Once Read Used Book Store — Local services in Mankato

Two stars because this is not a normal bookstore in which you buy the books for sale with money; you buy the books the owner allows you to buy. If he thinks you’ve picked out too many, then he won’t let you buy them. Six people could buy two books apiece, and it’s fine; one person buys the same dozen books for the same price, and they may be denied the sale, and given a lecture on the store’s business model as an explanation, with an emphasis that it is a book EXCHANGE, not a book STORE.

However, it’s not a true book exchange either, because no matter how many books you exchange, you will still need to pay for half of your total order in cash.

Hence the two stars. You might spend an hour picking out books that are ostensibly for sale, maybe even with the help of the one employee, only to be denied by the owner at the register.

As for the books themselves, the newer books and paperbacks are competitively priced, while the nicer hardcovers, older editions, specialty/oversized books, etc, are pricy compared to bookshops in the Twin Cities and online marketplaces such as Abebooks.

Of course, the owner can run his business however he likes, and place has been in business for 40+ years, so whatever the method, it’s working, but it’s certainly not your typical local bookshop with warm, inviting staff who are happy to meet other book lovers. It would be great if there was an actual policy posted somewhere, so the decisions wouldn’t seem so arbitrary. It would be even better if the “premium” inventory not usually sought by casual customers was priced in such a way that the owner could feel comfortable making big sales, and could be happy to see return customers instead of treating them with suspicion.

Still, it seems like this is the way the owner wants it and I respect that, just as I appreciate him providing Mankato with a placed to buy used books. For people looking for last years bestseller, this is probably a good place to shop. For book lovers thinking of driving down from Minneapolis because they’re looking for somewhere like Sixth Chamber Books or Midway Books, it’s probably not worth it.

RESPONSE TO OWNER: Respectfully sir, 44 years ago was 1976. It’s time to update policies to reflect recent innovations like the internet and smartphones, no? Maybe sell some books online?

Anyways, I love books. I have a large library because I collect nice books. I exchanged a LOT of books and never argued about how much store credit I deserved, or tried to convince the owner to give me more.

The owner did not seem to care that I loved books, nor did he care to see the photos of my library that I tried to show him several times on my phone in an effort to connect with him and prove I wasn’t reselling anything.

He was convinced that I was somehow scamming him by reselling his books, and I could always sense the cloud of suspicious that hung over me in his bookshop. It eventually came to a head when I dropped by after work, and attempted to buy some books at full price. Apparently I misunderstood the rules the owner had set specifically for me, because he came out of the back room and explicitly accused me of being a scam-artist trying to rip him off by reselling his books, and said that if I came in his shop again he was calling the police. I was shocked, and tried to explain/understand, but he sent me packing.

Sir, you can easily check the average price of books online. If you had done that, you would’ve realized that there is no way ANYONE is reselling your books for a profit. Or you could’ve simply asked me about my library, and maybe we could've even been friends. I didn’t even want to post this experience because I don’t want to hurt your business, but now you’ve accused me AGAIN of being dishonest (posting “inaccuracies”) without naming or addressing what I said that was inaccurate.

I’m not in Mankato anymore and would never shop at your store again, but wanted you to know how much it hurt when you did...

We visited this store on a Saturday and it had a steady stream of patrons. The selection is very large, although many of the books are old and worn and the topics we were interested in seeing were pretty thin (travel, bird and animal identification, metaphysical topics, and children's books). The woman who was working was fantastic --she helped us carry in our books to trade and she was very helpful and personable. This is definitely a fun place to spend some time if you...

This is a classic used book store with floor to ceiling shelves. It can appear overwhelming but it's great for browsing and if you happen to be looking for a particular book you are in luck because the man who runs the place seems to know his entire inventory like the back of his hand and he's also friendly so don't be scared to ask for help. This store also has resident cats (they don't seem to shed or smell, plus they aren't overbearing, so they are an all-around...