2nd & Charles

This is not meant to be a rant so I will keep it efficiently worded. For every ten employees working, about two will be helping you. The others will be aggressively ignoring you and completely rude and inappropriate with how they handle situations. Save yourself a terrible encounter and DO NOT visit 2^nd and Charles. There are many, better record stores in the area.

I love this store! I always find all sorts of cool books and knick knacks for a great price. The book setup can be a bit confusing the first few times but I got a hang of it eventually. They also have a pretty wide selection of retro games for half of the price that the flea market dealers try to sell them for. Definitely worth a trip on a lazy Sunday!

You can tell what a store’s target demographic is by the layout, product selection, and so forth. 2^nd and Charles (or at least this one) seems targeted at the «nerd /​hipster» demographic, which is fine by me — they have lots of stuff I like. They have literature and movies and things outside these interests, too, but those items don’t seem anywhere near as organized and curated, and the checkout line is hemmed in by comic books, Transformers, Star Wars, and other similar paraphernalia. They also run events like «Free RPG day» here.
The store seems to have bulk-​purchased the entire inventory of the Barnes & Noble that used to be here, as several books still have the old B&N sticker on the back. If you’re looking for slightly dated books at amazing prices, then you have come to the right place. Considering that a lot of the inventory of the store is only available from eBay or Amazon sellers who will of course charge $ 4+ in shipping, the $ 2.50 — $ 5 price tags on paperbacks are a steal.
You do need to come in here with a shopping list. There is a lot of stuff here, but not all of it is worthwhile, and the inventory doesn’t turn over quite that fast — you could be looking for a series of books (say, one with 40 – 100 books in the series — e.g., Hardy Boys or something) and not see new titles in the series be added to the shelf even in the span of a year. If you come in to browse you will spend hours. Come in with your Amazon list for used books and you’ll likely pick up some gems, though.

When it first started it was good. The prices were good and with double the payout for items sold to them, it was worth taking stuff there.
Now the prices have been raised for used books to ½ to ¾ of the full retail price. The payout is so low for items traded in — maybe .50 cents a piece. It’s insulting, really.
So… If they have a sale it might be worth it. Otherwise, forget them.

Do not bring your items here to sell, especially if your items are in like new condition and you have loved them well. The amount that they offer you is a joke (in my case, the entire series of an HBO series on Blu-​ray, for which I was offered mere dollars, single figure, while I saw one season of said show being sold for $ 30.) I expect a mark-​up but not a 1000% mark-​up.
In addition to the poor offer, I was completely put off by the lazy employees working at the trade-​in counter. There were at least four employees, and nobody besides me in line. Several of them were standing around chatting, one had her face buried in her cell phone and the other one appeared to be asleep. Yes, with his head resting on the counter, looking much like those kids you would see in study hall or in a Saturday detention (Breakfast Club?). Let’s not bother him, as he apparently needs his beauty rest.
Needless to say, I will not be back to buy or sell. Yes they have lots of cool and quirky items, but it’s nothing that you can’t find anywhere else… I’m looking at you, Amazon.

I grew up near here. I now live in Baltimore MD and I STILL haven’t found a better used book store better than 2^nd and Charles. Whenever I make a trip home I make it a priority to pa rouse their vinyl collection, grad some best sellers, and incense.
LOVE this place!

Sellers beware! Check your items that you are taking back with you! I went to 2^nd & Charles today to see how much they would give me for a product (less than half what I would get from eBay). When I got home, I found that the representative didn’t return some of the components! What a hassle it was trying to get back! Seriously, taking pieces of a product that doesn’t belong to you? I will never go there again! Who knows what stolen merchandise they are selling?

Check with the front desk if you’re bringing stuff of any quantity in. Many times they are not buying a bunch of categories and they don’t post it so you unpack all your stuff, wait an hour, then find out they are not buying that. Last time I took a bunch of DVDs box sets of popular shows (24, Buffy, angel, ncis, etc). I waited over an hour and they took nothing stating condition. All of them were in like new condition. Several still shrink wrapped and never opened. So I don’t know the real reason but it wasn’t condition. Last time I’m messing with trade in. Buying from the store and stock is fine. The trade in process can be a pain in the ass.

this is the only business that could have replaced Borders Books (in the same location previously) that didn’t disappoint me ! this place is awesome — second hand books, movies, games, vinyl, cds etc. best part is you can trade in your old stuff you don’t want for store credit for new stuff that you do want. some weeks we even go multiple times.

They always have a treasure in my favorite sections and you get cash for turning in solid inventory… the more cash to purchase with! I have always been met with a friendly smiling face, ready to help in my time of book needs. Love it here…

BUYER BEWARE! They will not give you your money back no way no how! I purchased a brand new product from the store only to find that said item did not work, returned it to the store to be told it’s «against store policy» to give any kind of refund other than store credit, because it’s a «used product» store. Well, geniuses, it’s a new product and I don’t want store credit. Lesson learned, won’t shop here again!

