Bailey-Coy Books
Category: Bookstores [Edit]
Neighborhood: Capitol Hill414 Broadway E
Seattle, WA 98102 (206) 323-8842
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 10:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat 10:00 a.m.-11:00 p.m. - Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
34 Reviews for Bailey-Coy Books
I love this bookstore. I have made many purchases based solely on the staff recommendations and have never been disappointed. I also once knew the answer to the first line they post on their advert board outside, which made me feel like a champ. (Too bad it was only once!)
If you are looking for something specific, I might suggest calling first, since the space is small so they obviously don't have the wide selection of a national chain. However, it's a great place to go in to find something new.
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The people who work here are decidedly creepy but it's an independent bookstore with a great selection and old world maps for $4.
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Dig if you will the picture:
It's a couple days before a friends birthday or a major gift-giving holiday and I've finally figured out the perfect gift for someone. A book. But not just any book, a very specific book- sometimes common, sometimes obscure. And, oh yeah... it's raining. Amazon has it, but unless I want to spend a fortune on shipping, it won't get to me in time. I work downtown, so my instinct is to check Barnes & Noble and Borders where I am greeted with identical "We don't have that in stock right now, but I can place it on order and call you when it arrives in within a couple of weeks". I walk to M Coy Books. It's closed (I don't think I've actually seen this place open in the past 6 years). Drenched, dejected, and doves crying, I start heading home and thinking of lies to explain why the gift will be late. Then I walk past Bailey-Coy. I brace myself for failure again and walk in. I want to get straight to the defeat, so I ask a staff person. It's in stock!!! Friendly and knowledgeable, they lead me right to it. And they tastefully gift wrap it for free! To top it off, they have some of the best gift cards I've seen. The perfect addition!
This scenario has happened the last six times I've gone to buy a specific book, either as a gift or for me (though sometimes it's not raining). I don't know why I don't save myself the time and just go there first, but I guess what's the point of making a mistake if you can't make it over and over again?
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This is a bookstore where only things worth reading are sold. The world needs more of these.
Stores like this make a case for why a physical bookstore is still relevant in the era of amazon.com. You can go in with only the vaguest idea of what you'd like to read and walk out with a stack of quality titles. If you're shy and would rather not interact with the staff, there are mini-reviews of books pasted all over the shelves. If you're willing to question them, you'll receive helpful and informative tips. I've yet to be disappointed with anything I bought based on a staff recommendation. Many of them became my favorite authors.
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Bailey Coy is a small space so there's not going to be 'everything.' However, they do have a great selection of books, weeding out a lot of the junk so you don't have to.
And it boils down to this:I love that it's an independent bookstore with a knowledgeable staff, and the fact that they can order the book I want with no problem and I get it the next day. That's pretty sweet, wouldn't you say?
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The best part about any bookstore is the exploration. A good bookstore is a delightful trip into the hidden depths and wonderful vagaries of someone else's worldview as told by their selection - and placement - of reading options. If you imagine a visit to a new bookstore to be sort of like a trip to the deepest, darkest jungle, that gives you an idea.
It's a wild world in a bookstore and great guidance helps your navigation immensely. The paths can be familiar, or take unexpected turns. The search for hidden treasures can be arduous - or easy if the guides have placed decent signs pointing you to these hidden gems. And the best bookstore jungle guides notice when you might be a bit lost and are happy to point out and describe their favorite 'wildlife'.
Bailey-Coy was a wonderful adventure! Signposting along the way led me to areas both familiar and new - and my foraging bag was quite full when I finally returned to civilization. My guide pointed out a couple of personal favorites and I left with enough reading material to get me through my downtime while in Seattle.
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Everyone seems to mention how the selection is not large. If you think about it, thats whats makes Bailey-Coy, and bookstores like it, so charming. If this were Barnes and Noble or Borders of course you'd be likely to find whatever you're looking for. Half the charm is being able to go from small bookstore to small bookstore. Although, I am guilty of going to those larger stores to find most of my purchases. But I digress.
