The Lake Books a fixture of Burlington’s independent retail scene and a dependable stop for readers throughout the wider Halton region.
By The Lake Books
By bythelakebooks
Thirty years of steady operation have earned By The Lake Books the informal title of Burlington’s most diversified bookstore, a claim the shop backs up with shelves that stretch from mainstream fiction and mystery to military history, philosophy, and true crime under one roof at 5295 Lakeshore Road, at the corner of Kenwood, in southeast Burlington. Unlike a chain bookstore focused mostly on new releases, this shop trades primarily in gently used books, alongside out-of-print titles and harder-to-find collectible editions, appealing to readers who want a specific backlist title, a first edition, or simply a well-priced copy of something they might otherwise pay full price for elsewhere. The genre range is unusually wide for an independent shop of its size, covering general and contemporary fiction, science fiction and fantasy, romance, horror, young adult, and children’s books on the lighter side, and biography, memoir, current affairs, politics, and business on the nonfiction side, which means a single visit can serve an entire household’s differing reading tastes rather than catering to one narrow niche. Free parking is available directly at the Lakeshore Road location, a small but meaningful convenience in a neighborhood where street parking can be scarce, and the shop keeps an accessible schedule for browsing, open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 5pm and Sunday from 11am to 3pm, with Mondays reserved as the shop’s one day fully closed. That six-day availability, paired with a Sunday afternoon slot for weekend browsers, has helped the store build a loyal base of regulars over three decades in the Burlington and Oakville area, a tenure that predates most of the big-box and online competition the used book trade has weathered since. Beyond the physical storefront, By The Lake Books maintains a presence on AbeBooks, the specialist marketplace for used, rare, and out-of-print books, extending its reach to collectors and researchers well outside the Halton region who are searching for a specific edition rather than browsing locally, and the shop posts regular updates on Instagram to highlight new arrivals and notable finds as they come in. For readers who prefer physically flipping through a book before buying, comparing editions, or discovering something unplanned on a shelf they were not specifically looking for, that kind of in-person browsing remains one of the clearest advantages an independent used bookstore holds over online retail, and By The Lake Books has built its three-decade reputation squarely around delivering that experience. The shop’s combination of depth across nearly every major genre, a used and rare book focus that rewards patient browsing, and three decades of continuous operation on Lakeshore Road is what has made By The Lake Books a fixture of Burlington’s independent retail scene and a dependable stop for readers throughout the wider Halton region.
Your shop would look great here!
Promote your shop with Re:Source Roadmap, and we’ll put it in front of tons of people searching for experiences like yours
Get started