I really love 2^nd and Charles, I could spend all day in there. They have just about everything you could ever need or want. And you can sell and trade games, movies, books, CDs, and records. They usually have a pretty nice payout. And I love that you can buy video games there for ANY system, even really old ones. They also have a large record selection which is nice too since I’m a vinyl collector. I recommend this place to just about anyone because you’re sure to find something you like.

I only came here in search of vinyl records. Overall they have an outstanding selection of both new and used. I think the prices are high for re-​pressed records. The majority of used were in great condition, and the not so great were in value bins. My two recommendations are add a listening station so customers can check the quality of used records and to make sure it has the desired songs. There are multiple records from one artist and if you don’t know the name of the song, there is no way to find out except to use a Smartphone. I purchased 4 records and would’ve easily purchased 10 – 15 if there was a listening station. Also, the genres were mixed, I know an artist can cross genres, I recommend going with the main genre and putting the entire catalog there.

Located in the old Borders this is a book\music\movie\game\vinyl store that sells used items. Some things are a good price and some things that are newer have prices that reflect that. The CD’s are def. a good deal. My mom had gotten a bunch from there and hasn’t had any bad ones yet but they do accept them back if they don’t work. They do have a large selection of everything! If your looking for a cheap book\cd this is the place to go!

This place is huge! Make sure to have some time to really explore.
We stopped in because we love second hand stores and had no clue what to expect. This place is cool, they offer video games from Nintendo to Play Station 3. Additionally they have a huge inventory of books, comics, Music equipment, DVD’s. and CD’s. You can also trade or sell your old materials here as well. Everything is well organized and fun to browse though. Some stuff is a little over priced but understandable.
Added bonus is the «FREE» bins outside of the store!

I’d never heard of this place, but hubs had, and since we were right there (at Tiger Direct) we stopped in to look around. Wow! He ended up buying quite a few comic books (I think it was something like buy 5 get 10 free?) and I got a book. If we hadn’t been on a mission for other stuff elsewhere, we probably could have happily stayed much longer and bought much more. We’ll be back if we’re in the area again.

I was forced to leave, because I would have made an offer for the store. Any geeky fantasy you have is there. I happen to love the manga and retro video game selection, but I could see myself starting any other poison and making out like a bandit. Definitely going back from NY just to visit and fill my car with everything I’m missing. Consider renting a U-​Haul.

Easily see this place becoming a new guilty pleasure. I love that I can recycle old books that I don’t want to read again for new literary adventures.
My only problem is the books are not really categorized but rather alphabetized by author name. You have to go in knowing what you want or you will leave empty handed. For instance I love autobiographies but there was no centralized section. In hindsight I should of probably pulled up my amazon wish list on my smart phone to jog my decrepit mind but…
Another issue I encountered on my first visit was sweltering heat. I was shocked the store wasn’t running or didn’t have ac on a particularly hot day. You could tell the heat effected the employees and chased away many customers, including myself.
I forgot to mention but the store also carries vinyl, good stuff too apparently. I watched a gleeful 20 something hipster flip through his selection of records with excitement reminescent of A Christmas Story Ralphie with his Red Ryder BB gun.
I really hope this place is able to stick around.

Because I am a massive dork, I have grown quite attached to 2^nd & Charles in a very short period of time. This is almost exclusively due to their massive, constantly-​shifting stock of (relatively) cheap inventory; if used books and vinyl are your bag, you’ll find that 2^nd & Charles is certainly pricier than, say, Goodwill, but the selection (and organization) reflects that. (Not to say that there aren’t deals to be found. Last time I was there, I purchased four books for under $ 6 — three of them among my ever-​expanding mental checklist of books I want to buy, the other a 0.25 afterthought, although it certainly looks to be a fun afterthought.)
It’s worth noting that their system of credit and returns explicitly (and perhaps predictably) favors those who intend to turn around and dump their winnings back into the store. It’s understandable, but I feel like you should know before you go. The price they’re willing to give you in store credit roughly doubles the amount they’re willing to pay you in cash, which can prove an interesting conundrum. What I’m saying, essentially, is that 2^nd & Charles is not the place to take your old stuff to make a buck. It’s a place to take your stuff to buy more stuff.
But the staff is friendly (and generally as enthusiastic about retro pop-​culture as their job would imply — a Clive Barker book in my basket once led to a half-​hour-​long discussion of classic horror tropes in film and literature, which is the kind of delightful sort of ephemeral pop conversation one hopes to stumble across in any off-​the-​beaten-​path store), and the selection pretty massive, so 2^nd & Charles is my book-hoarder’s cocaine for the near future.

Some of the feel of the former Borders store remains, but of course the prices are a lot better. They have new and used books, of course, but also tons of vinyl, CDs, even used guitars. It’s very spacious and a great place to browse. They do a great job of clustering books by subject so once you get the lay of the land, it’s pretty easy to find stuff you’re interested in.
They seem eager to buy as well too so you can make more room for the new things you bring home!
If live anywhere nearby and you love books, records and CDs, this place is worth the trip!