Stores & Distros

Chances are, you’re not going to be able to walk into your local bookstore and find zines for sale. So where does one go to buy zines?

We at Zine World recommend whenever possible you buy directly from the zine publisher — part of the fun of being into zines is the connection you make with other zine publishers. We all love to get mail. And, besides, when you order directly from the publisher, he/she gets 100% of the purchase price, instead of 40-75%. On our resources page, we give you links to places where you can read about, and find ordering info for zines.

But maybe you’re looking for new zines. Or maybe you’re looking to buy several zines at once. Or maybe you just want to browse. If that’s the case, you’re looking for a zine distro.

Distros are zine distributors. They’re often run by one person or a small group of people. They sell zines by mail order and/or online. Distros let you find a bunch of zines all in one place, maybe all on a specific topic. Distros sometimes fill orders more quickly than ordering directly from a zinester. Some zinesters prefer to sell their zines through distros because they want to protect their identity or don’t want to release their mailing address. Distros are also a good way to get your zine out to more people, especially since most bookstores don’t sell zines. (A few do, and you can find those listed at the bottom of this page.)

On this page, you’ll find contact information for some zine distros and zine-selling stores, including comments from our readers (in quotes).

Distros marked with [Recommended] are recommended by Zine World readers.

Distros marked with [Sells Zine World] are places that sell Zine World.

ZINE DISTROS

Arcade Distro[Recommended]
www.freewebs.com/arcadedistro
4115 Still Glade Lane, Kingwood TX 77345

Bird in the Hand Zine Shop[Sells Zine World]
www.zines.wordpress.com
zineshop@gmail.com
Retail shop: 100a King Street, Newcastle NSW 2300; Open Thursday – Saturday, 11am – 4pm
Postal address: PO Box 106, Newcastle NSW 2300
Specialises in zines of a self-made nature: cooking, crafts, DIY, mini-zines, and interesting perzines.

Black Budgie Zines
http://blackbudgiezines.blogspot.com
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Stocks literary zines and perzines, as well as some random arts and crafts, like journals and jewellery

Black Light Diner
www.blacklightdiner.com
Erica S., 1533 Rockland Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15216
A distro specializing in mini-comics, based in Pittsburgh, PA.

C/S Distro
www.csdistro.com
Noemi Martinez, PO Box 621, Edinburg TX 78540
Stocks zines by people of color, examining racism, feminism, gender, sexism, classism, culture, and more.

Click Clack Distro[Sells Zine World]
www.clickclackdistro.com
clickclackdistro@gmail.com
PO Box 35501, Richmond VA 23235
Sells personal, political, DIY/how-to, health, and other zines.

Corndog Distro[Sells Zine World]
www.corndog.co.uk
PO Box 773, Ipswich IP1 9FT, UK

Desert City Death Distro[Recommended]
http://desertcitydeathdistro.blogspot.com/
81 W. Lewis Ave., Phoenix AZ 85003
"So far my favorite distro is Desert City Death Distro. I liked that it had a bunch of zines I had never heard of rather than the zines I typically see everywhere. They were really rad and mailed me a whole bunch of cool goodies, as well. I like to order from small distros that have predominantly zines from their area."

Edmonton Small Press Association [Sells Zine World]
www.edmontonsmallpress.org
PO Box 75086 RPO, Edmonton AB T6E 6K1, Canada
A non-profit arts society committed to fostering the awareness and development of independent small press ventures in Canada and beyond.

Gigglebot Distro
www.gigglebot.net
Jessaruh, 1990 Rocksram Dr., Buford GA 30519
Specializes in zines (ranging from personal to political, literary to artistic), independently published books, and crafts.

Great Worm Express Distro
greatworm.ca
PO Box 19013, 360A Bloor St. W., Toronto ON M5S 3C9, Canada
Carries zines from Canada and the U.S. on a wide variety of topics.

Ink Pusher (English)
www.inkpusher.com
Le Pressier (French)
www.lepressier.com
A bilingual Canadian zine distro.

LilMag[Sells Zine World]
www.lilmag.org
1-15-2-307 Chuo, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164-0011, Japan

Marching Stars Distro[Recommended]
marchingstars.co.uk

Microcosm Publishing [Sells Zine World][Recommended]
www.microcosmpublishing.com
222 S. Rogers St., Bloomington IN 47404
Storefront: 833 SE Main St. #107, Portland OR (next to Blacksheep Bakery and Plan-B).
Independent publisher and distributor of zines, books, pamphlets, stickers, buttons, patches, t-shirts, posters, films, and more.
"I like Microcosm for its vast stock. Just about any zine I’ve heard of, they have, so I feel like I can rely on them."

Parcell Press [Sells Zine World][Recommended]
www.parcellpress.com
Taylor Ball, 626 S. 8th St., 3rd Fl., Philadelphia PA 19147
Sells zines on several topics, plus books.
"Taylor is almost startlingly professional — he peddles his inventory at many zine-related events and, perhaps more importantly, pays promptly. I can’t lavish enough good will on him, really."