Bailey-Coy is a treat after a lazy Sunday stroll down Broadway. It is usually the point where I like to turn and head home. But not before strolling through the tables and shelves at BC.
If you have not been before, I suggest you swing by and buy something to keep these charming businesses on Capitol Hill. The staff knows right away whether they have a copy of what you're looking for and you can always find something you had not heard of before.
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This is a really nice bookstore. It may not have as big of a selection or as cool of a feel as Elliot Bay Books downtown, but the staff is really friendly and makes terrific recommendations. I've gotten a number of excellent books for myself and others based on their "staff picks."
This is an especially great place to get gifts! They have nice gift cards, a buy 10 get 1 free discount (coffee house punchcard style), and they do a great wrapping job!
When I'm here I feel like Charlie in Willy Wonka's factory. Like Mary in her Secret Garden. A fairly sensible protagonist caught up in an atmosphere of possibility. Bailey-Coy is a clean, well-lit store that promises clothed mystery. Romantics, be warned, it doesn't creak nor does damp light spill onto your face from dusty windows. But it is spacious, yet manageable -- a true feat for a store with this much inventory.
Bailey-Coy warps dozens of mysterious literary thickets into one tiny forest of delights. With tables of small stacks throughout the foyer and loosely filled racks of book siding, the space is cozy but not overwhelming. Instead of cramming the books, spines glaring out at you, they give the covers plenty of shelf-space. Pretty darlings.
There is a time and a place for getting lost and getting found. Unlike Elliot Bay, you don't get lost in these stacks. No, instead you come here to get found, to know exactly where you are.
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If you know which book you need, go elsewhere. If you just need a book, go in.
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a hoper, a prayer, a magic-bean-buyer. If you're a pretender, go walk by their foyer. And if the books call you, go in.
Emily Flake, you can borrow my oxygen trolley any day.
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This is a great book store with a small but excellent selection of books, select magazines, postcards/cards, calendars and graphic novels. I've been coming here for almost 7 years now and always end up leaving with at least 1 book on those days when you just need something to read.
I love to read....but only one writer. I love to read his books. His name is Haruki Murakami,,(if u wanted to know)
I'm really no person to grade book stores but Bailey-Coy Books won the mention from me. At the time I went into the store, I was looking for a pretty B.D. card for my friend. I'm picky for most of the designed stuff,,,they have to be good looking and well designed...u know. I don't mind paying when it's good.
In short, I'd go there again to look for pretty cards. I got awesome Thank You card (I changed my mind and got thank you one cuz it was so cute) Also, if I had some money to spare on something cool and random to read AND if I don't feel like going to the Half Price Books for some reasons,,such as too many selections over there or I want to feel pretty while I shop, I'd go here.
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Proof that bigger isn't always better. Not a large bookstore, not a gigantic selection. But, one of the best collections of interesting books around. It's amazing how much time you can spend browsing in a place the size of the post office lobby.
There is always, and I mean ALWAYS at least one book I just have to have from the selections carefully laid out on the tables near the front and center of the store. There's just something about the selection of books and they way they're displayed that never fails to catch my eye.
Another thing is that I'm often skeptical of "staff picks". You know, those notes that are hand written under select books. Usually they either seem designed to push certain books, or are just sort of precocious. But here, I trust the staff's obvious love of reading, and so I trust their selections.
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a conversation...
me: "do you have 100 years of solitude? i couldn't find it under 'G' on the shelf."
*we go look for it together.*
her: "sorry, here it is under 'M'. some silly anglo didn't shelf it properly."
i love this place. just wish their selection was a bit larger.
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There's allot of cats in this store and I'm not really a cat person. But these are really cool fat slobby cats and dig this store. Not only did I score a mint copy of Johnny Cash's " The Man in Black" autobiography, but also an unauthorized bio of KISS, a cigar book and a make your favorite drinks at home book-- all for 15 bucks!
