Blue Vase Books — Local services in Green Lake Township

Well, there goes the dream of designing one of the best used bookstores ever, because these folks already did it! This store is Brilliant! I've driven past a dozen times and this time I had 20 minutes extra to swing in, that wasn't nearly long enough... I've wandered the stacks of hundreds of used book stores and this is one of the very best I've ever seen!

The store is spacious with lots of light to read by and more books than you can browse, even if you have hours to spare. The books are amazingly organized, cataloged and displayed, so it's really easy to find exactly what you are looking for. The store is clean, there are chairs to sit and read in and they have two computers setup so you can even search their many thousands of titles not on the display floor. They have a wall of audio books to dig through and a section for large print books as well.

The employees were friendly and very knowledgeable, one even taking the time to walk me to two different areas that the book I was asking about could have been, it was in the second spot. They have a cool book trade-in program, read their website for specifics please, and even offer a book drop box outside the store, in case you just need to drop books and don't want to wait till they are open.

If they would just put in a coffee station and a spot to buy a snack, I could spend the whole day here and never need to leave. I was able to find three 'hard to find' titles in only the 20 minutes I spent wandering the store, which means I'll make sure to have more time on my next visit!

Bottom line, if you love searching through thousands of used books, looking for treasures to take home, go here and disappear into the stacks for hours of bliss. Just make sure you don't buy the books I'm looking...

A sad shell of what they used to be.

Back when BV was in their old location, they were a fantastic place that we would regularly recommend to others. Sadly, the years have not been kind to this place.

Blue Vase has changed several of their practices, mostly for the worse. They have doubled their prices twice in the last few years and have increased many book prices even beyond that. Furthermore, they used to sell all their books in-store and you could get some real finds there; but now they filter everything so that anything with real value stays in the back where they sell them online. So you'll never find anything rare or valuable anymore.

They do allow trade-ins, but read the fine print. Of particular note, your trade-in balance used to not expire, but it does now. And buyer beware: their trade-in balance policies are illegal (both state and federal laws); the redemption period is waaaay shorter than the minimum legal period, placing Blue Vase in violation of both state and federal laws. I have informed them of this months ago, with links to the laws they're breaking, but apparently they don't care.

To add insult to injury, they regularly use huge stickers on their books which damage the books when removed. It's not hard to find stickers that are made to come off, but BV won't use them.

To summarize, what used to be a place where you could spend an afternoon finding great books at cheap prices is now just another ho-hum used bookstore. Save yourself the drive and browse Abebooks instead; all of BV's best stuff is only...

10/10 easily if I was able to rate this store.

My mother and I stopped in while out wandering around. We were both quiet surprised at the selection of books. Most book stores don't have the quantity like you guys do.

The staff was very friendly and the store was clean. The hours for the store are perfect as well.

As for the prices they were an amazing price. I had taken a picture of the post listing prices so that it would be easier to keep control of how much we would be spending.

I chose 3 Stephen King books that I didn't have. My mom picked up 10 western books for my father when she got to the register and checked out she found out that she had only spent $27ish. She then told me take these to the car I'm going back for more. We then picked up another 10 for my father.

After about and hour in the store mom and I spent $60 on 23 books. That was an amazing deal considering 3 of the books were hardcover.

We immediately called my father, other family members, and even friends to help spread the word about the book store.

I can't wait to go back to see what I will find...