I haven’t been a really big used bookstore customer because there’s only one used bookstore near my house that is romance friendly. There are plenty used bookstores around my town but none of them are romance book friendly, some of them don’t have a romance section at all. I didn’t feel welcome in any of those bookstores but in the past couple of months my bills have doubled and spending money on new books was something that I had to seriously cut back on…until I started frequenting my used bookstore again.
My Used Bookstore has seriously saved my book loving heart. I love spending hours every Sunday just prowling the shelves at Book Again in Torrance, California talking to the friendly service reps over there and picking up basket fulls of books for really cheap. It’s a book lover’s dream place.
If you’re in the Torrance, California area and you’re a romance lover like myself…you’re going to want to check out Book Again. It’s got a great selection of romance titles (old and new) and the service there is friendly and very helpful. I spend most of my Sundays over there and I thought it would be cool to get a Used Bookstore Directory going so that I can check out different UBS in my area and when I’m traveling, I can hit up some different UBS since for me, hanging out at the UBS is a real treat!
So to start things off, here is the information for my local Used Book Store:
5039 Torrance Blvd.
Torrance, CA 90501
(310) 542-1156
http://bookagain.com
EDITED TO ADD: I’ll be putting together a Used Bookstore Directory for all readers so no matter where you live, post up your romance friendly UBS and we’ll add it to the list so that others in your area might be able to enjoy days at the UBS.
My local bookstore is in Hayward, CA, and it’s called The Book Shop. It’s on B Street across the street and down the block a bit from Buffalo Bill’s Brewery. 🙂 They have a very sizable Romance section, and I’ve found several out-of-print books there! Prices are comparable to the Half Price Books chain store, but the experience is way more enjoyable. They also carry new books, and are just as Romance friendly there as they are for their used books.
They sadly don’t have a website, and I believe they are changing ownership soon, but I have a contact who works there and she is convinced the new owners are going to keep The Book Shop as charming and welcoming as it has always been! 🙂
Great idea, Rowena! I know what you mean about ubs’s that aren’t romance friendly. I hate feeling like I have to apologize for walking past their “important” books, and going straight to their romance section. There’s one like that close to my house, and it’s such a bummer.
However, there are 2 excellent –romance-friendly –ones in my area. (So Cal-east San Gabriel Valley)
Book Bin, in Glendora has a really good category section, as well all other romance sub-genre sections. The best part is they have a searchable website, and will a book finders service.
Book Bin
http://www.book-bin.com/index.asp
(626) 335-4402
146 N. Grand Ave.
Glendora, California 91741
Suzy’s Book Exchange, in Covina is not as “with it” technologically, so it doesn’t have a website, but has an incredible romance area. Really, it’s the main part of the store. Very dangerous place. One could spend hours there!
Suzy’s Book Exchange
478 S Citrus Ave
Azusa, CA 91702
(626) 332-0559
Thanks for thinking about this!
Our UBS in Columbus are the Half Price Books. I love the Carriage Place and the Lane Avenue. locations. I go several times a week!!!!!
Forgot the link:
http://www.halfpricebooks.com/
HPB’s are in a lot of states, you can use their website to find locations 🙂
Well, since I live in Utah, I’m sure mine wouldn’t do you a whole lot of good! LOL.
I’m actually quiet surprised that the one I found in the city (about 60 miles from my small town) has so many romance novels (new and old). I swear, half of the house-turned-shop is taken up by romance! Not that I’m complaining…
If there’s anyone around Utah that’s interested, the UBS I’m talking about is in Orem, Utah, and it’s called ‘The Book Baron’s Cottage’. Can’t remember the address, sorry!
Enjoy,
TBQ
I live in Phoenix, AZ and my favorite is Bookmans. They sell all kinds of books and they have a ton of romance. I love them because they trade books too, you can get cash which isn’t very much usually but you can get trade credit to use to buy books. I’ve acutally gotten hundreds of dollars in trade since I’ve been going there.
I love used book stores. I don’t go to them as often as I did when I lived in California, though.
The best bookstore was the most unorganized one I’ve ever seen. They grew out of the building, so there were stacks and stacks of book everywhere. You really had to dig. I found some great books there. Every time I go back to Sacramento, I visit it.
That’s one thing that makes me really sad about ebooks – it’ll decimate the used book market.