Plenty of books to get lost in and the knowledgeable staff will help you when you get to the point you really need to find something.
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If you charged people for browsing, I' d be broke.
I do end up buying, and when I do i get it gift wrapped, not because I am giving it away. Oh no, I just like presents.
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Curse you Bailey Coy! Curse your time and money sucking heart! Every time I walk into your store expecting to pick up a quick gift for a friend or family member, I wind up distracted by your recommended books section which features wonderful and captivating books that Oprah and her minions would find too confusing or substantial for their fad-diet-starved man-sheep brains to handle.
Curse you for always having not one, but multiple perfect books for those hard to buy for people on my list. Your collection of literature, with left-leaning political commentary and intellectual religious scholarship, has provided me with many a Christmas gift for my father.
But it is just too much! Every time I walk into your store I just can't decide. A ten minute trip for one book, more often than not, turns into an hour-long expedition resulting in the purchase of multiple extra books to make my already overflowing reading list that much more daunting. I am forced to enlist the help of sherpas or at least the street folk of Broadway to carry home all my purchases. Today, I was good and left behind at least 3 books that I was so close to purchasing. I shed a tear at the bittersweet thought that their sacrifice will allow me to pay my rent this month.
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Oh Bailey-Coy, you would get 5 stars except you've moved stuff around so much I can barely find anything anymore! Plus, you no longer have those astrology books I like to look at.
Still, your young adult section is pretty darn good, as is your coffee table books.
Plus your atmosphere is welcoming and the folks that work there seem pretty nice.
And if I want to look at naked good looking boys in "artistic" books I can do so here in your environs without shame!
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Every time I stop in here, something on the tables catches my eye, and I have to buy it. And I have spent the past 10 years working in bookstores, and a lifetime shopping in them - so this is no small feat.
Obviously a knowledgeable staff - they are friendly but unobtrusive, and they let the books speak to the customers for them. A very wise idea.
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Bailey Coy is one of those bookstores that you can get lost in. It's not your average, we got everything you could ever want to read on an airplane, type of bookstore. But, the selections they do have keep you browsing for hours and hours.
One of the best things about Bailey Coy is their card wall. Very cheeky off the wall cards for any occasion. One of my favorites is a card with a simple outline of a goblet that reads "She drank like a man." or the one with the goggles that you open up to read "You're A Fucking Lunatic."
They also have a great selection of Moleskine notebooks, and if you are a fan like I am, you know that this is nothing short of totally awesome.
Make sure you check out their "Staff Picks" section. These folks know a good book when they read one and you can only benefit from their knowledge.
Next time you are in Capitol Hill be sure to carve out some time to browse in Bailey Coy! You can even receive a discount if you know the answer to their little quiz. Book lust at it's finest.
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What this bookstore lacks in size it makes up for in quality. This is the one bookstore that I know for fact that I can walk into not knowing what I want and come out with several must reads.
They tend to follow a more independent thought line in books so don't expect to have Stephen King plastered everywhere. However, the recommendations are simply wonderful.
If you are bored of books and are looking for something but don't know what... this is the place for you.
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Bailey-Coy stocks all the fun stuff other bookshops tend not to - novels from small publishers, water-proof erotica collections (for better skinny dipping), and some really nice local non-fiction (cookbooks, histories, etc.). It is a dangerous place to go if you're a booklover on a budget - but then again, a book is a pretty inexpensive means of getting away from it all.
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Awesome selection. Attentive and friendly staff. So, I could go on and on about the books but my favorite thing about this place is their cards- some are very unique and beautiful....others, hilarious. The hilarious ones are worth a full on browse. I stood there laughing for a good 10 minutes once and that says a lot because I don't laugh that often in public.
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This locally owned bookstore has got a lot to like. Staff is friendly and not overly attentive. Their tables always have something new and interesting and you'll find a bit of top sellers and some lesser known titles - a very nice change from Barnes and Nobles. Nice selection of used books.
