There are many used bookstores in the Tampa area, including the Old Tampa Book Company, Corner Books, Mojo Books, USF Books and Camelot Books. Each store offers its own atmosphere and selection of used books. The Old Tampa Book Company, located at 507 N. Tampa Street, Tampa, Florida, offers not only used books, but also rare and out of print books. It offers a diverse stock of over 40,0000 books. They offer both fiction and non-fiction, from automobiles to zoology. They also have a $1 sidewalk sale every day with all of the overflow volumes. They are placed out on the sidewalk every day for people to browse through. Inside, bookshelves line the walls and are filled with volumes, books cover tabletops and are stacked on top of bookshelves. You can even find books in the bathroom!
Book Corner Book is located in Brandon – a quite but busy suburb of Tampa – at 728 West Lumsden Road Brandon, Florida. They have over 20,000 titles in their collection, and specialize in pirates, treasure, shipwrecks, oceanliners (especially the Titanic), aviation, military history, Florida, travel and children’s illustrated books.
This store has rows and rows of books to browse through. They are closed on Sunday and Monday, though, so if you work in the Brandon area, you might want to stop by on your lunch hour if you can’t make it out to them on a Saturday. The store is run by three bookaholics – Michael, Tory and Christy. When you walk in, you are welcomed by the sounds of classical music or movie soundtracks playing in the background.
USF Books and More offers thousands of new and used books, including textbooks, medical reference books, and school supplies. They buy back books any time they are open. They offer special programs for students, such as reserving books, a 30 day credit, if you are still waiting for student loans and, for convenience, they even have an ATM machine inside the store. They like to make it easy for students, and even offer a counter service – just bring your schedule and let the staff get the books for you!
Camelot Books and Gifts is located in Tampa, Florida at 11959 N Florida Avenue. They offer new and used books in fantasy, sci-fi and horror – especially Stephen King. They offer a “breaking news” page through their website that shows all the new titles they have received. You can either go to the store and browse, or you can browse their store through Biblio.com on the web. They have a consignment section where you can leave books on consignment.
Mojo Books and More is located at 2558 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa, Florida and offers new and used books, vinyl, CDs and more. You can spend all day inside this store, browsing books and reading. They offer a casual atmosphere for browsing. Mojo books has a lot of what the big box stores don’t – with titles from the classic to the weird and anything in between.
You can visit any of these stores while you are in the Tampa area – plan to spend a day in most of them, hunting down those special treasures!
