Do you buy used books?

No, we do not buy used books. We offer a store credit of 20% on the future sales price of the book(s) we select to sell in our store.

We are currently accepting limited donations of used books and books for store credit at this time.

Why are you limiting what you accept?

We love the fact that our community wants to donate books to us. What other business has people giving them free inventory?! However, we are bursting at the seams with books and have limited space to store them at this point. We are only able to take in things we can immediately put on the shelves.

We are only accepting a maximum of one box or bag of books per visit. We cannot take in estates or do estate visits at this time.

If you have large donations, or donations that do not meet our criteria below, please consider donating to the AAUW for their 2024 book sale or contacting a Friends of the Library group to see if they are accepting donations.

What types of books can we bring in?

There are some very specific things we are always looking to add to the collection. You can always call, email or DM us on our social media platforms to check in with us as well.

• Newer fiction and non-fiction published between 2017-2024. Hardcover and paperback accepted except mass market paperbacks (Harlequin Romances, super popular authors such as Grisham or Evanovich)

• Authors we consistently accept: #booktok popular, Stephen King (hardcover or classic stories in good condition), Joan Didion, Kurt Vonnegut, J.D. Salinger, Charles Bukowski, Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, Jane Austen, the Black Mountain Poets

• Titles we get asked about a lot: #booktok popular, “The Bell Jar”, “Moby Dick”, “The Year of Magical Thinking”, “The Hobbit”, “The Lord of the Rings” series, “Clan of the Cave Bear” series, “Dune”

• All BIPOC authors (fiction/nonfiction) and subject matter

• All LGBTQ+ authors (fiction/nonfiction) and subject matter

• Books in the languages of the West Side (such as Arabic, Karen, Somali, Nepali, Farsi, Bengali). We are full on Spanish, Russian, Polish, and French at this time.

• Children’s and YA: “Harry Potter” series, Rick Riordan’s series books, “Dog Man”, newer “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, “The Hunger Games” series, Philip Pullman, Jason Reynolds. We are especially looking for series books in hardcover.

Guidelines and what we do not accept

• Books must be free from smoke, water damage and mold. We get A LOT of mold! Please check your box especially if it has been in the basement.

• Pages should have minimal highlighting and annotations.

• We do not accept mass market paperbacks, yellowed paperbacks, books with movie covers, and books with damaged spines or loose pages. We are also not accepting hardcovers without dust jackets at this time unless it was published that way.

• We cannot accept books by prolific authors such as Janet Evanovich, Nicholas Sparks, or John Grisham. They just have a lot of titles in the market so resale value is low. Stephen King is the exception to this.

• Children’s: Level readers, board books, scholastic paperbacks (except series listed above), Little Golden Books, etc. Our Children’s dollar section is too full for them right now.

• Please do not dump boxes on our doorstep. It is not weather protected and we have had to throw away many water damaged boxes. Books mold really quickly!

• We WILL NOT accept encyclopedia sets or individual volumes, dictionaries, thesauri, magazines, Readers Digest condensed books, coloring books, school workbooks, textbooks, older Guinness record books or annual reviews, audiobooks on CDs, DVDs, or uncorrected copies marked not for sale.

Do you offer book appraisal?

Unfortunately no. We are not certified for this.

I’m a local author. Will you sell my books?

We love our local authors, but unfortunately we are not a great market for them, so we do not take them on commission at this time. We are hoping to offer author readings and direct sale events once we have our outdoor patio in place.

That said, we are happy to promote any reading you are doing via social media or hanging a flyer - even if it’s at another bookstore!

Can my book club meet there?

We are a smaller space, but we would love to have your book club meet here. Contact us to talk about it or come see if the space works for you!

Are you hiring?

Not at the moment. If we are looking to hire people in the future, we will make an announcement here and on social media.