I have hundreds, literally hundreds of books. Some still live at my mom’s, some at my dad’s, but most of them live with me where they belong. And that collection is ever-growing. (sorry husband). I know I should use the library more, it’s about a ten minute walk from my workplace, but there’s something about owning the books, seeing them on the shelves, knowing that they’re mine that I find irresistible.
If I were buying only new books, even at Amazon prices, this would be a significant financial investment. I’ve already highlighted Thriftbooks one of my favorite ways to get my paws on used books, but the place I can’t tear myself away from is a place that made me pretty sure Drew and I were meant to be when he took me to: Grassroots Books.
Grassroots is amazing, you guys! For most of their books, their pricing is easy: $1.99 for paperbacks and $3.99 for hardcovers. Since they are a business with people to employ and everything, they do have recent/popular titles individually priced for more, and they do keep a stock of some new books that they sell around list price. But that means there are hundreds and hundreds of other books at their baseline price (which is either two or four dollars, again). This is cheaper than Thriftbooks, where the lowest price is usually about $3.60. You CAN find cheaper secondhand at Goodwill/thrift stores, but those tend to be treasure hunts, scouring loosely organized shelves for what you’re looking for. Not so at Grassroots. They are categorized and alphabetized like they would be in pretty much any other bookstore, so it’s easy to find where what you want should be and if they have it.
And that’s not even the best part! Not only does every shopper get a free book every year (!!!), there are also monthly warehouse deals, where the books that they don’t have room for in the proper store (i.e. things in less-than-great condition because they only sell things in good shape, things that there a million copies of like Twilight) are sold for just $1. And if you wait until Sunday (the sales usually start Thursday and end Sunday), you can fill a grocery bag for $5. It’s definitely a warehouse, books are NOT in neat order so it’s a hunting expedition, but $5!
If you live in Reno and love to read and you haven’t been (ever or in a while), you should go! They’re open from 9 AM to 8 PM every single day and their calendar with information about when sales are happening is on their website. Happy reading, Reno!