The Book Barn — Attraction in East Lyme

Let me warn you all before you go! If I could give zero stars I would. My family and I arrived here with five boxes of books. We called ahead of time before driving here to see if they buy books and the sweet woman on the phone made sure to lay out a plethora of information that they do indeed purchase books and made it sound like they would buy any and all books. When we arrived we went to one of the staff members and expressed that it was our first time selling to the book barn. The burly man that we first dealt with yelled for another woman to come over and they both treated us like we were an utter inconvenience. While looking through each book they both were consistently muttering under their breath. After looking at only two of the five boxes the burly man decided to snidely announce "I don't think we'll be taking much" once again like we were a complete inconvenience. Once the burly man and the woman with brown hair who looked about in her 30s finished going through the boxes, they both looked at me and dismissively said "we're done with these, you can take them now". So I replied, "oh no, you can keep the ones you are not buying as donations." And they both proceeded to dole out nasty glances and the man chortled before rudely saying "Did you want to pay me $50 to get rid of your old books then?" This statement naturally shocked me given the crass nature of it and I said, "No, I am offering to leave the books here that you did not think we're worth buying for free as a donation for your customers free of charge." The woman then decided to chime in as well chuckling and insolently added "if you would have showed up originally before we went through all of the books and said they were a donation we would have taken them as a donation. But since you wanted us to go through it and buy (which they bought roughly a dozen books mainly hardcover for a whopping $14. I'm not looking to gain a large amount of funds from passing on some books, but I did not need to be treated rudely.) we will not take the remaining books as donations." How very peculiar is this? Once we packed up all the unchosen books back into the car they were both gossiping with the other staff members and everyone was passing on dirty glances to my family and I as we were getting back into the car. My family and I will never be back, not even to simply buy books, which we did often. The staff are absolutely audacious (aside from the original woman I spoke to over the phone prior to driving here) and I highly recommend keeping this in mind before selling to, donating to, or buying from this establishment. Kindness goes a long way, not only did you lose my faith in your company, you lost my family and my business. I was soft spoken and humble all the way through to the end and as a nearly 60 year old woman, I did not need to be treated as such when trying to bless someone with...

Did you know book worms are real- well they can a number of different kind of insects. Now, here's the sad part this place has an infestation of them!

I have seen a number of the Beetle grub recently at this store. This is New England, keeping a number of your books in a musty basement and outside is not ideal.

This is the third time now I have gone there and found book worms. I have gone here for 20 years and as of last year, I have seen them three times now here.

Book Barn is a large beloved local staple. I have changed my rating from 5 stars to one. They brag about buying over a thousand books a week. While they give you like a quarter for, which I have heard the employees mock you about the books you sold them after they think you have left.

They have three stores. The kids one has moved next to dairy queen. The way they organize the books and set ups make no sense. Example, horror novels and the occult used to be together. Now the horror novels are in one store and the occult is now in an old Airstream or van? sitting outside of another of their stores over a mile away. These books used to share a shelf in the same building. When I asked where the books went I was rudely told that it went to Chapter 3. Explain what that means next time, thankfully I knew. I found the van siting outside of Chapter 3 which is in walking distance from the barn. I had driven from the store next to the dairy queen. While browsing I almost fell out of the van too bc nothing is organized and everything is everywhere. They keep a pile of books near the door. I didn't notice that I was so close to the stairs that lead in and out of the van and lost my footing. Thankfully I caught myself in time.

My point is this is disgusting. The owner seems like this store has turned into his own personal hell. He is always angry and overworked. He gets cheaper and the place is getting more run down. Plus he hires the worst staff who are really mean. The older employees all seem to have left and its a shame.

Book Barn used to be one of my favorite places and this breaks my heart. This place obviously has an infestation and its awful. They seem to be buying nasty books and they used to better than that. Also to the people who bring them that stuff, you can buy a mold cleaner and save your books. Stop giving away your...

Been coming here to sell and buy books for years now and it's still just as overwhelming and fantastic as ever. With the shear amount of books the dedication to organization and knowledge as to where anything you want is, is absolutely incredible. It really is a "second hand Barnes and Noble." Staff is helpful and knowledgeable. Love this place. OVERWHELMING amount of books here. Do not underestimate the amount of books sold here! There is a map you can grab of the 3 stores and which genres they sell so make sure you check them all! This is a destination for us. They also will buy books at this location only so make this one your first stop. Drop the books off you want to sell, browse for awhile and they will let you know which ones they want and give you a voucher for the $. I have never been to a place that sold so many books, ever. It is incredible. Inside, outside, small buildings scattered around the property filled with books. I picked up some College level course books on CAM design and programming in C++ that were only a few years old. (Perfect for the @ home do-it-yourselfer like me) for 11$. Just make sure you read the map, go to the store you're interested in (they're all pretty close to each other, 5 mins or so) and take your time here. The staff are also super helpful finding specific books or authors. Such an amazing find. Definitely try to visit all 3 at one time to get the feel for the layout and inventory, just make sure to set aside some hours if you really want the full tour. As for popping in and grabbing something specific, the staff make that a breeze too. Just find which store has the genre you need, go in and ask....