The Local Bookery

Good Books. Good Things. Good Company.

Welcome to The Local Bookery, an independent neighborhood bookstore tucked inside The Local Makery in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.

We created The Local Bookery around a simple idea: a bookstore should be somewhere you want to stay awhile.

Browse the shelves. Find a new world to disappear into. Bring a friend. Grab a glass of wine. Take a workshop. Talk about the book you just finished—or the one you absolutely cannot stop recommending.

This is a bookstore built for discovering stories and sharing them with other people.

What You'll Find on Our Shelves

We’re a small bookstore, so every shelf matters. Rather than trying to carry everything, our collection is intentionally curated around the books and stories we think are worth discovering.

Fantasy is at the heart of The Local Bookery, with dedicated collections spanning cozy fantasy, epic fantasy, romantic fantasy, LitRPG, science fiction, and more.

You'll also find our collection of Banned & Challenged Books, celebrating stories that have been questioned, restricted, or removed from shelves.

Our Worldly Must-Reads collection brings together literature, history, memoir, and important voices from around the world—including a dedicated collection of books about and from Palestine.

And, of course, you'll find graphic novels, beloved classics, unexpected discoveries, and books we simply couldn't resist putting on the shelf.

Books + Wine + Making

The Local Bookery isn't a traditional bookstore—and that's intentional.

Because we're located inside The Local Makery, you can browse for your next read while someone nearby is learning watercolor, making a candle, stitching a bookmark, or trying something completely new.

And when the Wine Bar is open, you're welcome to grab a glass and browse the shelves.

Come for a workshop and leave with a book.
Come for a book and stay for a glass of wine.
Come for the wine and somehow leave with three books.

We won't judge.

A Little Bookstore With a Lot of Personality

We're independent, locally owned, and deliberately small.

That means we don't have endless aisles or thousands of copies of the same bestseller. Instead, we're building a collection that feels personal—books we love, books our community recommends, books that deserve another reader, and stories you may not have discovered otherwise.

And yes, there are cats involved.

Because around here, we believe good books, good things, and good company belong together.

Visit The Local Bookery

Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

Winter Hours · October–March
Wednesday · 5–8 PM
Thursday · 5–8 PM
Friday · 4–9 PM
Saturday · 10 AM–9 PM
Sunday · 10 AM–4 PM

Special holiday hours will be posted separately.

The Local Makery workshops are available by appointment and according to our workshop calendar.

Find Your Next Favorite Book

Whether you're looking for your next fantasy obsession, a book that's been banned somewhere, a story from another part of the world, or simply something you didn't know you needed until you saw it on the shelf—we hope you'll find it here.

Come browse. Stay awhile.