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Categories: Bookstores, Comic Books, Music & DVD's
317 Castro StMon-Thu. 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 a.m.
Sun. 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
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The only thing keeping this bookstore from 5 stars is the lack of a computer system to find books. I am all for browsing but some nights I just need to know what they have. Which is not fair because this is a used book store.
The best thing about the book store is the staff. EVERY ONE of them is a knowledge, courteous professional. If you need a recommendation skip the book chains and come here first!
Oh Man.....this place is like my Mecca.
I have a dirty secret, I LOVE sci-fi/fantasy! Well, to my closer friends this probably isn't such a secret, but I try really hard to keep it on the dl. It's not like I don't love classics, or non-fiction, or various books Oprah tells me I must read - but there is just something about sci-fi/fantasy that really gets me going. Wizards??? Dragons??? Oh man, that is like my crack and Book Buyers is my hookup. They have a great selection of the nerdiest reads. I completed my Robert Jordan (RIP) Wheel of Time and my George R.R. Martin collection here at half price.
They also have DVD/CDs/calendars etc. Thankfully, they do buy backs (who ever gave me a DVD of "In Her Shoes," you are SO not my friend anymore and I dropped that DVD like it's hot). Book Buyers, I love you so much. You are my dorky secret lover.
Huge and amazingly fun. I initially wandered inside for their current 50% off next-year's calendars sale. They had a large selection and I found a great one for my home office.
The endless shelves of books are so fun to browse. I picked up a few paperbacks in amazing condition for very cheap. There's a section of used puzzles and board games, too! My husband and I are jigsaw puzzle fans as well as Sci-Fi nuts, and we found a gorgeous and quite appropriately nerdy Star Trek puzzle that have never even been opened for super cheap. The staff was friendly too.
Love this store, will definitely return many times.
This has to be my favorite book store in the bay area.
Excellent HUGE stock and reasonably priced books in most areas of interest. Of particular interest to me are science and nature books, sci-fi paperbacks, cds, dvds, even records(!).
Yay BookBuyers!
I like this place. It smells like nice books with a dash of dust. They even sell records for $1.00! yay!
I've bought a few books. Their staff is VERY knowledgeable and they have EXCELLENT customer service!
Just went here tonight and I love it even more now! I found tons of books from my childhood as well as books back from wayy back when. They also have really good video selections for a bargain price --I got "Dirty Dancing" for $2.99! They had the old school "Little Rascals", "Our Gang", and they also has Alfred Hitchcock series and Dick Tracy!
I spent four hours there tonight and was one of the last people to leave. Love this place... Such great finds!
I can stay here for hours...
This place is absolutely amazing --they have tons of vintage books,…
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Just discovered this gem of a bookstore today while I was strolling down Castro Street. They have a ton of different titles of all genres, at bargain prices! If you're looking for old VHS tapes or CDs, then try checking this place out.
They also have a LOT of calendars, and the awesome part was that they were all 50% off....which made them around 7 dollars each. Quite a steal I'd say. If you're ever in downtown Mountain View, definitely drop by....you're bound to find something!
I'm a sucker for old stuff, especially books and magazines. I've collected foreign-language books from the 1940s, first editions, old library books, books with "Merry Christmas 1936" inscribed on the first pages. My collection of old Life and Rolling Stone magazines keeps growing even as I tell myself I have no more room for them.
While the selection in the rest of this place is a little hippie for my tastes, the old books are really where it's at. To my knowledge, you're not going to find anything super-rare (read: pricey) here, which is just fine--I'll save those hunts for eBay. If you can find something that strikes your fancy, it's probably gonna be under 20 bucks. Including that 1950s e.e. cummings volume. Including that 1963 book on Indian agriculture with a weird ad on the first page and a bookmark that's built into the book. And including the 1950s guitar instructional manual (heavy on the folk music, light on the method).
