Abbey Books

Abbey Books occupies a shopfront at 21 Wellmeadow Street in Paisley, close to the university, library and Paisley Museum, and holds around 40,000 secondhand books across subjects including history, poetry, fiction, art, music and drama, plus a children's section and sheet music. Brian Hannan has run the shop since August 2022, continuing it as a secondhand bookshop rather than converting it to new stock or a café-led format. Around 3,000 of the shop's books are also listed for sale on eBay and Amazon, extending its reach beyond passers-by on Wellmeadow Street. The shop sells book tokens for gifting and has worked with West College Scotland on a book jacket design competition for students. Hannan discussed the shop's operation on Paisley Radio in August 2024. It opens Tuesday to Saturday, closing on Mondays, and remains one of the few dedicated secondhand bookshops trading in Paisley town centre.