Book lovers across Canada have been flocking to Munro's in Victoria for decades.

It's not just because of the store's magnificent heritage building on historic Government Street. It's also because of the selection of reading material, which consistently aims far higher than the book selections in your average Walmart of Real Canadian Superstore.

National Geographic recently recognized the brilliance of Munro's by naming it the third best bookstore in the world.

"In 1963, exactly a half century before she won the Nobel Prize in literature, Alice Munro cofounded a bookstore with her then husband, Jim. Munro’s has since moved into a magnificent, neoclassical former bank, decorated with gorgeous fabrics, in Old Town, Victoria, British Columbia," National Geographic states on its website.

Munro's originally opened on Yates Store before moving to Government Street in 1984. When Jim Munro retired in 2014, he gave the store to four of his employees. His holding company retained ownership of the building.

The top retailer, according to the publication, was Atlantis Books in Santorini, Greece, followed by Mexico City's Cafebreria el Péndulo.

Fourth on the list was El Ateneo Grand Splendid in Buenos Aires.

Portland's world-famous Powell's City of Books ranked fifth, Prairie Lights in Iowa City was sixth, and Paris's Shakespeare and Company came seventh.

Rounding out the list were Sydney's Gertrude & Alice, Nanjing's Librairie Avante-Garde, and Cook & Book in Brussels.