Entry No. 45 — the Memphis file — filed under: bookstore
Burke's Book Store
Burke's has been selling books in Memphis since 1875, which makes it one of the oldest independent bookstores in the country — it started just after the Civil War moving books, newspapers and toys, stayed in one family for three generations, and has moved four times, landing on South Cooper in 2007. Corey and Cheryl Mesler have run it since 2000; Corey is a published novelist and poet, which explains the shelf-talkers. The front room, called the Living Room, is where the modern first editions and signed copies live, and roughly 14,000 used and rare titles are catalogued online across more than 100 subject categories, heavy on Southern literature and Memphis history. Dogs are welcome, and the store says so out loud.
→ Three more vintage, record & maker shops in Memphis — never the same twice
The story
Burke's has been selling books in Memphis since 1875, when Walter Burke Sr. opened at 180 N. Main Street with an inventory that reads like a frontier stationer's: books, newspapers, slates, tin toys. That was a decade after the Civil War and three years before yellow fever emptied the city. It stayed in one family for three generations, and each handoff came with a change in what was on the shelves. Walter Burke Jr. took over in 1911 and added textbooks. William Burke took over in 1958 and brought in used and antiquarian stock, which is the decision the store still runs on today.
After William Burke's death the shop left the family — Diana Crump bought it in 1978, Harriette Beeson in 1984 — and in 2000 it passed to Corey and Cheryl Mesler, who had already worked there more than a decade. Corey is a published novelist and poet, which is the shortest available explanation for why the shelf-talkers read like someone with a personal stake in the sentence. The address has moved four times across a century and a half: N. Main, then 634 Poplar in the 1960s after Urban Renewal took the block, then 1719 Poplar in 1988 when new books joined the used stock, and finally 936 S. Cooper in 2007 — described on the store's own site as its 'fourth (and hopefully final!)' location.
What you walk into now is a Cooper-Young storefront with a front room the store calls the Living Room, where the modern first editions and signed copies live. Behind and around it sit roughly 14,000 used and rare titles catalogued online and updated daily, weighted hard toward Southern literature and Memphis history. Signed pre-orders are a standing habit — John Grisham's French Illusion is on the list for September 29, 2026. Dogs are welcome, and the store says so out loud, which after 150 years of stock decisions counts as the most recent one.
What it's like
Burke's is a storefront on a residential-scale block, and the Living Room out front is where the modern firsts and signed copies sit — start there before the used stacks quietly eat your hour. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 to 9 Friday and Saturday; Sunday isn't posted, so call (901) 278-7484 before building a Sunday around it. The first Thursday of every month is Cooper-Young Night Out, when the entire store goes 25 percent off from 5 to 8 p.m. — the one evening genuinely worth rearranging a week for. Ask at the counter if you're hunting something specific, because a good share of the 14,000 catalogued used and rare titles isn't shelved where instinct says it should be. Bring the dog. That part is official.
The move: Aim for the first Thursday of the month, when Cooper-Young Night Out runs 5 to 8 p.m. and the whole store goes 25 percent off. Give yourselves 45 minutes and a rule — each of you buys one book for the other, no consulting, under $20 — then browse the Living Room firsts together, which is the part that turns a bookstore visit into an actual conversation. Cooper-Young's restaurant strip is a two-minute walk, so dinner reservations at 7 make the whole thing land.
📍 Before you go Posted hours are Monday-Thursday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday hours aren't listed on the site, so call (901) 278-7484 before making it a Sunday plan. The 25 percent off applies during Cooper-Young Night Out, first Thursday, 5 to 8 p.m. — worth planning around. Signed-copy pre-orders are a standing thing; John Grisham's 'French Illusion' is on the list for September 29, 2026. Street parking in Cooper-Young gets tight on weekend evenings; park a block off Cooper and walk.
- 📍 Memphis
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Low-key
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 936 S Cooper St, Memphis, TN 38104
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- The Beauty Shop Restaurant — Thirty seconds south at 966 S Cooper — dinner under the hooded dryers of a 1950s salon, which makes a 7 p.m. reservation the natural bookend to a first-Thursday browse.
- Goner Records — Around the corner at the Cooper and Young intersection: the same digging instinct in a different medium, and Goner's free in-stores are announced the same day they happen, so check the counter on your way past.
- Memphis Gong Chamber (at Memphis Drum Shop) — A block north at 878 S Cooper, where the second floor holds roughly 250 gongs — the loudest possible chaser to an hour of quiet browsing, and bookable in advance.
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Good to know
What are the hours?
Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday hours aren't listed on the store's site, so call (901) 278-7484 before planning a Sunday visit.
Is there ever a discount?
Yes — Cooper-Young Night Out, the first Thursday of every month, takes 25 percent off everything in the store from 5 to 8 p.m. It's the single best window to buy anything expensive.
How big is the used and rare stock, and can I search it before I go?
Roughly 14,000 used and rare items are catalogued online and updated daily, sorted across a long list of subject categories with heavy emphasis on Southern literature and Memphis history. Browse first, then ask at the counter.
Can I bring my dog?
Yes. Burke's advertises itself as a dog-friendly store on its own site — this isn't a grudging exception made at the door.
Where do I park?
936 S. Cooper St, in Cooper-Young. Street parking gets tight on weekend evenings and during first-Thursday Night Out; park a block off Cooper and walk in.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site
last checked: 2026-08-26