Located in Downtown Stuttgart, Buchhaus Wittwer has all the trappings of a wildly popular bookstore. Rows after rows of various genres and unending titles therein, cozy reading books and the quintessential in-house cafe to set the mood. This five-storied outpost is the most prominent one in Stuttgart, located on Schlossplatz, and attracts hordes of bibliophiles each day.

A haven for rare and special books, the Buchhandlung Steinkopf is the oldest bookstore in the city, with over 200 years of legacy behind them. Thumb through their versatile sections ranging from historical novels, science fiction, fantasy, crime, erotic fiction and adventure, to more knowledge-specific genres such as media and communication, economics, politics and computer science. Buchhandlung Steinkopf operates as a standalone store and is located on Rotebühlplatz.

Rows after rows of neatly stacked record albums grace the walls at Second Hand Records. A treasure trove for the passionate audiophile, this store offers everything from mint-condition covers to rare band albums. The whole collection amounts to nearly 50,000 CDs and singles, a staggering number that fits into a modest shop on Leuschnerstraße. Pop in for a visit, and you might just stumble upon live band gigs if you're lucky.

Don't let the name mislead you. The collections at Cheap Trash Records is anything but. A small record store located on Forststrasse, there is no dearth of musical genres here. Audiophiles can expect everything from punk rock, hardcore, alternative rock, indie rock and grunge to nouveau genres such as psychobilly, surf, synth-pop, garage rock and melodic hardcore. Besides, secondhand albums are available as well, among CDs, DVDs and other related merchandise such as t-shirts, buttons and posters.

Tucked into an alleyway between Cafe Gossip and Flugbörse, a travel agency, 12inch evokes nostalgia with its 1980s vinyl maxi record collection. Genres include pop, rock funk, soul and disco, among several other alphabetized categories. While CDs are neatly stacked and labeled along the walls, disco lights are suspended from the ceiling as a gentle ode to the musical eighties. 12inch sells and buys records, and therefore the shop also stocks a variety of secondhand albums and singles.