The American Bookstore is a 100% Australian owned and operated family business.

We began life in 1957 in a small shop in Edward Street, Brisbane City. Founded by an American gentleman, the store imported titles from the USA and Japan not commonly available in Australia.

The business was purchased by the Zavelsky family in 1959, and this family retains ownership today. Over the years the store has grown and moved, expanding the range of titles and subjects we stock (we now have up to 40,000 titles in store and stock over 70,000 each year).

The ABS continues to be the place to go for hard to get titles and special orders, after all - special orders are our specialty.

As part of the QLD community we are proud to support and sponsor local groups and organisations including QLD Cancer Fund, RSPCA,  ETAQ Book Competition  as well as sponsoring many schools, colleges and charities.

Our long history and continued growth has ensured that our bookstore has developed to meet the requirements of our customers. Browse through our New Books to get a feeling for the range and depth of the books we stock. Why not sit back, relax, and let us help you with all your reading needs? 50 years of experience makes us truly older and wiser!

We are no longer just an American bookstore - we stock books, audio material, software, education resources and associated materials from around the world. Even with all this growth we have always felt it was important to maintain the atmosphere created by Maurice and Bertha Zavelsky all those years ago.