Would be great if they had some seating areas.
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My favorite book store in Seattle. Love the staff recommendations throughout the store. Excellent art/photography books section (it's my first stop for gift buying), cooking, and kids sections too. And if they don't have a book in stock they can usually get it within 2 or 3 days, and they take phone orders.
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One of my favorite bookstores ever. The best part? They actually have more sports books than you'd expect from an indie-ish bookstore like this.
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There is nothing I love more than an independent book shop, and there is a huge lack of them. But, when you find one as spectacular as Bailey-Coy, you shop there as much as possible, in hopes that it stays open forever. It's so much fun just to go in and look for something new and different to read. The shelves aren't loaded up with the latest Grishams, there's always soemthing wonderful and new to discover! Not just a fantastic arts section, not just a huge gay lit section, not just a wonderful kids section - EVERYTHING! If you're getting ready for a long trip, you can't beat their travel section.
Bailey-Coy is a lovely, lovely place. At first, I thought that it must be a national chain because it was so clean, well organized, and din't have the "bookshop smell". Not the case, however. Loacally owned - yahoo! They just recently added used books, which I love. They have the coolest gift cards in Seattle, too. I love the community board with ads for local book clubs.
Bailey-Coy has the greatest card selection on the hill. . . . totally unique and charming.
They also have many fabulous gift books and comics.. . .I think that supporting a great local bookstore is our duty, so shop at Bailey-Coy whenever you can.
aw, my other favorite bookstore (the other is elliott bay). lots of queer literature, art books, and now fab used books too. they can order you anything you'd like if they don't have it & have readings pretty regularly, too. their punch card is great if you buy books often.
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bailey/coy is a great local bookstore---i always go there to buy unique cards. they have an excellent stationery selection and even some cool wrapping paper. i only wish i could afford to go in there and buy a new book every week.
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The first great thing about Bailey-Coy is the sandwich-board sign posted on the sidewalk in front of the store. The staff at Bailey-Coy picks a book every day and writes the first sentence of the book on the sandwich-board. If you can identify the name of the book by the first sentence, you can buy any book in the store at a 20% discount. If you can't, that's okay...go in to browse around anyway. There's an amazing selection of high-quality cards and a nice selection of both decorative and simple journals. The store is kept very clean and tidy. There are several tables set up near the front of the store with book selections laid out upon them, plus there are shelves around the perimeter and near the back of the store.
The staff will ask you if you need any help, but won't pester you if you decline. I watched an unfortunate staff member attempting to help a woman pick out a book for her boss's friend. The only thing the woman knew about the intended gift recipient was that she speaks four languages and must therefore be intellectual. The staff member suggested no less than 15 different books, none of which seemed to be "intellectual" enough. I left the store before any book had been selected and decided that the staff member had the patience of a kindergarten teacher greeting 25 children and their respective parents on the first day of school.
The store seems relatively small, but they are skilled buyers - my book searches are typically successful at Bailey-Coy. I like their cookbook section and I can always find an unusual, fun children's book when I'm trying to find a gift for a child. When they don't have a book in stock, they will gladly order it for you and give you a call when it arrives. The frequent buyer card is great and the free gift wrapping is another added bonus.
The sandwich-board game, the descriptive book-review notecards left by staff members in the bookshelves, and the unusual book displays at the front counter evoke a sense of playfulness, while the extensive selection and depth of knowledge imparted by the staff infuse the store with some serious intellect.
Go to Bailey-Coy, grab a book, then head up to Pagliacci (for pizza) or Dilettante (for chocolates) or the Joe Bar (for coffee or wine) and have a great afternoon. Can't be beat.
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I love Bailey-Coy. The staff is extremely helpful and friendly. Broad selection in small space. Windows always highlight something unique and current. Get a punch card to earn credit, will gift wrap. They'll also order a book for you if you're not in a hurry.
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