WORDS & PHOTOS BY CHRIS TIESSEN
Almost nothing we carry defines us more clearly than the books in our bags: tactile objects filled with ideas and stories – testimonies to time well spent. They tag along with us, mark our days, and shape the rhythm of how we move through the world. In Uptown Waterloo, three long-standing independent bookstores – Carry-On Comics & Books (46 years young), Words Worth Books (42 years), and Old Goat Books (25 years) – offer distinct ways to build this bracket of everyday carry: a nostalgia-driven comic haven built for the thrill of discovery, a curated literary hub grounded in conversation, and a densely-packed used bookstore where the search is part of the reward. Together, these enduring fixtures map a reading life – charting not just what we read, but how we come to find it.
OLD GOAT BOOKS 8 William St E, Uptown Waterloo oldgoatbooks.com
Just off the main drag, tucked away from sight until it’s not, Old Goat Books operates at its own pace. Housed in a restored building that once served as a nineteenth-century stable for the Alexander House hotel (which once stood at the corner of King and William), the shop carries its history in its bones: exposed brick, wooden beams, and a sense of the past that complements the building’s current function as a used bookstore. It’s the kind of place that invites wandering rather than efficient fixity.
Inside, roughly 15,000 titles fill the shelves. They climb the stacks and walls, fill corners, and seem to spill into narrow aisles that encourage unhurried browsing. The collection spans history (a steady draw), philosophy, political science, literature – including a notably deep selection of science fiction and fantasy. Despite the operative analog framework, everything here is not only meticulously catalogued, but also searchable online, with books sold both in-store and digitally.
The shop was located on King St across from Ethel’s (the region’s most fantastic ‘dive bar’) for many years, until a fire in 2024 forced a new chapter just one year after Erica Nikolaus took ownership of the business. ‘It was a reset,’ Erica says. ‘Not one we planned, but one we’ve leaned into.’ The move subtly reshaped the shop’s audience: where the old space drew more university students, the current location tends to attract a slightly older, more established crowd – professors, collectors, longtime readers.
There’s a warmth to the space that goes beyond inventory. A stained glass-fronted cupboard, catching light in a lovely way, displays rare and scarce titles. Tucked under windows are little recesses where patrons can pause: not quite formal reading nooks, but close enough. At the back of the space a self-serve coffee station, stocked with Old Goat-branded beans from The Tree via KW Coffee Collective, encourages visitors to linger.
‘People come in looking for one thing,’ Erica says, ‘but they usually leave with something else.’ That’s the rhythm here. Inventory shifts through a steady buy/sell/trade flow, and no two visits feel the same.
Old Goat rewards patience. It’s a place where paths loop, time stretches, and a good book often finds you when you least expect it.
CARRY-ON COMICS & BOOKS 32 King St N, Uptown Waterloo – Find them on Facebook
On a lively stretch of King Street North in Uptown Waterloo – just across from Poppy’s, my go-to for the best bagel sandwiches (order ‘The Kyrie’ for the win) – Carry-On Comics & Books has been serving graphic novels, comics, and other forms of pulp storytelling to a devoted audience for nearly half a century. Some of my early childhood memories orbit this space: a haircut ‘to the wood’ from Bruce at White Star (with added ‘Batman juice’, as he’d suggest), a burger at Harmony Lunch (extra fried onions), and then a stop here to leaf through the latest releases: Judge Dredd, The Flash, Ghost Rider, and more. That was more than three decades ago. And over the years, nothing much has changed here – and this is exactly the point.
Step inside the comic store and the nostalgia in the air is palpable. Shelves brim with graphic novels, stacks of boxes are weighed down with back issues, and sun-faded posters line the windows (protecting precious titles from similar light damage). The space reeks of nostalgia – and represents a simpler time when Saturday afternoons were spent pouring over the latest titles. ‘We don’t even have a computer,’ Andy Brast, who has owned and run the place for thirty-five of its forty-six years, tells me with a shrug. ‘I write everything down on paper.’ Fitting, this.
