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Sophia Books - CLOSED
Category: Shopping Books, Mags, Music and Video Bookstores Bookstores [Edit]
450 Hastings St WVancouver, BC V6B 1L1
Neighbourhood: Downtown
(604) 684-0484
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
9 reviews for Sophia Books
9 reviews in English
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Review from Jessica C.
Vancouver, BC
9/6/2010
Goodbye my love, my favourite book store.
As some of you may know, Sophia Books closed at the end of May 2010. And during its final days, it was such a sad moment to see the small sign on the door that read:
Sophia Books is now closed forever.
Thank you
Merci
Gracias
Arigatou
...
Sophia Books, you were a great book store. I will always remember your great selection of comics, art books, and foreign books.
You will be missed. -
Review from Mercedes G.
Vancouver, BC
12/13/2008
Only seeing the words, book and store, I hustled through the doors of Sophia's and quickly realized that I recognized many of the book covers, but the words were relatively unfamiliar to me. This is because, of course, Sophia's is a store specializing in multilingual books and magazines.
This doesn't mean English literature is excluded but inclusive of many other languages from books and magazines in French, Italian, German, Italian and Japanese, along with language learning in book and audio form in over twenty different languages. Whether you are a beginner or advanced learner, you will find all you need to become multilingual here at Sophia's.
The store utilizes every square inch of space with literature, travel guides, calendars, cook books, international music CDs, DVDs, journals and foreign literature translated into English as well as the aforementioned multilingual books. It is very easy to lose yourself in Sophia's! -
Review from Christine R.
New Westminster, BC
8/25/2008 2 photos
Sophia Books is crammed, wall-to-wall, with everything a traveller, foreign language student, or sophisticate of the world could want in a bookstore. They've got travel guides, language learning materials, magazines, CDs, DVDs and maps in several languages, as well as a great selection of anime and graphic novels.
Originally a Japanese and English-language bookstore, Sophia Books now carries books in several languages: German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese. The English section is no slouch either - I love their art books, and as a former English teacher in Japan, it's nice to come here and catch up on my favourite Japanese authors in translation and get new cultural books.Listed in: Books and Coffee
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Review from Tae K.
Vancouver, BC
7/9/2009
You could get yourself lost for hours in this awesome store - specializing in books of all languages - among the countless foreign books, audiotapes and CDs, films, maps, calendars, and magazines. A huge French section is available for the Franco-philes of Vancouver.
I went to check out the ESL section, as I will be a teacher soon, and was satisfied with the selection. You could definitely get some of the books for much cheaper at other places, but the Sophia experience of being surrounded on all sides by foreign languages is worth it. -
Review from Sabrina S.
Montréal, QC
6/5/2009
I almost cried when I found this little bookstore. I found some great spanish literature classics that I wanted to read and some french books that I had in my to-read list too! They have various editions of the same books and good books for kids :) they even have TinTin in frenchh!! yay!
I paid 20$ for my book in spanish and it was totally worth it. I didin't find the prices very high and because it's a specialty bookstore, I would pay it!
I wish there were more places like this! -
Review from Megan S.
1/20/2009
No hablo englais?
Parlez-vous englais?
If you are not an english reader (which probably excludes my immediate audience)- you might find a book here.
If you like to read in other languages- you will definitely find a book here.
There's a lot of popular works, and also just plain interesting books here.
Recently spotted in their front window: Breast Calendar? Not sure what that's about. But I'm sure it's the perfect gift for someone out there! -
Review from Cameron M.
Toronto, ON
12/14/2008
Sophia books gets five stars simply for being absolutely unique. It's one of the better art book stores out there and by also specializing in foreign language texts it fills a dual need, all while doing an excellent job at just that.
When you're running a utilitarian store like a 'foreign language bookstore' it would seem very easy to fill just that need. Find books in other languages and sell them. Sophia though goes out of the way to find GREAT books and the most interesting books in those languages and provide them. New and hot books as well. If you can't wait for an English translation of some of the bigger European books, head here for sure. There's also a great magazine section if you're looking for an interesting, hard to find mag in another language.
On top of that though there's an amazing array of art books that rivals even The Emily Carr gallery's collection both for quality and rarity of the books. They hit all the major disciplines as well, while also giving up a little time to more pop culture books as well.
I'd definitely suggest Sophia if you're looking for an interesting gift or have a friend that loves texts in another language. It's a great place to just poke around and find some gems. -
Review from Nadine N.
Vancouver, BC
10/18/2008
Sophia Books carries books in many languages including French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. There are language instruction books in many additional languages. They have a decent selection of kids books in French and Spanish. You'll also find a large selection of manga and magazines.
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Review from Luisa S.
Vancouver, BC
9/4/2008
This tiny little store in the heart of Gastown is enough to send people into a frenzy of language envy. What started as a Japanese/English store has blossomed into a multi-language and international cultural mecca. Stocked here are books in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and, of course, English. It's the perfect spot to just plunk down and souse yourself in knowledge.
