A-1 Book Exchange

I dont know how to even rate this place. My particular experience wasnt great, but I like the concept of used bookstores… eek, I’m conflicted. I’ll go with an average 3 star rating.
So the only reason I came here and bought the Unilocal deal ($ 10 for $ 20 credit) was because of a previous review that mentioned they had children’s books. I work in a school and was looking for books I could use with my students… Unfortunately for me, all their children’s books seemed to have been donated to schools/​teachers and they didn’t have anything left for me. Huge bummer. =(
I ended up getting other books I didn’t really want or need simply because I had already bought the Unilocal deal. They have some more modern used books… but most of them are just really old books.
Rumor on the street is that the owner is thinking of shutting this place down soon, so if you want some really cheap used books I’d recommend going soon.
Unless they get a huge donation of children’s books, I probably won’t be back.

YOU GOTTA GO ON SUNDAY! For the 20% discount. I went last Sunday (They’re open noon-​6 p.m. on Sunday.) with 44 books, and they took ALL OF THEM. That doesn’t happen at all used book stores.
While I was browsing in the stacks, he even sold one of the books I’d brought in!
So, I check out with 26 books, get a credit on paper for 18 books (44−26=18) that I carry in my purse for a future purchase.
For 26 books, I paid $ 31 and change. Who can beat that kind of recycling?
There’s so much here. It’s an amazing place.

For a sci-​fi and comic book fan, this place is great. It’s tucked away in a more industrial area of Olivette, but don’t let the location fool you. This place is HUGE, and has used books coming out of its ears. A quality selection of classics, mystery, fantasy, and all of the other genres you would expect. Right up front is a couple of long boxes of comics that you could spend a good amount of time thumbing through. It is definitely one of the finer used book stores in the greater St. Louis area. And if you happen to be in to porn, this place happens to have a ton of that as well. Like, way more than you’d expect. Just a whole bunch of porn in this place, which for some reason is right by the history section. .. so be careful if you’re looking for a book about Watergate. You could find yourself in the wrong section very quickly. Tricky Dick Nixon indeed.

I am a HUGE used bookstore fan. In fact, when I was a kid, where I grew up we didn’t have any kind of bookstore, so it was always my dream to live in a city where there was an actual store just for, ya know, books…
Fast forward 15 years and I live in St. Louis, which has plenty of bookstores, most being the overpriced chain sort. My book buying habits are making me broke, so I start seeking out used bookstores, of which there seem to be few.
A friend told me about this place and I finally went. I felt like I walked into heaven. Not only are the books CHEAP, on Sundays they are 20% off! Sundays are my prime book buying days, so this works perfectly!
I gave my friend a gift card to Barnes & Noble and she spent it on two books-​Shutter Island and the Girl with The Dragon Tattoo… when I went to A1 for the first time I saw those exact two books within the first few minutes for a fraction of the price!
I come here probably twice a month and now I’m so backed up on my reading it’s funny, yet I can’t stop. I won’t even bother browsing at the chain stores anymore (darn those salespeople talking me into the membership card!), I can browse here for a fraction of the price.
They do have a fairly large Playboy magazine section which is pretty funny. I haven’t been to the one in St. Charles yet, I got really intimidated by the «Adult Bookstore» sign out front. One day I’ll work up the nerve to go in there and see if there are actual books and not just porn inside.