The Life magazines here are a different story--most of them are above 20 bucks, and in mint condition, usually with historically significant covers (Marilyn, Jackie O., etc). If that's your thing, this is the place to find it.
The staff are friendly and unobtrusive, the other customers are quiet (important in such a small space). It's quickly becoming a "leave my wallet in the car" place for me.
Love, love, LOVE it!
What a great place to get your book on. Lots of old books, lots of new books. Looking for a calendar of hamsters riding puppies on tiny saddles? This would probably be the place to find it.
CD/DVD selection is decent, and they sell old comics/magazines and VHS tapes.
Great place, huge selection, friendly staff. My overall favorite bookstore, hands down!
I totally love this place. I always come here whenever I am meeting someone on castro and they are late.
This is literally the most organized used bookstore in the world. Five stars!
Book Buyers is AMAZING, I always get my books from here.
Every time I'm in Downtown MV the first place i go to is Book Buyers!!
The employees are friendly and welcoming! The Customer service is great!
I love this bookstore. It's crammed floor-to-ceiling with every title you could ever imagine. Whether you're an old-school fan of the classics, a chef looking for the latest cookbook, or a tween hooked on Stephenie Meyers, you'll find what you're looking for here.
In fact, I recently bought two books to use for my Master's thesis, which is on a really narrow and specific field of study. Total came to $24 or so, and one of them was a hard-cover! I like that this bookstore carries older books as well as new books. The prices are reasonable.
Book-browsing here is like searching for buried treasure- the place is a goldmine for a great summer read! I will be coming back here either for more thesis material or just to browse for fun.
BookBuyers, you get my 5 stars.
This is IT. The best used book store in the SoBay. Bright, clean, open and well organized, this large store has inventory covering every subject and genre of books you may desire. The books are in good condition and priced well. The staff is friendly without being overly helpful. You can browse a long while and even read inside the store. It's in a great location close to small restaurants and coffee houses within close walking distance.
Definitely a destination for picking up your next batch of reading material. (They also purchase used books on designated days at this location.)
A friend and I got lost in 680 and ended up in Mountain View, my birthplace. So we decided to just take advantage of the situation and explore the downtown area--more specifically, Castro Street.
I swear, there's like 4 bookstores in the area, but this is probably the most interesting.
The greater majority of the books here are used, but hey, that's what peaks most of the interest. The fact that these books were once owned only increases their sentimental value, and the fact that they're put away in such an organized fashion is quite impressive given its location.
I didn't buy anything because I was unemployed at the time, but I did walk out knowing that one day I'll come back to buy something important one day.
This place is large, has some back isles where your all alone.. its spooky in a ghostbuster library scene sort of way. - a trillion books. I lucked out & found a Robotron DVD there. 5 bucks
Got some time to kill while digesting a belly full of sushi, pasta or chicken tikka masala?? This place is great to peruse through for those with lots of time on their hands. I have found some real pearls in the past in the art section and great schlock record albums like the How To Guide to the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and another good one, the How to be a Good Housewife (I kid you not...circa 1950's, of course). These made great Christmas gifts for the family. Of course, it smells like old books smell but, what the hey...when my kid needed to read Lord of the Flies for high school, this is the place to get it for cheap since all other past high school kid's parents turned it in for store credit.
Love this place. The workers are so nice, if you need help with anything they will go out their way to help you. There is an extremely large selection of books and I love that even though the books are used, they come in great condition and a great price. They have a lot of stuff to go through, they don't have new releases but I come here to get classics or to browse through their DVD or CD collection.
Everytime I head to downtown Mountain View, I find myself always drawn here either of my own volition or because my gal wants to drop in. Being a used bookstore, they have some great deals. Their fiction paperback section is huge. I come here for the comic book trade paperbacks which they have a really good selection of older and new titles. Their prices are even better than the local comic book shops clearance shelves, yet another reason why I love this place. I've since moved from Mountain View and wished there was a similar store as great as Book Buyers where I live. A can't miss on Castro Street.
