It’s fun just to walk around in this enormous book store. I always find something interesting, especially in the staff’s pick section. Super friendly staff.
Casey P.
Classificação do local: 5 Las Cruces, NM
Books! Oh the sweet smell of books… I have always been partial to local bookstores like this one. It reminds me of a smaller New Mexico flavored Powell’s of Portland, OR. I could spend hours in a place like this, and I have. Usually find things I didn’t even know I needed. I try 9 out of 10 times to buy used books from a local source. Unfortunately, I was not able to find the list of books I was looking for but I still had a great time looking around. Also, the staff and specifically the person that helped me was awesome and extremely helpful. I shall return…
Michelle H.
Classificação do local: 5 Las Cruces, NM
We’ve been using this bookstore for almost 10yrs and it is a Great used bookstore. They have hard to find /out of print books on the shelf as well as more up to date novels. Coas in my opinion rates up with Bookmans in Tucson or «Powells» in Ore. though Coas is not as large overall as these giants. Coas does have great service, great selection and location. I’ve traded books through them and always a pleasant experiance. If your visiting las Cruces this is a must visit for anyone enjoying books be it novels, early science fiction, fantasy, research history Coas has it all.
V C.
Classificação do local: 5 Hereford, AZ
Wow, this is pretty much a perfect bookstore. Good selection of $ 1 books outside. Huge but very well organized inside — organized by category, almost like a library(minus the dewey decimal system). Mix of new and used books, though the majority were used. Used books were reasonbly priced — most I looked at were $ 3-$ 5. I had to leave to avoid buying a second armful.
H.L. S.
Classificação do local: 5 Madison, IN
Definitely the greatest independent bookstore around. Love that place! One of my favorite places in Las Cruces.
George V.
Classificação do local: 5 Las Cruces, NM
Great bookstore. Plus, the owners are wonderful people who are incredibly active in the community. Support this business!
Alexandra H.
Classificação do local: 5 New York, NY
Ginormous used book store, great location, perfect place to stop in after perusing the farmer’s market. Just a fantastic array of books, friendly staff, and a delicious coffee shop(from Milagro’s) in the front corner. LOVE.
Algernon D.
Classificação do local: 5 Deming, NM
Top notch second-hand bookstore with a staff that is knowledgeable and friendly and a great sprawling collection with enough surprises to keep a browser busy for hours.
R G.
Classificação do local: 5 El Paso, TX
If you like books, and want to spend an hour(or more!) browsing through a great, gigantic, used book store, this is the place for you. The store has every category of books, for all levels of readers and interests. Still a little weak on the comics, but music, classics, textbooks, you name it, most everything else is somewhere here. The prices are very good, and you can get store credit for your trade ins. This is my favorite bookstore in the area by far.
Megan K.
Classificação do local: 4 Chaparral, NM
Coas is one of my favorite places to spend time(and money)! The staff is friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable. I always seem to find something awesome for a great price. I could spend hours and hours searching the stacks. My only complaint(which resulted in less than five stars) is that there is no store wide inventory which would make searching for specific titles infinitely easier. Their credit policy is phenomenal and Coas is a must visit for any book lover out there.
Michelle M.
Classificação do local: 4 Singapore, Singapore
For our last day in Las Cruces, my parents and I decided to explore the town’s Main Street. Recently, I started doing this thing where I buy a paperback book in every place that I travel to as a souvenir of my trip. The book’s subject matter has to be about the place that I visited. I already bought my paperback for this New Mexico trip in Old Mesilla, but that didn’t stop me from visiting this behemoth of a bookstore in good ol’ Main street! I had a silly feeling that this was the only book store in town as there were stacks of books that just seemed to go on for miles. Barnes and Nobles who? There are tons of used books and new books to choose from, and at first it’s really overwhelming when you walk in. There are also a lot of old books, so if you’re into antiques or rare books, this is probably a good place to start. I loved how they had complete sets of encyclopedias; it brought back memories of when I used to use them for school projects.(It also made me wonder if I could pull off a Joey Tribbiani and just buy the«V» volume! :P) The staff is very helpful and can work together to help you find something, thanks to their useful walkie talkies. You know a book store is super official when they got the walkie talkies involved! Awesome place to stop by if you’re a bibliophile. And if you’re not, you can look through their super cheap used-DVD section near the store entrance!
Lily W.
Classificação do local: 5 Las Cruces, NM
A little overwhelming to walk into at first, in a good way. HUGE selection of books and movies. Many a day have I wandered the aisles of COAS, either for school or leisure. There are books for everything here, for cheaper than I’ve ever seen. Very friendly service. One of my favorites.
Mike W.
