Mrs. Dalloway's

Mrs. Dalloway’s is a vibrant, full-service, independent neighborhood bookstore located in the beautiful, historic Elmwood District of Berkeley. The store was founded in 2004 when longtime friends and residents of the Elmwood, Marion Abbott and Ann Leyhe, decided to pool their passions, talents, and resources. The store’s name derives from the first line of Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel, Mrs. Dalloway: “Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.”

Spacious and inviting, Mrs. Dalloway’s offers an exciting and diverse selection of titles—both comprehensive and contemporary—and is renowned for its skillfully curated fiction, non-fiction, poetry, garden book and children’s book sections, all of which feature a remarkable and relevant variety of rare and innovative small presses. The store also carries a variety of hand-selected merchandise geared to lifestyle, literature and gardening, a revolving art exhibition, and fresh plants.
From the day we opened our doors, our bookstore fostered a sense of community. Today, Mrs. Dalloway’s hosts over 100 stellar in-store author events each year, serving as a dynamic cultural center and resource for its neighborhood, its ever-expanding and devoted customer base, and as an outreach to the San Francisco Bay Area literary community.

Mrs. Dalloway’s outgoing and talented booksellers are passionate about reading, love to share their eclectic tastes with illuminating staff picks, and are most happy when engaged in book talk.