Poopsheet Shop
www.poopsheetshop.com
PO Box 343, Bedford TX 76095-0343
Mostly sells mini-comics.

Ricochet! Ricochet!
www.ricochet-ricochet.co.uk
www.myspace.com/ricochetricochet
22 Elcott Avenue, Peckham, London SE15 1QD, UK

Shred It Distro
www.shredit.wordpress.com
Jake L. 350-C Fortune Terrace, Potomac, MD 20854

South Chicago ABC Zine Distro
anthonyrayson@hotmail.com
Anthony Rayson, PO Box 721, Homewood IL 60430
Offers hundreds of educational and radical zines to prisoners and others for free or a donation.

Starfiend Distro
starfiend.com
jenn@starfiend.com
Jenn, 628 Central Ave #4, San Francisco, CA 94117

Sticky Institute[Sells Zine World][Recommended]
www.stickyinstitute.com
Degraves St. Subway, Shop 10 Campbell Arcade, Melbourne Australia

Stranger Danger Distro[Recommended]
www.strangerdangerdistro.com
2236 N. Sawyer #1, Chicago IL 60647
Specializes in zines by queers, trannies, radical feminists, and other troublemakers.

Sweet Candy Distro [Recommended]
sweetcandydistro.weebly.com, www.myspace.com/sweetcandymailorder
Sage, PO Box 1833, Dallas GA 30132
Sells personal, craft, and other zines, plus clothing, books, washable menstrual products, and music.
"I’ve had good experiences being distroed by Sweet Candy."

Take Care Zine Distro
http://takecarezines.org

Attention zine publishers and readers: We would love to hear your comments about these, or other distros. Please send your feedback to wordofmouth@undergroundpress.org. (All comments will be considered for publication in our zine and/or on our website.)

STORES THAT SELL ZINES

Arise Bookstore [Recommended]
www.arisebookstore.org
612-871-7110
2441 Lyndale Ave., Minneapolis MN 55404

Atomic Books [Sells Zine World][Recommended]
www.atomicbooks.com
410-662-4444
3620 Falls Rd., Baltimore MD 21211

The Big Idea Bookstore
www.thebigideapgh.org
412-687-4323 (412-OUR-HEAD)
504 Millvlae Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15224

Bluestockings Bookstore
www.bluestockings.com/
212-777-6028
172 Allen St., New York NY 10002

Bound Together [Sells Zine World]
1369 Haight St., San Francisco CA 94117

Boxcar Books
www.boxcarbooks.org
812-339-8710
310A S. Washington St., Bloomington IN 47401

City Lights Bookstore [Recommended]
www.citylights.com
415-362-8193
261 Columbus Ave., San Francisco CA 94133
"A great place to buy and sell zines. They also carry a lot of small press chapbooks."

Comic Relief
comicrelief.net
510-843-5002
2026 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley CA 94704

Goteblud
www.goteblud.com
766 Valencia, San Francisco CA 94110

Left Bank Books [Sells Zine World]
www.leftbankbooks.com
206-622-0195
92 Pike St., Seattle WA 98101

Needles & Pens [Recommended]
www.needles-pens.com
415-255-1534
3253 16th St., San Francisco CA 94103

Polyester Books [Sells Zine World][Recommended]
www.polyester.com.au
330 Brunswick St., Fitzroy Victoria 3065, Australia
"Excellent for stocking zines and paying zinesters (admittedly, for me it’s in trade for stock in the bookshop/record store/dvd shop, but the range at Polyester is so awesome that it’s an extremely cool deal in my opinion)."

Powell’s Books [Sells Zine World]
www.powells.com
800-291-9676
1005 W. Burnside, Portland OR 97209

Quimby’s [Sells Zine World] [Recommended]
www.quimbys.com
773-342-0910
1854 West North Ave., Chicago IL 60622
"A great place to distro; very zine friendly."
"Quimby’s in Chicago is rock solid reliable. They get in touch, pay promptly, and send back unsold stock."

Reading Frenzy [Recommended]
www.readingfrenzy.com
503-274-1449
921 SW Oak St., Portland OR 97205

Spartacus Books
www.spartacusbooks.org
604-688-6138
684 E. Hastings St., Vancouver BC V6A 1R1, Canada,

Trees & Hills Comics Distro
http://www.treesandhills.org/distro/
c/o Colin Tedford, PO Box 645, Winchester, NH 03470
The distro arm of the Trees & Hills Comics Group sells minicomics from Vermont, New Hampshire, and western Massachusetts.

Please note: New distros open and old distros close all the time. This list is not meant to be comprehensive. You can find information about other distros by visiting ZineWiki (www.zinewiki.com), by reading Stolen Sharpie Revolution (Small World Buttons, Alex Wrekk, PO Box 17230, Portland OR 97217, http://www.smallworldbuttons.com, by visiting WeMakeZines ( wemakezines.ning.com) or by searching for distros on the Internet.

Do you distro?

If you have a distro and you’d like to be listed on this page, please email wordofmouth@undergroundpress.org with your distro’s name, website, mailing address, and a one-sentence description.

Interested in carrying Zine World in your store or distro? Visit our distribution page.