Grub Street Bookshop (CLOSED)

Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, always seems to be in a constant state of change. An exception is the iconic Grub Street Bookstore. Grub Street has served the second-hand book lovers of Fitzroy for about 40 years, 15 years in its present location and before that in the space now occupied by Bar Open. Current owners Justin and Michael Healy have watched the strip become one of the city’s ‘destination streets’, drawing a younger crowd. Luckily for the business, these people still buy books. Grub Street specialises in Australian art, literature and history, including Aboriginal history. An early edition of Patrick White’s The Solid Mandala, signed by the author (White rarely signed his books), will set you back around $500. If that’s out of your range, there’s also a wide range of reasonably priced fiction, non-fiction and collectables.