With three bookstores in a one-block radius, Castro Street doesn't get the literary rep it deserves. Personally, I love books used and new, but Book Buyers gets my money over Books, Inc. any day!
Briefly, used books galore covering every possible topic... much like your local library, some editions are older, but quality finds are stacked neatly in the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. New releases, an excellent selection of childrens books (get the Harry Potter books for like $10, waay better than what I paid on Amazon way back in the day).
Local finds include backpacking guides to the Santa Cruz Mountains, best eateries and guides to SF Bay entertainment, a lot of excellent historys of the area.
Beautiful and cheap prints of famous works of art. I love Impressionist paintings, and picked up a bunch of gorgeous reproductions for under $4. Put them in a frame and voila, instant talking piece.
Also, of course, buy-sell-trade your old books! I was meandering around the New Fiction section (also conveniently located next to the Trade Desk) and heard some guy negotiating for his book collection. He ended up with like $400 cash in about fifteen minutes.
Definitely not to be overlooked.
This place is 'book heaven'. Yes mostly used but in good if not like new condition. You can find most any book here and comics. It's good for all of us as the lil one has to read five books a week for homework, and Aunty Crissy is all about the Asian history sections.
They also have 'Time Magazines' from many manyyyyyyyy years ago. I like to grab them as birthday gifts if can find one of the month/year my recipient was born:)
Music, video, cd, book cd's.. The staff is very knowledgable and friendly. They also have a sort of buy/trade program. The best way to work it is let them give you the value as store credit. Or take the cash...
Located on Castro in Mountain View... great place to hit before heading to one of the wonderful restaurants in the area:)
I have a weakness for used bookstores, and BookBuyers is one of the best in the area. First and foremost, they offer a great selection of books in hardback and paperback. Their collection is large, well-organized and not too cluttered, which makes up for the slightly high prices.
Unlike some other used bookstores, selling your own books here is easy and straightforward, though it requires two trips on the same day - one trip to wait in line and drop off, another trip to pick up your cash (or store credit). Though I now typically just give my used books to the local library, it's nice to know I have this option.
In addition to books, BookBuyers also has:
-- A HUGE selection of half-price calendars in Jan/Feb.
-- A decent collection of used audio books
-- One of the only spots in Mtn View with a used CD collection to flip through.
-- A small, well-priced, often-changing selection of used DVDs. I have bought a few first-run films here in pristine condition for 3-4 dollars apiece. Hard to beat that!
BookBuyers is definitely a destination spot for me on Castro St. I hope they stay in business for a long time.
Although their selection of Sci-Fi is tremendous, their sales associates can come off as self-adored ("Let me tell you all I know about THIS book, and tell you my opinions about the author which are ill-informed"). This place has a good circulating selection, though.
Unfortunately, I don't like Sci-Fi.
Or Oprah's book club.
So I'm a little out of luck with Bookbuyers.
I really should be as objective as possible here, but... there's just something not quite right about this place. Their dog bowls full of water don't fool me. Something lies beneath...
I love used bookstores, especially BookBuyers! I was in here the other day for over 3 hours! It's a great place to browse around and let time pass.
They have a huge selection of books, audio stuff, calendars, cards, postcards! The store is like a maze, especially when you go more towards the back. Every shelf in that store seems to be filled! Though, their books are cheaper than a brand new one next door, I still found them to be a tad bit expensive.
