One of my favorite things about traveling is chancing serendipitously upon a store that is curated so specifically to your tastes. Imagine your wishlist in full fruition right before your eyes!
It certainly doesn’t happen in every city I travel to. But when it does, I am usually 100% enamored and will ignore my previously concocted schedule and spend upwards of one hour perusing the store and chatting with the owner or sales clerk. And the worst part of this distortion field is that it renders price points irrelevant.
Casa Bosques is one of those stores where you just know you’re going to find some gems when you step in the store. Situated in the Roma Norte neighborhood of Mexico City, this bookshop resides directly above the highly touted Apartment 25 clothing shop. It’s actually quite easy to miss if you aren’t the curious type. In my case, I had arrived that day simply to visit Apartment 25. Boy am I thankful to have gone up those stairs.
Casa Bosques is actually a chocolate shop turned bookstore. While confectioneries still reside along one of the walls, books and magazines are now the main attraction.
Inside you will find all sorts of interesting books and magazines covering fashion and design, art, architecture, photography, and critical theory. Many of the titles are from independent publishers and alternative distribution channels such as artist’s book fairs and trips abroad. There are also a selection of limited edition prints, some of which are directly from the author.
Aside from the wonderfully curated finds, I also enjoyed chatting with the sales clerk and historian by trade, Diego Ávila. He was able to provide some excellent recommendations based on my tastes and provided comprehensive backstories about a myriad of books in the store. This shop has Monocle written all over it. And if you’re like me and have been waiting for a Mexico City Monocle travel guide, Diego mentioned that the team had stopped by earlier this year and are working on it.
After spending a solid two hours perusing the store, I picked up two fashion/lifestyle magazines and two architectural books.
Casa Bosques website: casabosques.net