Simple Bookstore Daegu: Retro Bookstore Cafe Near Dongdaegu Station

If you have a few hours between trains at Dongdaegu Station — or you’re planning a day trip to Daegu from Seoul or Busan — Simple Bookstore is the kind of place that makes the detour worth it. It’s a basement-level independent bookstore and cafe with a retro atmosphere, resident cats, and a drink menu displayed entirely on Polaroid photographs. The kind of combination that’s harder to find than it sounds.

Daegu is an easy city to visit on a day trip. From Seoul Station, KTX and SRT trains reach Dongdaegu in about 1.5 to 2 hours (₩43,500 / ~$29). From Busan, it’s just 40 to 50 minutes (₩15,600–17,100 / ~$10–11). Simple Bookstore is a 10-minute walk (570m) south from Exit 2 of Dongdaegu Station, just behind the Shinsegae Department Store.

Basic Info

Address	B1, 4 Dongbu-ro 34-gil, Dong-gu, Daegu (0507-1334-9513)
Hours	Tue–Sun 12:00 PM – 9:00 PM · Closed Mondays
Age policy	No children — ages 13 and up only (middle school age and above)
Seating	Walk-in for browsing; seating requires a drink or book purchase
Payment	Cash discount available

Getting There

From Dongdaegu Station (KTX / SRT), take Exit 2 and walk south for about 10 minutes (570m). The entrance is easy to miss — it’s a small door that leads down to the basement level, located in the alley just behind Shinsegae Department Store (Dongdaegu Terminal). If you walk past it the first time, you’re not alone.

Daegu makes sense as a day trip from both Seoul and Busan. The city has a reputation among Koreans for good food, independent cafes, and shopping — and the Dongbu-ro cafe street, where Simple Bookstore sits, is one of those pockets worth knowing about.

Inside

Going down the stairs, the space opens into something quieter than the street above. The lighting is warm and low, the music is Japanese city pop from the 1970s and 80s, and the walls are covered in retro posters, stickers, and postcards. Independent stores like this tend to stock books you won’t find in chain stores — unusual titles, art books, coloring books, and illustrated works fill the shelves alongside items for browsing and purchase. Browse-only books are marked separately from books available for purchase.

There’s a bag storage area near the entrance so you can browse without carrying everything. Seating requires ordering a drink or purchasing a book, which keeps the space from getting too crowded. Each table has a small note explaining the house rules.

The Cats — Lemon and Lime

Two resident cats live in the bookstore: Lemon and Lime. They move around the space on their own terms — sometimes near the shelves, sometimes on the furniture, occasionally more interested in being photographed than you’d expect. For anyone who’s spent time with cats before, the dynamic is familiar. For anyone who hasn’t, it adds a layer of calm to the space that’s hard to manufacture.

I used to have a cat, and it’s been almost two years since he passed. Encountering cats like this — unexpectedly, in the middle of a day — is still one of those small, good things. The combination — retro cafe, bookstore, cat space — felt like almost too much of a good thing in one place.

The Menu

Drinks are displayed on Polaroid photographs at the counter — which fits the aesthetic perfectly. The menu covers coffee, ades, and cocktail-style drinks. In the evening, the cocktail options make more sense; I was heading back on the train, so coffee it was.

Item	KRW	USD
Americano	₩4,500	~$3
Cafe Latte	₩5,000	~$3
Melon Soda	₩6,000	~$4
Strawberry Parfait Latte	₩7,000	~$5
Matcha Ice Cream	₩7,000	~$5
Pina Colada	₩7,000	~$5

You can show this table to staff when ordering. Full menu is displayed on Polaroid photos at the counter. Cash payment gets a small discount.

I ordered one of the specialty drinks and a coffee. The portions are on the smaller side — more suited to sipping while reading than lingering over a long meal. What I didn’t expect: a small warm stone comes with the iced drinks to warm your hands. It’s a small, specific detail that somehow fits the place exactly.

Once settled in, I picked up one of the manga volumes from the reading shelf — the kind I hadn’t looked at since childhood. It was more absorbing than expected. There were art books and coloring books I came close to buying, and didn’t, mostly by willpower. The browse-only section makes it easy to stay longer than planned.

Polaroid Photos

The store also offers Polaroid photography as an in-store experience — a natural extension of the retro aesthetic. It’s the kind of thing that makes this a good spot for a date or a visit with friends, not just solo. Photo spots are distributed throughout the space.

A Few Practical Notes

The space is no-children (ages 13 and up). It can get busy, particularly on weekends — walk-in browsing is always fine, but seating may have a wait. Coming on a weekday or arriving early in the afternoon gives you more room to settle in. The entrance is easy to overlook, so look for the small door in the alley behind Shinsegae.

I came in with no particular expectations — just filling time before a train. Simple Bookstore turned out to be one of those places that earns a second visit. Next time, I’d come earlier, order a cocktail, and spend more time with the books.