Bookstation offers a wide variety of books, including travelogues, children’s books, cookbooks, popular fiction and non-fiction, entertainment, poetry, science fiction, fantasy and many others I probably forgot. And their prices are more than competitive. Plus, they have a search process not available from other bookstores in Budapest: all of the store’s extensive inventory has been put online, so shoppers can browse the entire range of stock from the comfort of their PC at home.

Wow! I like that. In fact, once I found this store and was told about this option, I immediately went home and called up the website and started looking for books I can’t find elsewhere. This function allows the browser to see which titles are still in stock, and even to check out the book’s summary on the back cover. I ended up ordering eight books online, and had the option of picking them up at either of Bookstation’s stores or having them delivered to my flat. This place just keeps on getting better.

Different payment options are also available. You can pay by cash when picking up your books (or when they are delivered to your home), by credit card or by bank transfer. I elected to pick up my books at the Katona Jozsef store, after ordering them online the previous evening. The books had been pulled from stock and were ready for me when I arrived around 11:00 AM. Efficiency and a smiling clerk – what is Budapest coming to?

In addition to the store on Katona Jozsef, in the 13th District (opening hours: Monday – Saturday, 10:00 to 19:00), Bookstation also has another store in the ELTE building at Rákóczi út 5. Opening hours there are: Monday - Friday, 08:30 to 16:30.

According to their website, Bookstation also offers assistance in ordering books from amazon.com, in addition to other services which may be requested by customers. Gotta tell you, fellow expats, I’ll be doing business with Bookstation for many years to come.

Bookstation’s website is located at: www.bookstation.hu.

Words by Gary Lukatch for XpatLoop.com