The Paperback Exchange in Minneapolis, MN, has a great selection of romances, split into general, historical, romantic suspense, and timetravel/paranormal. It’s at
2227 W. 50th St.
Minneapolis, MN 55419
phone 612 929-8801
email: info@paperbackexchange.com
I live east of Palm Springs Ca. We have two out here. The first one is really organized but small. They do have quite a bit of romance there (contemp., historical, paranormal, and erotic) The Book Rack 78329 Hwy 111 La Quinta Ca,92253. (760)771-3449 The next one is really big and doesn’t have alot of new releases but if your looking for a backlist or out of print books it’s great. I found alot Howards, Brockmanns, ect… there. Bargain Books 45130 Oasis st. Indio Ca 92201 760)347-4225
The Half Price Books on Brown Deer Rd. in Milwaukee is a Romance reader’s paradise. I sell my books to them and then take the cash (love that) and buy more books from them – usually as much as I sold!
I recently stumbled upon
Bookateria
4175 Lovell Road
Circle Pines, MN 55014
Dangerously close to my other obsession….
Double Ewe Yarn Shop
9201 Lexington Ave N
Circle Pines, MN 55014
Fla has a lot of used bk stores and when I visited my friend years ago, we hit several of them; I was in my glory.
I live in NY and the used bk stores by me are almost non existent. I have a great one 2 hrs away and my husband & I and friends go every so often – make a day of it, breakfast and lunch.
It is called The Book Worm and it is in Wappingers Falls, NY.
When I travel on vacation, I always look to see if there are any usbs near where we will be. Sick, Huh? LOL.
Pat L.
There are no used bookstores near me, but the public library here has book sales twice a year. Throughout the year, I donate my used books to them. Then I go back for their sales and buy other people’s used books!
Shameless Self-Promotion time.. 🙂
My boyfriend and I run a used bookstore in Vista California.
We do have a good romance selection and a reasonable trade policy. Our mass market paperbacks are sold with quantity discount prices. So our MMPS sell from about $1-$3 depending one how many you buy. Trades and HCs marked individually.
Our address is
Books of North County (Camelot Books)
1011 S. Santa Fe Ave Suite H
Vista, Ca
92083
760.940.9472
Call for details if you are in the area!
What a awesome idea! I think that maybe there should be a collection of genre friendly bookstore lists (new and used) for each genre. In London, Ontario there is really only one used bookstore that I would call romance friendly and that is:
H Sommers Books
436 Richmond Street
London, Ontario, N6A 3C9
Canada
519 660 8806
I work at a used bookstore at Attic Books (http://www.atticbooks.ca shameless plug I know) and as a devoted romance reader I can say that I am ashamed at our romance section. However I am one of the book buyers at the store and we just don’t get them in, I find that most people donate their romances to the library or charity than sell them at the used bookstore since that is where I find most of the ones I have gotten used.
Well, if anyone is ever in my neck of the woods, The Book Shelf has two locations and both are very romance friendly. More romance than anything else, actually. Or as much romance as everything else put together.
The two locations share a website (with very little info other than location and credit policy): http://www.bookshelf-2.com/
The Whitesburg Dr location does have a part-time poodle employee, though. 😀
I love my ubs, so much so that it is actually about 40 minutes from my house. they deal entirely in fiction paperbacks and have a large Romance section. I have another ubs closer to me but I like this one better. the name and addy are:
B & L Books
990 N State Road 434 # 1140
Altamonte Spgs, FL 32714-7061
(407) 682-0090
My fave used book store is Lucy’s Books at Gilbraltar Trade Centre on Dundas St E in London, Ontario. Lucy is very romance-friendly, she knows her books extremely well and will take requests for books she does not yet have. The only drawback is Gibraltar is only open on weekends.
My fave — and one and only close by — UBS is Gently Used Bookstores which is located in Douglasville, PA 19518. They have a great, wide selection of romance books. Generally, the books are half off the cover price but you can find some good deals in their 6/$1 paperbacks or $1 hardcover sections.
They also have a website here: http://www.gentlyusedbookspa.com/
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I live in NJ and am pretty lucky to have 2 UBS very close by.
Montclair Book Center- Fairly sized romance section. It’s located at a little nook of the store. So, only about 1 or 2 people can look at a time. Price usually depends on the condition of the book.
Footnotes Bookstore- Clifton, NJ
There are 2 stores and the one located at bottom of the hill has an awesome section of used/new romance books. In fact, most of the store is romance books and I easily get caught up looking at the tons of books they carry. Last time I was there, the used books were half price their retail value. Also, they buy your used romance books and give you credit to their store to buy more books!
