Lassley’s Books-Paperback Exchange

Very musty and poor selection of science fiction. Their mystery and romance sections are very robust. It depends on what kind of books you are into. They are definitely worth checking out, if you have the time to browse and don’t care about finding a particular book. The prices seem to be very very affordable, but the popular books definitely cost more.

For the Olympia/​Lacey area, there’s simply no other place to go if you’re addicted to paperback novels like I am. I’m a huge huge collector of sci-​fi/​fantasy paperbacks so I get out to Lassley’s every week and I always find something. It’s like a bottomless book pit!
I used to frequent the West Olympia location before it sadly went away, but since then I’ve been perfectly happy at the Lacey location. They don’t always have what I’m looking for exactly, but they’ve always got something worth getting. Also, the staff are super friendly.
This is also a great place to get rid of disappointing paperbacks and collect sweet trade credit to use towards awesome paperbacks with sweet original issue cover art.

I used to frequent their Olympia location for years before I was forced to migrate to their Lacey store. The Olympia store was quite large, I’d spend an hour just walking around reading titles and trying to find obscure treasures. I loved the old used bookstore feel that we don’t see much anymore; a place that stocks more than just current/​modern titles. For example, I came in looking for some old John Wayne movie novels, stuff I’d been passively searching Half Price Books and thrift stores for to no avail… but Lassley’s had them in stock (The Train Robbers, Rooster Cogburn, Rio Lobo).
They may not be the massive, in depth used book stores we had in the 1990s, but I don’t hesitate to say Lassley’s is probably as good as you’ll get these days. And though, at first, I was a bit let down with the size of the store compared to the Olympia location, I quickly got over that as title after title I’d been looking for was found. Still not as thorough as the Olympia location I was accustomed to, but it’ll suffice.
Give this place a go. Bring a list, and I bet you’ll be surprised how many titles you find.
While not genuine criticisms, I didn’t give a 5 star rating because of the somewhat smaller selection and the pricing (60% of cover price). Just being fair from a consumer perspective.

I have to change my five star to a 3, I almost want to do a two star but I’ll do 3. Great place to buy books but that is about it. Do not trade books here! 1) the girl was very rude when I decided to not trade the children’s books I brought in, reason being, they have a very small section Of children’s books to choose from and if you bring children’s books you can only get children’s and they have children’s books that are not in good condition. 2) their trading system is confusing and unlike other places you trade you still have to pay a portion even if your credit that would more than cover it. I understand it’s business but when you don’t have to pay at other places when you have a lot of credit, why come here and pay? 3) your credit Dosent work on a lot of the more popular books, even If you being in similar books.

Alright, so first I come from the general Seattle area, where we are over-​run with really awesome used book stores. Sadly, the same can’t be said of Lacey. If you want to drive out to the Olympia, there are a few more options, but if you’re dedicated to staying in this general area, your options for books are fairly limited.
That being said, this bookstore was quite the find. It’s like a maze of books and it would be beyond simple to get lost in there for at least a day.
I’ve never had a problem with the employees– in fact the times I’ve been in there they have been happy to help me look if there was something in particular I was looking for, or just chat.

This paperback bookstore is very well organized and has a moderate quantity of books. The layout of the bookstore is maze-​like with a left here and a right there. I was underwhelmed though. Since I do not read a lot of fiction books I searched for the non-​fiction section, which a very small section in the back of the bookstore mixed in with the biographies. This bookstore could be really good for paperback fiction collectors or paperback science fiction collectors but I wasn’t impressed with the high walls of books and somewhat okay prices. I think you could probably get similar old books and similar quality at the Goodwill, another thrift store,
, Half Price Books store, or
for cheaper. If you generally like bookstores, it’s a nice experience to go in this store and say you’re been, but that’s about it.
Nice what they do for recycling books though. I like that.

SELLER BEWARE! Deceptive and predatory policies, neglectful management, and HORRIBLE customer service!!! PLEASE NOTE: This review concerns an incedent at their olympia location, but mostly concerns interactions with the owners and operators of both stores. I recently brought in a huge portion of my book collection to get store credit I could give as Christmas gifts this very lean year. The employe told me they only gave store credit, I said that was fine as I was just looking to get gift cards, and she proceeded to process my books and told me to come back the next day to pick up my credit. What she did NOT do is mention the establishments odd definition of store credit, namely a 66% off coupon. While this may work great for many people, it is not what I very reasonably wanted or expected in exchange for my cherished property. Not only that, when I returned to pick up my credit, it was gone. After a while, they were able to re-​issue it, and I did not learn of their deceptive definition until trying to purchase a book with my credit. I came back to speak with the owner, and she took my phone number and told me she would talk to her partner and get right back to me. Fast forward a week and I hadn’t heard a peep. Apparently they just hoped I would go away. I went in to find they were on vacation. There we go, no presents for family or friends for Christmas. I expressed my displeasure and asked the employee to let the owners know I expected a call from them when they returned. Fast forward another week without a peep. I returned and politely asked the employee to attempt to get one of the owners on the phone. After a few calls I was informed that they would do nothing to make the situation right. They would not return my property, or offer me even a portion of my «credit» in actual gift certificates. Not only were they deceptive, but rude and dismissive as well. I honestly feel like a victim of theft, and will never give them another dime of my money or page of my books. If you’re fine with getting a coupon in exchange for your property, fine. But if you expect actual compensation, STEER CLEAR! And hope you never have to bring any sort of grievance to rude an unhelpful management.