Commonwealth Books — Local services in Boston

Great selection of books, but I was here February 18, 2018 and the bookseller was completely uninterested in selling books. He could not have been less helpful, interested in helping, or caring of whether the bookstore made a profit or not. THIRTY minutes before the store closed he began trying to get customers to leave, and every 5 minutes kept repeating the store is about to close. I have a daughter who is ten and reads on a college level and said she was going to see if she could find a young adult section, rather than trying to tell her books she might be interested in he said your not going to find anything. Who doesnt want to sell a book? He could have recommended art, music, asked what she was interested in to sell product, but he just looked at her as if she didn't belong. I was looking for a book on the Plantagenants and asked if they had any books on the subject. The reply, "If its not on the shelf we don't have it." He couldn't have been less helpful or more rude. For this reason I could tell he was not the owner, didn't care about selling books, and someone who couldn't wait to get off and leave to do who knows what. When I asked if he was the owner he said no...I...

They have a rather interesting collection of books. This is definitely the sort of place I would have spent money. The Sunday shop keeper hurried everyone out of the store a full 15 minutes before close. He made his rounds 5 minutes earlier saying that the store would be closing soon and asked that final selections were made and brought to the front. No problem, I though. There’s still time.

Nope. He paced behind me as I went back and forth between a few potential purchases. Just as I had made my mind up, he, in a very prickly tone, said that if I was going to buy something I needed to do it now.

I quickly decided to leave the book on the shelf - it wasn’t anything you couldn’t find anywhere else anyway. I later found the exact book in the gift shop of Old North Church. Their staff was incredibly polite and was happy to have a visitor buy a book.

When it comes to Commonwealth Books,...

A very cozy and crowded bookstore. I felt surrounded by books and old art prints the second I stepped through the doors. There are plenty of unique books here, although specific things may be hard to find. The organization can be a little confusing, too (two floor to ceiling book cases for “religion” that only contain books on Christianity, and then two single separate shelves labeled “eastern religions” that contain books about Islam and every other eastern religion). If you’re looking for a specific book on a specific topic, you may need to ask the staff. There is a large fiction collection and a separate section for poetry, but, again, specific popular authors may be difficult to find.

I would recommend this bookstore for browsing without a plan, and just purchasing whatever book...