You can not only buy books here, but you can also sell your books here. I haven't sold any books here yet, but plan to in the future.
this is my favoritest book store. their selection is astounding. they have a huge selection of calendars, offered year-round. you can buy a natl geographic from the 50s for 50 cents, a 200 year old book on the art of war for 200$, or a bestseller for 8$.
a few times a year, i will gather all of my unneeded books that i have amassed from friends or garage sales, and bring them here to sell. my only complaint is that they only buy on fridays and saturdays. their selling hours are astounding, they close at midnight on saturday i think, and i have come to pick up my un-bought books that late.
when you come in to sell, you can go in the back door (it's sposed to be locked except on selling days), pick up a moving cart, and get your boxes from your car. then go in and find the guy with a clipboard. he'll give you a location to pile your stuff (aisles and aisles will be lined up with boxes and bags), and give you a pick-up time (say 5 pm to midnight). the items they buy will be put on your account under your name, you don't need to save any receipts or anything like that.
i will say that their sci-fi section is pretty limited, for a better selection i would recommend recycle books on the alameda in san jose.
i love to buy gifts here, they have lots of toys and games, as well as books. please don't ever close!
Fabulous place for used books, CDs, and half-price calendars. The store is enormous and has books in every possible subject. If you're having a hard time finding a book, you'll probably be able to find it here.
I've been going here for years. Not just to buy books, but to sell them as well. The staff is friendly and there is a great selection for reasonable prices. They carry current items as well as some uncommon titles. The selection can also vary from week to week because of the number of books coming in and going out.
How on earth they keep this place so well organized is beyond me.... It's one of the very best used book stores I've been in, up there with Cody's Books.
They have a decent selection of new books as well as out-of-print one of a kind finds. The maze of floor to ceiling shelving lends itself to getting lost browsing the unusual categories. The first 2 or 3 times we went there, we kept finding ourselves in new "uncharted" store territories.
The prices are rock bottom, and getting a trade account is a great way to turn your old books into new reads. Whether hunting for a new novel, researching a hobby, or simply needing a great Sunday urban adventure, Book Buyers delivers, time and again.
Superb second-hand bookstore. They have an amazing selection of classics, they even have my favorites, the Dirk Pitt adventures. The store is catorgorized and displayed well, like you might find at an upper-end book store like Barnes and Noble. Beyond books, they sell CD's, calenders, postcards, etc.
Wow! I need another trip back here just to browse the store. I've never seen such an awesome used bookstore. In the meantime...this review is going to be about my selling experience.
I found this place online and of course on Yelp too, and decided to take a bunch of books and CDs that have been lying around in my house over. I lugged 3 boxes there (note to self: bring a dolly next time...nobody's going to help you) around 10:15 am on Friday and found myself waiting in a long line. I think I only waited about 10 minutes or so before I was in the front, and checked in my boxes. I was given a slip with my number and my time to come back, and then I moved my boxes to the back where they would sort them.
When I came back at my time, the boxes were waiting for me, and it seemed that they had gone through them in a hurry (no surprise, seeing how busy they are). I took my slip up to the counter and got my account set up for my store credit. I just have to come back and use it...I actually got more than I expected. And they took some books that I'm surprised they took, and didn't take some that I thought they would. So bring them all...you never know what they'll take!
Overall, a quick, easy, efficient experience. Definitely going to make a trip back here to explore and use my store credit!!
Bookbuyers is full of VHS, books, music, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
It's a blast to browse through their VHS selection, and I was very satisfied with their selection of old calendars which I will use for decorating purposes.
Serious clusterf*ck of books and media.
I came here to trade/sell some books and see what kind of credit/cash I could get. Apparently, they have some sort of system where they'll only give you credit for some of your books and others you can get cash OR credit. Seeing as how you can get twice the value of credit, I went with that. (Come on, $7 cash or $14 credit?)
My hardcover books seemed to warrant credit only while my paperback fiction got me cash or credit. But who knows what their system is... As for using the credit, you can only use it on books that have a U written on the inside with price, which apparently 95% of the store is made up of. You can't use it on book with an N written inside with price, DVDs, CDs, or etc.
After securing my store credit, I decided to browse the store as best as I could. There's a general order to things but unless you really know what author and title book you want, it's hard to just "browse" and get something good unless you stick around for hours and hours. (I compare this to experience at the next door Books Inc where they have a great selection of books where you can probably pick anything and it'll be great).
