2nd & Charles

Super selection and they give a great discount to teachers. Was there yesterday and found some great books.

I am a LEGO enthusiast and collector and went to 2^nd & Charles yesterday evening for the first time. I am sorry to say that this store is lying about what retail prices are. Specifically a Lego Microworld set they have in the store is priced at $ 79.99. This is also listed on the retail price. The list price on Amazon is $ 34.99. The price tag on this item was a blatant lie about the retail value of this particular LEGO product. It’s disrespectful and unacceptable to lie to your customers. I will never step foot in the store again. Don’t waste your money here. Everything is cheaper on eBay and Amazon anyway.

This place is really neat, think Books a Million (actually part of the same company), but mostly used items, and a lot of cool music, and video games. The prices on records can be a bit high, but I love browsing through their stuff. They have cheap movies, older games, shirts, and even instruments.

Hubby wanted to stop by «2^nd & Charles» in Harbison. However, I misheard «St. Charles» and thought why were you going to the Chicago suburb. That was how much, or how little rather, I knew about this store.
Hubby already knew what he was looking for in the store, but Rosa J. was dying to find her amusement around the store. Fortunately, a few sugar skull things here and there provided her enough happiness.
Since most items were pre-​owned or secondhand, make sure you’re aware of the return policy just in case that you have purchased something that’s too shabby to keep.
«2^nd & Charles» seems to be a cool and useful store for those who are gamers and avid readers. I personally don’t identify myself as either of the two (2) categories. Nevertheless, if hubby ever wants to come back here, I will certainly tag along.

Great place for gently used second hand books, comics, games and memorabilia. New stuff as well. All over priced or at least what you could get from eBay. The draw is its local and immediate.
Staff is aloof, somewhat afraid of their customers and at the same time in contempt of them as well. It’s a mix of knowledgable and the uninitiated. What they know they know Nd what they don’t they seem to not be willing to listen.
Overall, it is what you came in for and not much more unless there is a suppose or two in the disorganized bins. Prices are higher for what you can get on line. Buy back almost seems like a rip off compared to what other used stores buy at. But again, it’s what you pay when you have to have it now.

A few times, I’ve been able to buy books here for way cheaper than I would on Amazon or online, which is a big plus. The games are overpriced, so I never bought games there. You can get single issue comics for a dollar, usually. Many cheap movies, some expensive, including boxsets. If you shop smart, you can come away with some good deals.

Holy books! Do people really read that much. I go here to people watch! Look at what happened today… Always a good time.

Neat place to browse, but the prices are much higher than you would expect from a second hand store.
As for selling items, save yourself the trouble and sell at a yard sale or eBay. I was offered $ 4 for a Nintendo DS (the device– barely used) and five or six games. Some still in shrink wrap. $ 4 total, or $ 7 in store credit. At least they made the decision not to sell easy!

Love this place! I go here all the time and I get great deals every time. I love that they have vinyl records for sale. I have a record player and some places don’t have a big selection. I like the memorabilia that they have. They have a lot of books, cd, DVD, and games to choose from. You can also trade in old stuff for new stuff.

The morale at this store is so high with the employees that I wish had more reasons to shop there. The book selection here is awesome.

Big selection but don’t go expecting to find a good deal. These prices are insulting! Almost every book I’ve looked at is being sold for the exact MSRP. The electronics you could buy at any other major chain for the same price, The toys are a joke. They have GoodWill quality merchandise and are asking the same or higher prices than major retail chains selling the same or newer versions of the merchandise.

Really great used book store. Misses a star simply because their LP selection is quite low. You will find most titles here in various forms. Reasonable prices.
Edit: The last few times I’ve went the cashiers have been so rude to me I felt like walking out and never coming back. I might not. I asked one cashier a question and she sighed and said, «I think… I’m not sure. *sigh*» and went back to whatever she was doing on the computer. Completely distasteful.

You know if I’m braving Haribson for a business then it must be pretty awesome.
A friend took me out to 2^nd and Charles for the first time. It’s a cool bookstore. They also have DVDs, records, musical instruments (I so want a ukulele), games, t-​shirts, video games… maybe calling it a used book store is a misnomer. They have so much more and not everything is used.
You can also sell items here. My friend took some video games here and seemed pretty pleased with the credit he got from the store. I took some DVDs back and I thought what they offered me was pretty low. I accepted it though. I was just going to drop them off at Goodwill if they didn’t take them so $ 9.75 in store credit was better than nothing. They will also give you cash for items but it seems to be at about half of what they would give you in store credit. I think they offered me $ 4.25 in cash if I didn’t want the store credit.
Staff was friendly and helpful but not obtrusive. They also have several checkout counters so the line moves pretty fast. The books and used DVDs seem reasonably priced and they have a «free bin» right outside the front doors of books you can just take!

The buyback is nice, but, like the other reviewer said, their offers are almost offensively low. Also, to repeat again, the layout needs some reconsideration. There’s so many signs it seems like it would be easy, and yet I’m always getting lost trying to find the section I want.
It can be a little tricky to track down a specific book sometimes, too. While there is a general alphabetization scheme, within each section it’s become something of a free for all. I realize it’s got to be difficult to keep up with the influx of books, and it does make for a bit of browsing fun, but there’s got to be a way to clean it up a bit.
That said. I’ve found some great stuff here for excellent prices, and if you can track it down, they’ve got one of the better selections.

While I’m thrilled (THRILLED!) that there is finally a store in town that offers cash for books, CDs, DVDs, comics, etc., the store itself is a let-​down, and the prices that are offered for your used goods are pretty terrible.
As a used book-​seller myself, I know what items are worth. I also understand that the store has to make it worth their while to put my items on their shelves. That said, you can expect to receive about 50 cents or less per item, regardless of how cool the item is, or how much it might actually be worth (e.g., if you take a rare first edition to them, they are not going to give you anything close to what it might be worth if you sold it yourself). Keep that in mind if you take your stuff there to sell. They did buy all of the items I brought it to sell, which was a surprise. They were not as picky as many other places I have taken items to sell are.
They are also very efficient. It took them about 30 minutes to go through my 2 boxes of stuff and give me my cash. I saw one guy get basically all his stuff back, though — he asked why, and they explained that they don’t take in items they already have too many of, they don’t take old library books, they don’t take textbooks, and they don’t take books that are beat-​up looking. Decent guidelines.
The staff looked overworked and exhausted.
The layout of the store is confusing and not very welcoming. I didn’t feel at ease browsing there, and other people seemed confused, too; we were wandering around aimlessly and getting in each other’s way.
But I’m glad that this store exists.

I was impressed with this store and its buy-​sell-​trade concept. They are not the first store to do this, but they seem to do it very efficiently. The size of the operation alone would make them stand out. You can learn more about their process on the website.
As for the store itself, the selection of books is good as are the prices. Pricing does differ quite a bit depending on what you are looking at and how «rare» or in demand an item is. The store is huge and there is a lot to look at. They sell books of all kinds including autographed and rare copies. They also have movies, video games and accessories, cds, vinyl records, comic books, and a few musical instruments. I even saw a few cameras in the glass cases.
I appreciate the store having quite a few chairs throughout, as well as stools at the end of each bookcase to reach the top shelf. When I checked out I was pleasantly surprised to find they do not give you plastic bags. If you would like a bag you have to buy a reusable one for $ 1.99. They have several different bags to choose from and they are cute, but I’d prefer this price point at $ 1. All in all it was a great experience, and I will definitely be back.