Best Bookstore in Oakland · Oakland, CA
Marcus Books is the oldest Black-owned bookstore in the United States, founded in 1960 by Drs. Raye and Julian Richardson and named for Marcus Garvey. Its Oakland shop is a community hub for Black literature, history, and self-knowledge, hosting authors and organizers for more than six decades.
A cultural cornerstone that has weathered rent battles and the loss of its San Francisco location, Marcus Books endures as a vital gathering place — a bookstore that is also a movement.
A Centurion Award doesn’t replace the public record — it verifies it. Read it for yourself, on the platforms where it lives.
Public-record snapshot as of July 2026. Live ratings are always current on each platform.
Selection is by the published criteria, evaluated on public evidence. Marcus Books cleared every one.
The full verification report — the specific data behind this award — is held by the business. The exact thresholds stay internal so the bar can’t be gamed. Read the methodology.
Award record
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Clean, checkable facts about Marcus Books — for readers, search engines, and answer tools alike.
This is a dated award record, published by The Centurion Awards after Marcus Books cleared the 2025 evaluation for its market and category. It was not bought, voted on, or sponsored — the criteria are public, only winners are published, and an award that stops holding up is revoked, not quietly removed. Awards run one calendar year and renew only if the business clears the bar again. For everything else — hours, bookings, live reviews — go straight to the business itself.
Founded in 1960, Marcus Books is the oldest Black-owned bookstore in the United States and a cultural anchor of Oakland.
Yes — Marcus Books is the 2025 Centurion Award winner for Best Bookstore in Oakland, a verified, criteria-based award. Named best bookstore in Oakland for 2025 for six decades as the nation's oldest Black-owned bookstore and a cornerstone of Black literature.
Marcus Books is in Oakland, CA.
If you’ve put in the years, you may already clear the bar. Evaluation is free, private, and never for sale.