Bookshops in Galway: Three City Shops Worth Browsing

Charlie Byrne's Bookshop: Six Rooms on Middle Street

Charlie Byrne's occupies the Cornstore on Middle Street, a short step from Shop Street and beside Milano restaurant, according to the shop's own account. The business opened in Dominick Street in 1989 and moved across the road to its current Cornstore location in 1995, as the shop's own history page records. That history is useful context rather than a claim about the present: what matters for a visit is the scale of the stock today.

The shop states that it spreads across six separate rooms and holds over 100,000 new, bargain and secondhand books, with subjects running from literary fiction to history, politics, craft and motoring. Deliveries of secondhand and remaindered stock arrive from a warehouse nearly every day, so the shelves are not a fixed display. For a visitor, this means the browse is open-ended: allow more time than a single-room shop would need, and expect the secondhand sections to differ from a previous trip.

Charlie Byrne's: Address, Hours and City-Centre Position

The published address is The Cornstore, Middle Street, Galway, H91AH7A, with a phone number of 091 561766. The shop's contact page lists 9am to 6pm and Sundays from 12 to 6pm without setting out weekday-by-weekday coverage, so treat those as the published times rather than a guaranteed daily schedule; opening hours can change seasonally or on public holidays, so a quick call before a special trip is sensible.

Because Middle Street runs parallel to Shop Street, the shop is easy to combine with a walk through the pedestrian core and the Latin Quarter. If you are planning a broader circuit of the centre, a galway walking tour can help you place Middle Street in relation to the river and the other streets you want to cover. The trade-off is straightforward: this is a large, central browsing stop, so it suits a longer visit rather than a quick dash between other sights.

Kennys Bookshop & Art Gallery: 1940 Origins and Irish-Interest Stock

Kennys was established in 1940 by Des and Maureen Kenny, who rented two rooms on High Street and set up a bookshop in one while living in the other. The operator's own history records that the family business later expanded into art exhibitions and a bookbindery, and that its stock is known for Irish history, culture, literature and language alongside non-Irish material. That emphasis makes it a useful stop if you are looking for books that speak to the Irish context of what you have seen elsewhere in the city, rather than general bestsellers alone.

The same history page notes a piece of web folklore: the claim that Kennys was the second bookshop in the world to have its own website, after a science-fiction shop in San Francisco. The operator labels it as folklore, so it is best read as a piece of the shop's self-description rather than a verified record. More concretely, the operator's history records that a bookbindery opened in Salthill in 1974, and its contact page still refers visitors to Kennys Book Bindery for thesis and fine binding work, so binding remains part of what the business offers.

Kennys Today: Liosbán Retail Park, Not the City Centre

A common assumption is that Kennys still occupies a city-centre bookshop. The operator's history states otherwise: the High Street bookshop closed on 14 January 2006, the business moved online, and the building was subsequently transformed into gallery space. The shop now publishes its address as Liosbán Retail Park, Tuam Road, Galway, H91 N5P8, with a phone number of +353 91 709350. That places it outside the Shop Street and Latin Quarter walking core, so a visit needs to be planned as a separate trip rather than a detour.

Published hours are 9.00am to 5.00pm, Monday to Saturday. The same contact page identifies the premises as Kennys Bookshop & Art Gallery and points visitors to a separate bookbindery, so you may encounter books, art and binding work connected with one business. Because the gallery's exhibition programme can change, and because the shop no longer sits on a main pedestrian route, it is worth checking the current listing before making the journey out to Liosbán.

Dubray Books Galway: A Shop Street Branch of a National Group

Dubray began as a single shop in Bray, County Wicklow, founded by Helen Clear in 1973, and grew into a group of thirteen stores, including one in Galway. The company describes itself as staffed by book lovers whose recommendations are a speciality, and it states a range of up to 15,000 titles per store as a general group figure rather than a Galway-specific count. It also stocks cards, gifts, stationery and toys alongside books, which makes it a practical stop if you are buying a present as well as browsing new titles.

If a title is not on the shelf, Dubray states that it will order books in at no extra cost, which is a useful fallback for a specific Irish-interest title you cannot find elsewhere. The Galway branch is at 4 Shop Street, Galway, H91 EE03, with a phone number of (091) 569 070. Its position on the main pedestrian thoroughfare means it slots naturally into a central walk, but the range is a curated new-book selection rather than the deep secondhand stock found at Charlie Byrne's.

Published opening hours for the Galway shop are Monday to Wednesday and Saturday from 09:00 to 18:00, Thursday and Friday from 09:00 to 20:00, and Sunday from 11:00 to 18:00. These are the operator's published times and may change, so a quick call or a check of the store directory before a special trip is sensible. The later Thursday and Friday closing time gives some flexibility for an evening browse in the centre.

Choosing Between Them: Central Browsing Versus an Out-of-Centre Trip

The simplest way to decide is by geography. Charlie Byrne's and Dubray are both within the Middle Street and Shop Street core, so they can be paired on foot in a single afternoon, while Kennys requires a trip out to Liosbán Retail Park off the Tuam Road. If your time in the city is short, the two central shops give you contrasting stock without extra travel; if you have a specific interest in Irish history and culture, or want to see the art gallery and bindery, Kennys justifies the detour. If you are weighing a bookshop day in another city, the same geography-first approach works for the bookshops in cork.

Stock character is the second filter. Charlie Byrne's mixes new, bargain and secondhand books across six rooms, which rewards unhurried browsing, while Dubray's branch offers a curated new-book range with staff recommendations and an order-in service. For a wider sense of what to see on the same day, the museums in Galway City are a natural companion to a bookshop circuit, and the art galleries guide covers exhibition spaces if the Kenny Gallery programme interests you.

Plan Your Visit

Start with the two central shops, Charlie Byrne's on Middle Street and Dubray on Shop Street, if you are working within the pedestrian core. Keep Kennys as a separate outing to Liosbán Retail Park, and check the current hours and gallery programme before you travel, since published times and exhibitions can change. None of the three should be treated as a guaranteed source of a particular title; the order-in service at Dubray and the frequent deliveries at Charlie Byrne's are the practical ways to manage that uncertainty. For another heritage guide, read about Galway Architecture.