Molly's Bookstore Melrose — Local services in Melrose

Excellent, full, well-merchandished childrens' section with a good young adult section, nice greeting card selection, nice but small gifts area.

Goodness knows balancing inventory costs is hard, but the adult offerings overall aren't maximizing shelf space and therfore variety. The store is lighter on nonfiction, heaviest on "literary" fiction and a whole bookcase of hardcover special editions of classics. I wish they had at least one mass market spinners and more backlist trade paperbacks of top 100s from the last 10 years. The genre sections were too small (mystery section was ok) and don't seem to have been stocked by someone with knowledge of the backlists.

It's a lovely space and I'll definitely return for childrens' options, but the store's offerings for folks with a small budget who might've walked out with a mass market or three (instead of one hardcover) or the trade pb start of a genre series is limited. A reader who wanted something lighter-weight or an only occasional reader wouldn't have a good-sized selection. I wouldn't expect the store to be truly all-purpose, and they are newer, so I will give it another go in a few months and hope to find more in the adult store to...

This is such a lovely and well-thought-out place, especially the large downstairs children's room with little houses for the kids to play in, giant pillows, a careful selection of old and new kids' books. (A great opportunity to start a tween/teen's book club meeting series?)

I know it's difficult to compromise between making more money with each sale and making more sales of cheaper things, but I do think this store could benefit from having more budget-friendly options, and maybe that would happily coincide with "public-friendly". They'd get a larger and more differentiated crowd with more best-sellers and paperbacks (a used-book area would be amazing, though I realize that's a totally different thing). It just seems like independent bookstores so often choose being intellectual and upper-class and expensive over being mass-market and accessible and cost-friendly. I think it's possible to do both with some careful ordering, and though this place is small I do think some thought about balance and price (and therefore audience) distribution would...

This shop is absolutely adorable, with two floors of book-reading essentials and gifts. The lower level has an adorable kids section, with cushions, rugs, reading nooks, and pillows for your kiddos to spend some time reading and relaxing. They also have a bunch of kids gifts and toys, as well as varying adult perfumes and other relaxation items. The staff were so sweet and kind, and very welcoming. And there is also an elevator to the lower level for those that need it. Also, there are some items for sale that did not have a price, so you may need to ask the prices before going to the register to purchase...