Yes Books

Great selection, tailored and clearly labelled sections, and plenty of space. A true used bookstore in Portland, rivalled only to Green Hand Bookshop. Oh, and it had that comforting, enriching aroma of used books. Smell it, live it, love it.

What a great store. The WWI and WWII sections were remarkable. As good as it gets — the real used bookstore experience.

Good shop. The selection is probably the best in town, although it may be complicated to navigate.

As we walked by, the plethora of books seeming to fall out of the door caught our eye. The place looks overwhelming (and it is a little), but the librarian (?) has some method to the madness and can point out a specific author or type of book/​read you’re looking for.
The place is PACKED with books. allllll the way to the back which was definitely overwhelming and probably against fire codes. There was lots of good stuff but it was all very overpriced, which is mostly why I gave this place 3 stars. I picked up a few hard cover books that were clearly used and worn but the price written on the inside was double that of the original book price printed on the back (this book was less than 10 years old). My boyfriend picked up a book he really wanted that had a $ 1.50 sticker on the back and was amazed to see it was $ 8. He asked for a discount and she gave him $.40 off
I understand libraries and book stores need to keep up with the competition but those prices were a little steep.

Loved the smell walking in! I didn’t think it was at all disorganized, plus if you want a certain book or certain author, staff was more than willing to help you look, or look it up for you.
Lots if interesting books as well as other assortments of treasures. Vintage sheet music, really old headphones, cool bookends, neat photos etc etc… If you’re in the area and you have at least an hour check it out!

I was disappointed by this place. They have a great selection, but the organization is a mess. I asked about one particular book and I was surprised by how hostile the man working there was, like I was wasting his time. I work in service and I can understand the stress, but I almost felt like he thought I was an idiot or something. They didn’t have the book I wanted and he offered no suggestion and just dismissed me. Lots of good material, but they need an overhaul and some sort of service training or something.

Lots of selection but completely unorganized, no rhyme or reason to the flow of the sections and newer stock is simply stacked at the front. If you’ve an entire day then it might be worth your while.

Feel kind of bad giving this three stars because it’s a great sized bookstore with a lot of books and books are great. However, the organization and heat and flies were too much for me. It was uncomfortable to want to be in there for that long to really browse because it was hot as hell (MAYBE mid-80’s outside the summer day I went), flies were literally buzzing all up in my shit, and it was just a bit much. Perhaps if I didn’t sweat like a wildebeest, I could have tolerated the heat better.
I didn’t find the prices all that great, albeit less than face value, but nothing seemed like a great deal considering this is a used bookstore and a decent hunt is required for a great book. The hunt doesn’t bother me, and I sort of love crazy bookstores, but something about Yes Books just wasn’t more than average.
Their selection is immense, I will give them that, but you have to devote some time. I went to Green Hand the day after, which is much smaller, but found their books more nicely organized and better priced, so that was really more my speed than this place. Too bad!

How can you not love this bookstore? You can find a hidden gem in just about every section. Especially books on Literary Criticism, Exploration, Poetry, Literature — just don’t be afraid to come out of the store looking a bit like a mop. Yes Books should be browsed with plenty of time on your hands, time disappears in the hidden alcoves, labyrinthine aisles, and tall shelves. To do it like a bibliophile, grab a ladder when you walk in and climb, climb much like a child apple picking in the fall. If you are in a rush, you may want to call in and have the books pulled ahead of your arrival as it takes time to find the book yourself.
The owner is as fantastic as he is helpful. He’s knowledgeable on authors and their bibliographies.
Highly recommend — wish more book buying was done like this — these places are slowly disappearing.

I like cluttered vintage bookstores that smell like old books, but I also like them to be organized, clean, and easy to browse. Yes meets the first two criteria, but falls short on the others.
When I asked where the graphic novels were, the man working unenthusiastically pointed towards my feet. There I saw a bunch of used, but not particularly good, graphic novels, mixed in with books about drawing and other related topics. No separation between them. They were carelessly stacked horizontally on top of each other, so I had to pull them out of the stack carefully to check them out in order not to tip the pile over.
I did a lap of the rest of the place, but was already pretty turned off. There is an abundance of books in this store. I’m sure there’s some wonderful finds in there, but the lack of order and cluttered feeling I got from there didn’t inspire me to explore.
For some Yes Books may be the perfect place to hunker down and do some treasure hunting, but not for me.

Very friendly, helpful, staff. Amazing selection, particularly poetry.

The selection is extremely impressive. They had some books that I’ve never come across anywhere else without having to order specifically. Given the esoteric nature of the books and the quality, the price was completely reasonable, easily outpacing Amazon for many of the more interesting and unique books. It’s always a stop for me when visiting Portland.

Love this book store!
It’s messy and dark and dusty and filled with real treasures! You can usually ask the woman working and she’ll get you started in the right direction (she usually digs with me), but then the hunt is on. This isn’t a store for someone looking to be in and out with the new twighlight in a matter of minutes. This is for book enthusiasts who don’t mind spending time digging and searching for the perfect book.
I go in when I don’t have a book to read, with no idea what I want to read, and usually come out with something great!

