Recycle Bookstore — Attraction in San Jose

This place is a treasure-trove of music books and books of all sorts. There are so many books passing through it's worth it to visit as a weekly routine.

Hm, especially music books .... they have opera libretti, I saw a series of books on piano jazz by Art Tatum, there are just treasures galore.

However, the music books are so plentiful that there are stacks of them besides the shelves of them and rolling carts overloaded with them. I was looking for trumpet books and wanted to access one of the higher shelves, so to make a space to put one of the step-ladder-y things, I tried moving one of the rolling carts, as I had in the past .... BLOOSH!! Over it went! And nailed me on the leg because with the stacks of books there wasn't room to jump clear. which hurt. Not as much as the time a skateboard hit me in the leg but pretty painful.

Some colorful language was issued and I went to the front and collected my trumpet, which they'd had me check there, and muttered something about having just gotten Amazon Prime as I left, but seriously, I love this place and consider it a treasure to be supported and cherished.

Update May 2021: They have indeed enlarged their store, taking over a space next door, and "book-a-lanches" seem to no longer be a risk. It's bigger, airy-er, and even more...

A great bookstore with thousands of new and used books! It is best not to come with a specific book in mind as the organization of the shelves leaves much to be desired. Mostly used books spilling from the shelves into crates or sometimes just piles on the floor, there is always something to pique your interest. We visit from time to time, but Today my son and I found the rest of a pair of series he is reading. I found and was reminded of some my favorites from the past I want to get his mother to read. Then I just started finding weird little gems, like the original Mercedes McLaren GTR book that came with the car at launch! Amazingly cool and not something you'll find at a big box. The other thing is the knowledge of the inventory. Didn't see any computers, organization is haphazard at best, but somehow the older gentleman behind the desk seemed to have far ro strong a grasp on what they had, how many, and where. Now the shop small, shop local movement is great, but often times poor service and high prices have been excused, but here the service was great, prices of the Couple new books we got were not only below cover, but even below the barnes and noble member prices! Please check them out, support local because they are, and they are still better than the...

I would love to rate this book store, higher, as they have a huge selection of books. This is a great bookstore if you want to browse. If you are looking for any sort of technology books , don’t waste your time coming here. They have roughly 20 books only, and they are all at the very top shelf (you would need to ask and grab a ladder) . When I asked why, they have a very limited selection in a bookstore in the heart of Silicon Valley (tech capital), the clerk replied that the books go out of date very quickly (not true). but they have an entire section on ancient history, where the books are just falling apart and taking up rows of space (weird). Customer service could be better. A woman came in to take part in the book buyback, and instead of allowing her to place the stack of books she had in hand on the counter ( which was clear), the clerk asked her to put them on the floor and wait for the manager. When asked when and how long, the clerk replied “I don’t know, just wait…” 3 stars unfortunately. My recommendation to the ownership/management: make this place undeniable as a place where developers and people who actually buy books are willing to frequent. We are out there...