Green Apple Books — Local services in San Francisco

Incredible bookstore! I bought a Frog and Toad chapter book for my preschool class, I enjoy reading out loud to the kids and they listen attentively plus enjoy the pictures. Only complaint I have is I was at Green Apple Books two nights ago and overheard a very loud conversation between Green Apple Books employees coming from the back storage room. This employee was loudly describing herself as a black woman to her coworker saying she was one of five black students at her college and that she wouldn’t want to have a child with a white man because she’d be disappointed to have a “white baby”, her comment earned her a chuckle from her colleague. I am biracial-black and white and that comment from the employee has seriously bothered me and is so deeply hurtful and offensive I am stunned that someone would have the lack of self awareness to make a comment like that out loud and that someone else would even laugh at such an awful comment. If someone said out loudly that they didn’t want a brown or black baby it would be considered deeply offensive but somehow it’s okay to say out loud that you wouldn’t want a “white baby”. Those employees are surrounded by books, books and more books and apparently the individual who made that disturbing comment went to college yet they are still incredibly ignorant. Get some self awareness, lower your voice and read a book instead of rattling off your ignorance loudly at your place of employment. A huge portion of people on this planet are illiterate-be grateful that you have been taught to read and write, be grateful that you had the opportunity to go to college-only a small minority of people in the planet have the privilege to attend college....

I was not pleased with my experience here. First of all, this was my first time here (I received a gift card) so when I showed up to look at childrens books I was unpleasantly surprised that it was up a small flight of stairs. Might not be a problem for some but as a mother with a 3 month old, I had my stroller. Now how do I get that up there without having to take her out (she was sleeping), fold the stroller up and carry them both up? Luckily another customer was friendly enough and helped me carry it up. Then I had the issue of navigating through the rows with columns in the middle. Not easy. I was lucky to also have another customer help me carry it back down when I was ready to check out. I was not happy with the organization of the books. It was hard to find the types of books I was looking for. Dr. suess, touch and feel, board books... When I did find them I was not happy with the prices. The new books were the prices printed on the books from the manufacturer. And dont get me started on the used books. Not only were they not in Great condition they were still expensive! $5 for a used Dr. suess book with a torn page...I can get the same book on Amazon, NEW for $4.30!! Some books had no price listed. After just deciding, I have a gift card, just choose a couple books. I went down stairs to checkout. The cashier was not the friendliest, he barely talked and seemed annoyed when I asked him to take off a couple books because the price went over my gift card amount. Needless to say I gave the balance of my gift card to the customer behind me because I will not...

Green Apple Books is one of the best bookstores I’ve ever visited. For someone who is easily enticed by stacks of books, this place is heaven.

They’ve an eclectic collection of both new and used books. The collection is carefully curated, and while browsing the collection, one finds both well-written short reviews as well as quirky comments, which just adds to a book lover’s unbridled joy. Philosophy, science, cooking, fiction, non-fiction, history—any area you name, they have a huge collection of books in that area.

While on the second floor, I came across the ‘Granny Smith’ room, which has books on philosophy, classics, history and political science. Even though it was just a room, it seemed like another bookstore in itself. I spent hours perusing the room.

Their fiction collection deserves a special shout-out as well. It’s easy to find used amazing books of fiction(both new and old) here. I didn’t spend a lot of time here since I was scared I would end up adding 15-20 more books of fiction to my already picked up books. I found some solace in the fact that I would visit Green Apple again soon, and then pick those books of fiction.

The checkout was smooth as well. The person at the counter and I chatted a bit about Emma Donoghue, and she was kind enough to recommend another book of hers.

There are two levels at Green Apple and each level has a pretty amazing collection. The store is quite conspicuous, so you cannot miss it from the outside when you’re there.

Thank you for being there Green Apple, I’ll be...