Map Shops - where are they?

[psmiffy]

Prompted by the thread that @old soup started this morning I did a quick google search looking for specialist walk-in map shops - there has never been that many - and - with the advent of the satnav it seems to me that over recent years that even the larger decent bookshops are not stocking many maps - (it used to be possible just to pop into the likes of WHS and pick up a half decent map (good enough to use until I found something better wherever i am touring ) of most areas of Europe )

My search in the end revealed just the two I know about

Stanfords - my goto map shop - relatively easy for me to get a train from here to London and go for a browse

The Map Shop - Upton on Severn, Worcs - I've never been there - it is a bit of a trek from here

There used to be a good shop by New Street Station in Birmingham - Last time I looked it had had gone and I haven't found any evidence that it relocated locally

Any others ?

 

[mjr]

There used to be a Stanfords not far off Baldwin Street cycleway in Bristol. Not visited in a few years so it might have gone. Edit: it's still on their website.

 

[bianchi1]

I'm lucky enough to live about a mile away from Upton upon Severn and the Map shop is truly brilliant. Thousands of maps surrounding a couple of large tables that allow you to fully open them and browse to your heart's content.

It really is a destination shop, with customers traveling miles to visit, it's a huge credit to, and important part of our town.

 

[PeteXXX]

+1 for Stanfords

 

[Speicher]

In the past I have phoned the Map Shop in Upton, and explained what I would like to get. One for the whole of Iceland for example, for the roads, but not walking. The staff were knowledgeable, and very helpful. Or they have a detailed website, when I last looked.

 

[Profpointy]

There used to be a Stanfords not far off Baldwin Street cycleway in Bristol. Not visited in a few years so it might have gone. Edit: it's still on their website.

Yep, still there last week.

That said, Stanfords seem to have mucked uo their website. Unless i imagined it you used to be able to click on the overall OS mapping and pick your sheet, but now you have to know what numbers you want.

 

[Milkfloat]

Like decent book shops, most have gone under or online. I am am Stanford's fan, I used to spend hours in there spending thousands of pounds of company money, but over time paper maps have declined and business has moved online.

 

[Katherine]

Tourist information offices usually have maps for their local area.

 

[mjr]

Tourist information offices usually have maps for their local area.

Which is fine, as long as you can find your way to the tourist information office in a strange town without a map, relying on often rather variable-quality intermittent signposts. It's more useful when they have maps for neighbouring areas, but that seems to have gone out of fashion in the UK - still happened in NL last year, though.

 

[oldwheels]

Tourist information offices tend only to recommend those who pay them money. They have no interest in promoting info. on other areas. They are there to keep people local not really to give general information. I have known them to tell people there are no b & b vacancies when they know there are because the ones with vacancies are not members.
In Oban there is Waterstones who certainly used to have a good range of maps but not been in recently.

 

[Brains]

Stanfords http://www.stanfords.co.uk/ is a place where over the last quarter century I have spent many, many hours planning expeditions to the Alps, Himalayas, Rockies, Andies .

Whilst I still have a lot of time for the shop, it is no longer what it was.
The stock has been quietly run down, the space allocated to paper maps has now been allocated to one floor.
The main ground floor now caters mostly for tourists, so you can buy your inflatable globes and and and even a limited range of clothes and I'm pretty sure your can even buy a fridge magnet.

Last time I was there I was looking for BikeLine http://www.esterbauer.co.uk/international.html maps, and found rather disappointingly that Amazon had a better and more up to date selection.

That said, if you have the time to while away a few hours on a rainy Wednesday afternoon, planning a future adventure it's a great place to go.

 

[MikeG]

Stanfords is, or at least was, probably the best map shop in the world. They also do well on-line these days. If I ever meet someone in London (which is seldom, but you take my point), I suggest meeting in Stanfords.

I bought everything relevant they had before I drove across the Sahara back in the 90's. One map, of part of Mauritania, was about 4 feet square, and had one line (and no writing) on it!! When you looked closely, that line was a contour line .....

 

[slowmotion]

Can I put in a good word for a really excellent on-line map shop?
de Zwerver is Dutch. The website isn't in English but if you pick up the phone, the lovely people on the other end are extremely helpful.

https://www.dezwerver.nl/?gclid=CKa0rN7srtMCFVAQ0wodYFQIKA

 

[Blue Hills]

I well remember before a trip to Communist Poland buying a good map of Warsaw in Stanfords. Some young Poles asked me with some amazement where I had bought it - had the feeling that that one of that quality was hard to get hold of for them.

 

[Lee-M]

It's great to keep old institutions going but when you have companies such as Dash4it selling the same Exporer map £2-3 cheaper than Stanfords they don't really help themselves . I'm sure if D4it can sell Explorer maps fairly cheap then perhaps the management at Stanfords haven't got their eye on the ball .