Between stacks, the walls here carry their own sort of history with all sorts of comic paraphernalia tucked between shelves: Captain America’s shield, a Barbara Gordan-era Batgirl mask, fan art depicting the shop itself – including a rendering by local artist Trevor Clare from his popular book of illustrations, The Art of Nostalgia. Andy’s own influence – including bits from a childhood in Germany – shows in small ways: German comics, including editions of Green Lantern, add a personal thread to the inventory. The shop specializes in new comics and graphic novels, with a steady undercurrent of vintage material.
The tone here is open and unpretentious. Batman and Spider-Man remain perennial favourites, while darker ‘Absolute’ versions of classic superheroes have a strong following too. There’s also a clear entry point for younger readers, with kid-focused graphic novels and how-to-draw books inviting the next generation in. Carry-On runs on feel. The experience is tactile – flipping through bins, pursuing a cover that’s caught the corner of your eye, pulling something free on a hunch. This sense of discovery peaks each year on the first Saturday in May, ‘Free Comic Book Day’, when special-edition issues are given away. A line forms early, stretching out the door.
And somewhere between the stacks, Bella, the shop dog, keeps a quiet watch. ‘The only thing here that isn’t for sale,’ Andy tells me with a chuckle. Here’s to another forty-six years.
WORDS WORTH BOOKS 96 King St S, Uptown Waterloo wordsworthbooks.com
Four over four decades, Words Worth Books has anchored Uptown Waterloo as something beyond a bookstore. Today, under the stewardship of co-owners Mandy Brouse and Dave Worsley, this King Street staple remains a place where books are not only sold, but discussed, debated, and lived with – a space built as much on conversation as curation.
The place itself sets the tone. Shelves are orderly, displays intentional, and nothing feels crowded. Books are faced outward; well-thought-out, handwritten staff picks offer fresh ideas; table displays change with regularity – prize winners one season, cookbooks or travel the next. There’s a quiet confidence to the curation which encourages a more deliberate kind of browsing, a sense that you’re being guided without being told where to look. When Cai and I visited recently, she scooped up a copy of Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables by Josh McFadden (a title she had recently lost and was more than happy to find here), while I gravitated, almost instinctively, to Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. In each case, the pairing was a comfortable extension of the shop’s quiet sense of suggestion.
This sensibility has been carried forward from the shop’s early years, when founders Chuck Erion and Trish Siemens established Words Worth as a reader-first space – something Brouse and Worsley have carefully built upon. I grew up coming here, stopping in with my professor parents (when we weren’t making the trip to The Bookshelf in Guelph), and it left an early impression: this was what a bookstore could feel like.
The philosophy has continued to evolve. During the pandemic, Words Worth expanded its online presence significantly, earning local recognition and driving a sharp rise in digital sales. ‘We had to rethink how we reached people,’ Brouse notes. ‘But the goal stayed the same – connecting readers with the right book.’ Orders were packed by hand, recommendations sent out digitally, and a loyal base of bibliophiles followed along. Today the store moves comfortably between physical and digital without losing its sense of place.
At Words Worth’s core is a commitment to local writing. Canadian authors are not sidelined here – they’re central. Regional voices are given real visibility, grounded in the belief that local talent belongs on a national stage. ‘The quality is here,’ Worsley says. ‘Our job is to make sure people see it.’ This ethos extends into an ambitious events calendar: roughly forty readings, launches, and talks each year – often in collaboration with the public library, CIGI, and the Perimeter Institute. On these occasions the shop takes on the feel of a literary salon.
Strong ties to nearby universities further shape the store’s role, bridging academic and public audiences. Over time Words Worth hasn’t just participated in a literary community; it has helped build one, patiently and deliberately. Inside the shop itself this effort is felt in the details: staff recommendations that carry weight, conversations that unfold easily, and a children’s section that invites younger readers to settle in.
In a retail landscape built for speed, Words Worth remains grounded in something that operates at a gentler pace. ‘People still want that human connection,’ Brouse observes. ‘They just want it to feel genuine.’