Classificação do local: 4 Gainesville, FL
COAS Books is the classic college town bookstore that is, in this age of , sadly starting to fade away into history. A few college towns and large cities still have bookstores of this type and caliber however, and Las Cruces is certainly very fortunate to have COAS. I found some great books here on the region, including Ken Baxter Ragsdale’s magisterial«Quicksilver: Terlingua and the Chisos Mining Company» which I highly recommend to anyone interested in the history of Terlingua or the Big Bend in general. Of course, that’s a little ways from Lac Cruces, but still: good stuff. They also have the expected array of literature, textbooks, topo maps, and other hard-to-finds, exotica, and et cetera. Like all the great indie bookstores of the world, half the fun is just digging through things to see what you may find. The orgainzation of titles at COAS is like the British Library: that is, it is a system of its own odd design and it’s not going to change or conform to anything more logical. If you cannot find a certain author in «fiction», for example, suspect that she’s been elevated by the powers that be at COAS to the level of «literature» and resides now with the greats on their shelves. Another tip for the COAS system: «history» means in general cowboys and Indians old-skool history. .. if you’re seeking a history of, say, aerospace industry in the region that could well be under science. .. or aviation. .. or military. Or not. Also, the online website for the store differs in its inventory from the physical locations and does not provide a live inventory for these locations at all. And yes: they do have the grandest and dandiest selection of role-playing games(like D&D, yo) in the south of New Mexico. That’s saying more than you might imagine. Magic: The Gathering is still big ups down there. All in all, COAS is a treat and treasure for Las Cruces and I would say the one single must-do stop if you’re in town even a single day. Be prepared to deal with th dusty, rambling, style of used bookstore that lovers of used bookstores adore though and not the tack-sharp inventory of Amazon while here.
Sal P.
Classificação do local: 4 Seattle, WA
During college this was my bookstore. I’d by the odd book from Hastings, Walden, or the NMSU bookstore but mostly I came here. It was amazing, so cheap, perfect for a student with very little money. Back then there were ads for Coas that said, «Largest Fantasy RPG Selection in Southern New Mexico.» Being a nerd, geek, dweeb, what have you, I was curious and went. They didn’t disappoint with tons of source books, models, dice, paints, what ever you needed to nerd out on a saturday night except chips, soda, and a big table. An oasis and I made friends because of this place. Sure I also read a number of books that I wouldn’t have otherwise. That was nearly a decade ago and I know times change, I know pen and paper games are going out of favor for computer ones so I’m not too upset that the RPG section is gone, it hits me in my nostalgia bone but I understand. It’s small things that see odd. The selection, while quite impressive, it no longer matches my preference in books. That’s not their fault it’s me and not their fault. Also the benches, while nice, weren’t very comfortable. I understand not wanting people to linger all day without buying something but still choosing a random, unknown book might need a few chapters of reading. Tiny tiny gripe but one I’ve gotten used to else where. Still it’s a great place, worth seeing, and plenty of great books. Also there are all these pokey little rooms scattered around I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a door to L Space hidden in the back sections. They didn’t have a coffeeshop which could be a plus or minus but I had been hoping to have a cup and read the books I bought but no luck… oh well I got spoiled elsewhere.
Chris S.
Classificação do local: 5 Boise, ID
I absolute love used book stores. I was really sad when both of the ones in Sierra Vista closed down. So when I moved back to Las Cruces, it was great to hit up Coas. These places are like little treasure troves… whether you are looking for an old book, a favorite you once misplaced, or hoping to dig up something new, Coas is just great. Can’t really say much more than that in this case, just really love this place. Oh and incidentally, they have another location on Solano street if you don’t want to head downtown.
Tara H.
Classificação do local: 4 San Francisco, CA
My only experience with used bookstores is with the Half Price Books chain in central Texas. Half Price Books, for those of you who aren’t familiar is a great, organized, clean and well stocked chain of used bookstores located in Texas. So, when I was scouting out Las Cruces for an apartment, I decided to visit Coas My Bookstore. The location isn’t easily found by those unfamiliar with the area and I ended up passing it once and having to loop around to find the parking lot. Let me say this — I’ve not seen such a breadth and scope of subject matter in a used book store. Especially interesting was their sections on science and technical documentation. My only complaint was the amount of disarray at the checkout counter. I realize because they buy and sell books there is some disorganization to be expected, but I’ve seen the buying of lots of books done well, so I know it can be done.
Mark N.
Classificação do local: 5 Mahwah, NJ
My favorite bookstore anywhere. I particularly like the large collection of foreign language books and technical books. A really outstanding, well organized, and reasonably priced store.
Stephanie D.
Classificação do local: 5 San Diego, CA
This is one of the best bookstores I’ve ever been in, probably second only to Powell’s in Portland. We visit Las Cruces maybe once a year to see family, and it’s one of the first stops we make. I am guaranteed to find at least one(thousand) things I’m interested in, and I usually have to restrain myself so I don’t fill my suitcase for the trip back home.
Kat S.
Classificação do local: 5 El Cerrito, CA
As well run, well organized, and well priced as any used bookstore I’ve ever been to in any city. Believe it or not, they are not the ONLY used bookstore in Cruces, but few even know that because they are certainly the BEST one. They started out in one small location in the old downtown strip mall where no one goes(except for Farmer’s Market on Saturdays and to go to Coas). But now they have satellite stores all over town with specializations(cook books in one, sci-fi/fantasy concentration in another). While all locations have a variety of books, make sure you know what the satellite stores concentrate in because there you will find the best selection for that topic. You can turn books in for them for trade. The trade is a good value. I LOVE their selection of antique and collectible books. I’ve gotten some real finds there and they are reasonably priced.
Ashleigh Q.
Classificação do local: 5 Riverside, CA
I wish I could live in this store. I have never seen such a huge selection! They have a whole SHELF full of pulp fiction books! Great prices, great service!