The Bookworm Paperback
10501 NE Highway 99 Ste 27
Vancouver, WA 98686
360-573-0426
She may have a website. It’s been awhile since I’ve visited since I moved from the area. It’s right across the bridge from Portland, OR and just a block off of I-5. Easy to find. She not only has used books but also a small number of new romances as well. She has authors come for signings and a basket with author goodies. She is an avid reader herself an really knows her books. Last time I was there she took in trades for credit and sold as 1/2 cover.
Chicky,
Thanks so much for stopping by. I have family near Hayward who were just down for our family reunion a couple of weeks ago and I did promise to visit them soon so I will definitely be looking into checking this UBS out when I do visit them so thanks so much for this!
Hey Renee,
Thanks so much for adding to our little UBS Directory, I’ll make a list of all the UBS that we know of that are romance friendly and then post it on the blog for everyone to use and I need to get my butt to Glendora. It’s not that far from me. Thanks again!
Mollie,
Thanks sweets, I’ll check those places online and the link and then add it to our upcoming Directory. =)
TBQ,
Ooh, in Orem? Every time I visit Utah, I either stay in Orem or Provo. My friends and I were talking about doing another trip out there in either October or April so when I go out there, I will definitely check it out. Thanks, I’m gonna do a little research online on them and then add it to the Directory!
Audrey A,
Bookmans in Phoenix, AZ. Got it, thanks so much, I’ll add it to the Directory!
Casee,
What UBS is that? I’d love to see that bookstore. It sounds awesome.
Chris,
Thanks for representin’ Minneapolis and I hear you about the ebooks! =(
Anon #1,
Palm Springs isn’t too far from me so woo hoo, thanks for the sharing your favorites with us!
Mary,
Thanks for stopping by, I’ll add your UBS to the directory and post it soon!
It looks like I’m going to have a grand ol’ time putting this directory together, thanks so much to everyone for helping out. I really appreciate it!
If you guys can think of anymore, send them along or email them to us at admin @ the book binge . com (no spaces). Let all of your blogging friends know too! =)
Well I live in Malta and so you will probably not be visiting :), but I love your blog and pop in each day. I own a used book store and i have an online used books catalogue: ilovebooks.com.mt. I have a very extensive romance section :).
I wish more people would discover used book stores. I have the book exchange system running and so stock turnover is constant and benefit both the store and the reader.
My favorite is The Bookman in Orange, CA. They have a great selection of romance novels including vintage stuff. I believe they also have a Huntington Beach location. The website is http://ebookman.com
I live in Sacramento CA & my favorite UBS is in Folsom & is VERY organized. It’s called
The Book Barn
335 E Bidwell St
Folsom, CA 95630-3114
(916) 983-7006
The owner is so knowledgeable about every book in her store & can answer most questions.
Samanthadelayed,
I USED TO LIVE IN VISTA! How frickin’ cool, I live about an hour and 20 minutes away from Vista now so your UBS is definitely going on my list of UBS I could possibly visit. How great!
And yay, we’ve got international ones too! =)
Another great UBS for those of us in So Cal is
The Bookaneer
3186 E Thousand Oaks Blvd
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
(805) 379-9667
It’s a small store with about half of the space dedicated to romance. They have a great selection of old and new books.
Best thing about it…there’s no shame there, since the ladies who run it love romance also.
A romance-friendly, well-organized store in Canada:
Paperbacks Unlimited
36 Dickson Street
Cambridge, Ontario
N1R 1T4
(519) 740-7880
http://www.paperbacksunlimited.ca
E-mail: books@paperbacksunlimited.ca
Got some more for you, Rowena!
How cool that your family lives out here – East Bay represent! 😉 There are quite a few good UBS in the East Bay. I’ve heard great things about Gray Wolf Books in San Leandro, though I haven’t had the opportunity to visit them yet:
Gray Wolf Books
14595 E 14th St
San Leandro, CA 94578
(510) 483-4163
graywolfbooks.com
I just discovered The Book End in Newark yesterday. I had a moment of inspiration to look for an Indie UBS closer to work since I never get to Hayward before closing time at The Book Shop. The lady at the desk – the owner, I believe – was very nice, and the store is COVERED in Romance, divided by subgenre! Historicals, contemporaries, hardcovers, series, everything was there – and they had new ones too, PROMINENTLY displayed!
Here is the address:
The Book End
5678 Thornton Ave
Newark, CA 94560-3825
(510) 797-4100
They have a trade-back deal, so you can get 20% of the publisher’s price in trade on more used books if you purchased it there. I am sadly moving out of state next week, so I won’t be able to frequent them, but I promised the owner I would pass on the info to other romance fans in the East Bay!