Oh, what a bookstore!
Being one of those horrible people contributing to the disappearance of printed books, I hadn’t expected to buy anything. We had time on our hands and I was looking for some obscure SF collections. They didn’t have the collections (no one does).
Yet I walked out with a few poetry books that can’t be found anywhere, a German copy of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poems and a few other random things. Agonized over not buying another 4 poetry books plus the Marsupilami comics (surprising selection of French comics).
It’s been years since a used bookstore got my pulse up. You know, clutching the books to my chest and worrying that someone will come take them away.
Respect to the selection.

Well I finally made it in to Yes Books… the owner seems to keep weird hours and the place really is a disaster… alot of really cool stuff… but unfortunately not enough turn over due to high prices… of 40 books taken for trade… only 6 were accepted for $ 15 credit. I found multiple copies of various books… all marked the same in various categories.
Basically whatever the price is new… is cut by %50 thats it, final. Some stuff is equal to Amazon… without the shipping and handling… but other items are on the very pricey side.
The location is very poor for parking… the store relies primarily on walk by traffic… and the cluttered shelves and aisles actually made me a bit nervous.
Having had a long standing relationship with the owner of the now defunct Cunninghams Books at Longfellow square I am a bit biased and jaded when it comes to book stores…
will I go back… not likely… will I buy? more likely go to Amazon… I’d like to stay local… but a budget is a budget.

This is another one of those frustrating used bookstores for me. So so many books, so little space. The books are found on shelves, on top of other books on the shelves, on stacks in front of shelves, in rows on the floor that you desperately try to avoid tripping over, in front of the register, on the counter, etc. They’re organized, which is nice, but maneuvering through the store presents other challenges to finding a book you want.
The aisles are narrow so there’s no chance you can browse one shelf while someone browses the shelf behind you. No chance at all lest you run the risk of a «Moon Landing.» And the bookshelves reach the floor, so you’re going to have to squat or bend over to browse the bottom shelves, which is fine, but when that happens, no one will be able to pass you by in the aisle. No one wants to be the guy holding up traffic in the fiction section, so you’re always feeling under pressure to move it along even if you haven’t yet had the chance to bend over to read the spines of the books stacked behind the other stacks of books.
Now, about reading the spines of the books … there is hardly any overhead lighting and if there is, the store obviously likes to save electricity so you’ll find yourself relying on daylight through the windows to read what’s on the shelf. That’s fine, too, except after the sunset or if you find yourself in a nook not near a window. I almost recommend bringing a flashlight.
The book selection is decent. Tons of quality stuff, though all of it is overpriced. I guess that’s what bookstores need to do to stay in business these days (especially ones with prime real estate), which is a shame.
Finally, the customer service. Hmm. It’s been the same guy working the place (owner?) the six or seven times I’ve been in the store. I’ve had two interactions with him:
1. the one time I actually found a book I was willing to pay the high price for, he rang me up and said the total amount due. No more words, no less. Just the total amount due.
2. Another time, I needed to leave the store to run to a bathroom (no public bathroom in Yes Books) and asked him when he closed because I wanted to make sure I had enough time to come back and browse some more. His answer: «We’ll close when we close.»
I have experienced better and promise that you will, too.

This one is for you Harry Potter fans — not the store necessarily, but this review.
Imagine you’re going into Ollivander’s wand shop. The first thing you need to know is that the wand chooses you, you do not choose the wand.
The same principle applies here. Do not go in with the intention of finding a certain book. Once I went in looking for Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, I came out with Edgar Allen Poe’s Complete Works. I went for The Moviegoer, I got Being There. I went in for Lolita three months later, I got The Road.
For those of you who have a reading list, which is insurmountable, forget the list and let Yes Books choose for you.
Prices can’t be beat. Don’t be surprised if you stumble upon a first edition print for three dollars.
Back to Harry Potter, this shop belongs in Diagon Alley. If you miss the magic of reading from a book with a particular smell, a broken spine, and a cover that doesn’t have Zac Efron’s mug on it from some movie bastardization, this is your place.

I recently went on a Unilocal guided tour of New England /​Canada used bookstores whilst on a cruise. My first stop was in Portland where I found this gem. I can safely say after visiting tons of stores up the coast this was my most favorite. It is such a quaint and perfect little used book store — all other used books stores should take note! This is perfection.

Quirky and chaotic. A great assortment of curio for the bibliophile.
They do not even keep an inventory of what is in store. You just need to explore and see what you discover.

I am a huge fan of used bookstores. I love digging through stacks and stacks of books to find some hidden treasure that I didn’t even know I wanted. If you do, too, then Yes Books is the place for you.
There are tons of books (seriously, the store is deceptively large), so it might be a good idea to show up with a list. Then again, the books aren’t particularly well-​organized, so good luck finding what you want. Better to browse and be pleasantly surprised.
Don’t miss the erotica section next to the register!