The Word Bookstore was established by Adrian King-Edwards and Luci Friesen of McGill University in 1973, in their own apartment living room as an "underground" bookstore, with a photo of George Bernard Shaw in the front window.

[1] In 1975, they relocated the store to its current address at 469 rue Milton, a 19th-century brick building that had served as the neighborhood Chinese laundry for 70 years.

[2] The Word holds readings of poetic works and publication announcements of local authors and has been cited as an inspiration by Artie Gold and Sheila Fischman.

There is also an assortment of books in such fields as drama, history, political science, theology, Eastern religion, and art.

A section located at the front of the store beneath a photo of Leonard Cohen shows the latest work of Montreal poets.