We have a soft spot for books and make a point of visiting bookstores wherever we travel. In this two-part series, we visit two very different bookstores—contrasting in location, stock, and longevity—but both sit squarely in the flow of tourist traffic. Here, we focus on Skaguay News Depot & Books, an independent shop in Skagway, Alaska. The following post will take you to the sunny south of France, where a global luxury brand has set up a seasonal pop-up store.

Enjoy some music while browsing.

You can find more of our posts on bookstores around the world here.

Skaguay News Depot & Books

This independent bookstore is tucked into downtown Skagway on Broadway, near Third Avenue, very close to the cruise ship terminal. Apparently, it runs year-round.

Skagway, Alaska is a historic gold rush town in Southeast Alaska, known for its well-preserved gold rush-era buildings. It’s a popular cruise ship destination and that’s how we came to visit this bookstore.  

The bookstore specializes in Alaska–Yukon related titles—books, postcards, maps, calendars, journals, magazines—you name it.

Founded in the 1890s as the gateway to the Yukon goldfields, Skagway enjoyed its boom from about 1897 to 1899. The town was a critical hub for prospectors, thanks to its ice-free port. At its peak, Skagway was home to 8,000–20,000 people, making it Alaska’s largest city for a moment. But with the completion of the White Pass and Yukon Route railway in 1900, the Chilkoot and White Pass trails lost their purpose, and the rush was effectively over.

Sections are dedicated to native Alaskan authors and their stories as well as Alaska mysteries (for example, the Arliss Cutter series by Marc Cameron, which is based on a deputy US marshal character in Alaska).

There is a collection of books about the history of Alaska and even a small selection on Alaskan women.

While many downtown storefronts in Skagway shutter after the last cruise ship departs in September, Skaguay News Depot & Books keeps its lights on year-round.

In summer, the town’s population swells to several thousand, with streets buzzing as over 10,000 visitors a day arrive by ship, train, and bus. By October, the seasonal workers leave, the population drops to around 800, and much of Broadway goes quiet.

This admirable bookstore is a year-round anchor in a seasonal economy, It’s invested in serving the town’s permanent residents, not just passing tourists.

We wonder if Amazon delivers books here and if so, how long is the wait.

We arrived at the start of summer, when the streets were lively and the days stretched long. It’s easy to imagine how different it must feel in winter, when the cold settles in and daylight fades to just a few brief hours.

There is a section for children’s books.

The bookstore is home to Lynn Canal Publishing, a small press operating since 1987 that publishes works about the Skagway–Dyea region, offering fresh regionally relevant content.

In an old photograph, one sees the Skagway Newsboys (1898), a band of teenagers selling newspapers and bulletins to prospectors, locals, and arriving tourists, about rumors of and races to gold discoveries. They served an important function at the frontier where daily life was chaotic and lawless. Look closely on the far left side of the photo and see a man shown to be feeding his pet black bear.

We are glad that we came across this bookshop, otherwise Skayway is just another touristy cruise ship port.

Look out for the other bookend that is coming soon.
Update: … well, here is a link to the other post.