Leave it to a small town to hide one of the state’s biggest gems.
Driftless Books and Music, located in Viroqua (population 4,300) is Wisconsin’s largest used bookseller, and it’s located in an unexpected place: a historic warehouse.
The all-brick Viroqua Tobacco Warehouse, built in 1906, was one of the state’s largest tobacco warehouses at the time. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it’s still adorned with tobacco leaf medallion decorations. Only now, it’s filled with knowledge, not nicotine.
🎞️ LIST: National Register of Historic Places listings in Wisconsin
If you’re looking for a very specific book, there’s a good chance you’ll find it at Driftless. The shop holds an enormous, ever-changing collection of new, used, rare, and antiquarian books. But you’ll also find records and tapes, sheet music and maps, a beer can museum, music venue, and an art gallery inside.
📚 FUN FACT: The owners have dubbed the building “The Driftless Center for Slow Media.”
The warehouse closes on a seasonal basis, so make sure to check the website before hitting the road. (It’s open now–we checked!)
Not local? You can support Driftless Books–or any indie bookseller–by ordering books online at Bookshop.org, and selecting the shop of your choice at the checkout. They’ll get a portion of your sales, just like if you’d shopped there in person!
