West Side Book Shop

I haven’t bought anything from this bookstore, but I love browsing through it! It’s almost maze-​like with its piles of books on every square inch towering all the way to the ceiling. It looks disorganized and cluttered, but it’s fun to look around. They have a wide range of genres, and they have some rare/​antique books in glass cases as well.

Used bookstores, like record shops were ubiquitous and plentiful before the serial economic bubble bursts began. Weathering the trends and defying change, Jay’s West Side Books has outlasted every single neighbor on its West Liberty block! That’s awesome. Sure Old Town has been there awhile, but this store predates them to the days when it was Mr. Floods Party with the late Shaky Jake Woods chillin’ on the steps.
The old brick architecture befits the well selected collection within. Filling several rooms, the store caters to all tastes from casual reader to antiquarian artifacts. The map and photograph room features nineteenth century native American photos with original cartography of a forgotten time. Ask for assistance please, these artifacts cannot withstand your greasy little mitts!
Please support the ever dwindling breed of used book dealers. Ann Arbor is still a national destination for book dealers, but we’ve lost so many stores since the 2000s. David’s Books was priced out of downtown and exists on the fringe near the Produce Station on State, well outside of downtown. State Street Books is belly up and a few others whose names I forget. Nevertheless, West Side Books draws a surprising amount of foot traffic.

A very cool spot to drop in on a lazy afternoon. It’s my girl’s favorite bookstore so I brought her here to pick out some art books for her birthday. You’ll need to dig around a bit but they’ll have something you’ll like. The gentleman who runs the shoppe was very pleasant to deal with.

This is a crazy good used book store, my favorite among the many such used book shops in Ann Arbor.
This one sets itself apart with its enviable selection of rare and out of print books. Yes, prices are really high on those types of books, but the guy that runs this place is super knowledgeable and knows where everything is located, despite the vast number of literary tomes lining the shelves. I think that’s a rare feat because his inventory is unreal.
He’s given me a couple of good deals in the past and he’s fair when it comes to trades/​buy backs. He’s fair about pricing and trade and knows a book’s intrinsic value.
Check out the back room, it’s chock full of interesting stuff. There are a lot of great non-​fiction titles and an awesome collection of art history books here.
I check this store out every single time I come back to Ann Arbor, without fail. Its’ a «must do» during every trip back to A2.

there is a wildly delicious energy here. if I hadn’t already fallen in love with Ann Arbor, this would have done it.

This is a beautiful bookstore, but customer service is lacking. My father recently visited a2 from out of town and specifically asked to stop at this store because he bought a nice collection of books here a little over a year ago. We were fine browsing without any assistance, but when we left and my dad stated, «Have a nice day» the clerk ignored him. I thought maybe he did not hear, so I repeated the statement and was dismissed with a glance and an abrupt, «yeah» from the clerk. Clearly he did not feel we were worth his attention or time and he wasn’t interested in extending any courtesy. This was disappointing since we do appreciate the store and considered doing additional business here. We will not be back though, and since I am a local I will be sure to spread the word; not surprisingly I have recently found out from other local patrons that the elitist and dismissive attitude we observed is commonplace with this clerk/​owner.

This is one of my favorite bookshops of all time. It’s a great place to browse on a weekend afternoon. Their prices are a bit higher than your average used bookstore, but their books are usually in excellent condition. They also often have hard to find or unusual books — I just found a first edition James Thurber collection for $ 15.00.
Their back room — as another reviewer noted — is full of (expensive) prints and photographs. I can’t afford anything in there, but it’s always fun to have a look.

The place is the quintessential Ann Arbor used book store. I spend much time here perusing and buying nothing just to kill time while waiting for a table at the fabulous restaurant across the street. West Side Bookshop is full of beautiful old books and usually devoid of other folks except the grumpy old salesperson. He looks like a professor, so I would imagine that he probably had several PhDs under his belt. He has that scholarly intelligentsia look.
One day, I went in there by myself with the intent of saying a silent goodbye to a place I enjoyed and purchasing a book that a person I knew had wanted. Entirely unexpectedly, the grandfatherly grumpy old man smiled and struck up a conversation with me. It made me remember this boy, JHJ, from whom I learned the importance of «acknowledging» other people’s existence. It’s the minimal respect one human being should give to another. Perhaps, this old man seemed grumpy before because people did not «acknowledge» his existence. The normally shy me actually talked at length with this stranger. No judgment, just one human being acknowledging the existence of another. It was the closes thing I have ever had to being JHJ.
I ended up purchasing 3 books (don’t worry, the authors won’t miss the royalties — they are all dead). A couple of Henry James’ (btw who is my ideal husband — suspiciously gay and writes/​travels for a living) non-​fictions and Kafka’s «The Trial». The friendly grandfatherly man insisted on giving me a discount. Even with the discount, I think the books would have been much cheaper had I purchased them brand new from Borders, but you know, age is something money can’t buy.

I always enjoy taking a peek in here. The last time I was here I saw a book about garden gnomes that I wish I had bought for my friend who loved the movie Amelie.
The books seem carefully chosen, in great condition, and is more of a rare and collectible book store rather than a used book store. I love the aesthetic in the space, it is near the Old West Side (hence, the name). They also have very knowledgable and friendly owners.
It gets a little dark and creepy in the back, but there are some gems to find.

A good place for rare and collectible books. On a previous visit I picked up a volume from 1906 called «San Francisco’s Horror of Earthquake Fire and Famine.» It’s a nice rubbernecking disaster book with first-​hand accounts of the earthquake and some photographs. Also got a book about shipwrecks on the great lakes, and I have my eye on a couple of historic maps in the back room.
Make sure you head to the back of the building, there are two more rooms with art books, photography and other things.
Not cheap, but they keep a higher quality of books than some of the other bookstores. I don’t think they make any effort to have paperbacks here; nor is there a huge selection of fiction.
Another bookseller from the area commented that West Side Book Shop is the kind of setting that book people dream of: a really distinctive building, lots of nice wood shelving inside, and the tons of old books.

Piles and piles of books. But also glass-​fronted cases with rare or at least unusual books, so it’s a little bit more fun to shop here than at most of the other used book stores in town. Strong categories: history, fiction, travel, foreign countries. Weak in children’s and young adult books. Perhaps just a little better organized than the others?