Winners For

Best Used Bookstore

These are, everyone knows, unstable times for the book biz. National chains have folded, and even the beloved Elliott Bay Book Co. uprooted itself. But you can still count on Magus Books, just off The Ave, which watches the years go by unchanged. (It's been the Magus since '78, operated under other names before that, and was born in the '30s as ...

Old books are like old friends — they should be cared for and revisited often. With more than 65,000 titles in stock, Long Lost Friends is a treasure trove of used and rare books. New titles are added almost daily, and the shop often makes large bulk purchases, such as a recent 10,000-title science fiction buy, so just because they don't have th...

Really, we should give this local micro-chain a Best of for "Best Place to Kill an Entire Summer Afternoon," because we've done that more than once at Bookmans. Or "Best Place to Do All Your Christmas Shopping" — because we've done that, too. In short, this is our favorite place to browse, to buy, and to sell back gently used books, movies, and ...

If you love books, I mean really love books, you surely already know Salamander Used Books. Formerly in Hampden, this book-lovers’ paradise is situated in Mount Vernon. Nestled among all the historic buildings in the lower level, it’s a fitting place for this haven for bibliophiles. The staff is unobtrusive and lets you browse. Which is great b...

How do we pick the sweetest aspects of Lorem Ipsum Books? It's a challenge, for sure. The place is packed to the brim with radical used books, houses the Papercut Zine Library, and hosts punk shows, experimental performances, poetry readings, art displays, queer-theory workshops, and free classes of all types. The basement is filled with creativ...

Cellar Stories is all you want in a used book store. A Downcity location, but hidden on a side street. Tall wooden book-cases with handwritten guides to the sections — "African Amer. Fiction" or "Linguistics." Some 70,000 volumes that don't quite fit on the shelves. Here a copy of Don DeLillo's Under-world shoved on top of a row of books, there ...

A Music City treasure for discerning book lovers since 2001, Fred Koller's Rhino Booksellers stores have just about anything you could want. A songwriter of distinction since the early '70s, Fred also has lots of opinions on vintage and contemporary music, politics, sports or whatever your interest. But first and foremost, his stores always deli...

While it’s true that e-readers and tablets from Amazon to Apple have stabbed directly at the heart of dusty old paper books, it is not yet possible for PDFs or e-pubs to tell the story of how they’ve been read. For that subtle yet satisfying piece of humanity, one must turn to a printed and bound book. At Powell’s bookstore in Hyde Park, spine-b...

There are other used bookstores in Sacramento, but who needs them? The history behind Beers Books (note: no actual alcohol is sold here) goes back more than 75 years, and the place has that delightful old-book smell to prove it. Ask the helpful staff if you’re looking for a specific title or just browse for hours; they also buy back your used st...