Their food book selection isn't as wide as I'd like it to be and the fiction is hit and miss. The biography sections (plural since they are separated by weird genres) sorta remind me of the library. I was looking for an autobiography by Groucho Marx and found a few of the books I was interested in, but some were in such poor quality... maybe I'm not used to "used" books. I like new a lot which is probably why I prefer Books Inc. But the prices are great and I used up some of my store credit.
What about the rest of my credit? Well, it's in their "system" so the next time I go, I can just tell them my name and use it that way. No card, no receipt... kinda sketchy but whatever. Just... no one use my name to buy books, please. Thanks!
I buy and sell books from here quite often :D what an amazing selection of books and movies and cd's and games, wow!!!!!!! If you've never been in here, I suggest you take a look.
All I can say is, wow :D
BookBuyers, a large used book store located in the heart of Castro Street, is part of what gives Downtown Mountain View its charm.
Pros:
- Adventure: Just rummage around the entire store, and you'll always find something neat that sparks your interest. Sci-fi, cookbooks, new fiction, biographies, trade paperbacks, business books, technical books, DVDs, VHS tapes, boardgames, software, records... all here. It's something new on every visit.
- Credit: Everyone owns loads of books they know they'll never need. If you're a saint you'd donate to the library, but instead you can drop off a bag of 'em here and they'll give you store credit or cash in exchange.
- Hours: Open surprisingly late so you can drop by when you're looking for something to do late at night.
Cons:
- Prices: You're paying quite a bit for used books. Often books are marked just below the new price, and even decades-old books are priced shockingly high. You'll almost always get a better price buying used on Amazon instead.
- Ambiance: This ain't no Barnes. There's no comfortable seating, there's no built-in coffeeshop, and the place is packed with bookshelves. Go next door to Books Inc. if you want ambiance.
- Hard to find specifics: BookBuyers is great for browsing, but it's horrible if you're looking for one book or even one author, unless the person is really famous. You could get lucky, especially if the book's a classic, but you could just as easily be unlucky.
Still, this is one of my favorite places to visit when I'm bored. An easy way to fill 1-2 hours with fun.
This is my happy place to browse but not to buy. They have a wide selection, though niche markets like graphic novels can be slim-to-none pickings. It's a nice store to wander into, meander around, and hide between high shelves. The ambience is on the side of snooty-granny-believes-in-books or, equivalently, snooty-hipster-believes-in-books a la the Strand set down in mini on downtown Mtn View. But deep, deep down, we all do, kinda sorta, believe in books -- so just avoid the staff and you'll be fine.
The books are expensive for being used, but there's no reason to bother with cash. Drop off a box of your own merchandise early Friday or Saturday, and though you won't get a whole lot, your never-reads will be gone and you can take home a few new-to-yous without feeling they're not worth the ticket.
They also have some uncommon serial comics including Optic Nerve which you can gently poke at behind the counter. These are mint and full price.
A large used bookstore with a wide selection and lots of specialty sections, including science fiction and fantasy, mysteries, thrillers, graphic novels, and role-playing games. Open late and almost year-round. It's a great place to go when you want to take a chance on new authors but aren't ready to shell out for the ever-increasing cost of new books. This is my first stop when cleaning out my library of books that I neither plan to reread nor lend to friends.
Noice selection and organized shelves. Books are normally half off, but they're usually all in tip top condition. They also have like a grillion calendars and planners all organized by type (landscape, art, cartoon, hobby). Not the cheapo ones either, I picked up a Metropolitan Museum calendar there the other day (for half off too!). I could spend a good couple of hours here, buy books that I won't actually get to until next year.
A big store, but it definitely wouldn't hurt to do a massive overhaul and make the place look and feel less like it's closing in on you.
I really like this used book store, it's probably my favorite of all the ones in the area. The store is also very well organized and they have a great selection of books as well as offering other things like cards, calendars, and small gifts.
I've only been here a few times but have had good luck each time. The only books I've gone in looking for so far however, have been older books and have been like 2$... can't beat that! I've also picked up a few other trinkets there.
Book Buyers is located in downtown Mountain View. My husband and I visited here after we had a nice dinner down the street. BB is huge store with a huge selection! They are well organized and it was easy for me to find the book's I was looking for. Most of the books are in very good condition with very little wear and are priced 50% off the cover price. I'll definitely be going there again!
I bought a great book called THE SCIENCE OF STAR WARS because of two reasons...
1) I'm a huge spaz.
2) My students asked me a question about seeing colors in space because they saw the PBS television show based on this very book. The question the kids asked was "can you see colors in space?" Seems easy enough to answer, right?
However, I was officially stumped . I couldn't figure out how to answer it in ten year old Dragon Ball Z dialect, so I asked the almighty, all knowing Talk Thread dwellers for help.
The first three posts were innocent enough, and then Mr. Troll number eighty million and one says...
"DUH. Um...yes, you can see colors in space. You're a TEACHER?!"
Suddenly, the hatred snowballed. I got quite a few pm's, and lots of information...not about how to explain to a fifth grader about colors in space...but how STUPID I was, and that I was a terrible teacher and human being and should be shot out INTO space, colors or not.
I take full blame for the massacre. What fool would post on a thread a reasonable question and expect a reasonable response?
Not I. I was schooled by a slew of "Just a Note" compliments. I'll be getting my information from reliable sources that won't tell me what a dumb ass n00b I am. BOOKS.
Book Buyers was heaven sent to me at just the right time. I had been jaded by the harsh reality of a huge cyber world of hate and cynicism, and needed to be welcomed into the warm embrace of old, used books.
No matter how big the world becomes, nothing will be able to replace the comfort of holding a hardback book in your hands...a good read makes everything a little more enlightened, I think.
Although people tell me the Internet is still good for some things...like porn that makes you want to poke your eyes out with a sharp stick.
Why, oh why, do people who sell used books make it so hard to buy used books?
Let's examine.
Book Buyers is an ostensibly nice big used book store located conveniently on the main drag in Mountain View, strategically close to our current cultishly favored Ramen shop, Maruichi.
Book Buyers has several shelves full of cookbooks. Recently I was all horned up to buy a couple of specific hardover used cookbooks.
Unfortunately, I finally gave up looking for Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything because I could not find a section it seemed to fit in. They had cookbooks arranged by author, some by title, and some by cuisine and then (I think) by title. There was a whole fondue section for Jacques' sake. Could I find Bittman, despite his being a very prolific and popular author who probably should have been somewhere on their shelves? Nope. Least not that I could find.
I suppose the cuisine arrangement, like Italian and Fondue, works when you want something about Italian but you don't know what, but then the general cookbooks should be by either Title or Author, but not both, please.
The staffers seemed too involved with other projects to really offer help and to be honest I find it irritating to ask the same people who came up with the kooky shelving system to try to find what I'm looking for, especially when I see them scurrying around from place to place in the store explaining to people where something might be. It's like looking for unicorns.
Another issue here is the giant roach motel arrangement of shelves. Especially near the front it's annoying--they have shelves full of calendars and music of various kinds sort of clogging up the front, and it's sometimes hard to pick your way through people shuffling around the front desk to get back to the books. It's a very claustrophobic store, not at all amenable to browsing and discovering things.
Finally, and this is my biggest complaint--these books are pretty expensive for used. If you're going to price used books this high, those bucks should pay for some ambiance in the form of a few places to sit and flip through books and something other than warehouse lighting and dull off white paint everywhere.
Yes, the place has its charms, but once you give in to that charm you find more frustrations. I like flipping through the used Life magazines, but I would like to know the prices on these things. And why are there tubs of other Life magazines for specific subjects, like The Kennedys or Sports Stars, behind the counter?
IQ loves this place and getting him out of it is next to impossible, but I find myself irritated by the place.
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