2nd and Charles

This is my first time trying out 2^nd and Charles! I’ve heard great things from from friends so when I drive into to visit my parents I decided give it a try. I’m an old school gamer type of girl so the selection of Nintendo 64 games is limited but they do have a nice selection for new game systems. They even had a wii set up with the newest version of smash bros for the customers to enjoy. Nothing wrong with some friendly competition between fellow gamers! They have a great collection of books, which is where I spent most of me time, for great prices! I encourage anyone on the north shore or visiting to make a trip! It will be worth your time seeing it has a little bit of everything to offer.

It gets one star for being massive. I drove excitedly from Hammond, finding out that there was a multimedia, giant bookstore in our vicinity. Hugely disappointing. There is zero organisation in both books and other media. Simple things like being organised by genre in music? Don’t even bother. I went in looking for subject matter books in ANY field related to college. Nothing. Also, virtually no one working. Not once did I see anyone on the floor. Maybe I am spoiled by living in Austin for the last 10 years, having Half Price Books in a variety of places. By the way, it is vastly overpriced for what you get on the shelves. It’s clear that they have no competition, thus the ability to charge five or six dollars for a two track CD single from 1992 that is neither rare nor high-​value. Maybe it’s the scourge of being in Louisiana?

I’ve been to 2^nd and Charles probably fifteen, twenty times by now. While their used prices are not the BEST (see: ebay and Amazon) the on-​shelf selection is always quite large and in heavy rotation. I’m always surprised to see what new stock they have, what weird stuff they’re trying to shill. It’s fun. I leave with some new purchase in hand most of the time.
As far as trade values go, you can’t go wrong with bringing books here, especially crappy paperbacks. They seem to give money for anything. I always take store credit, which is a little more. They give more money for video games than GameStop, who tend to short change people. Got 17 dollars for a game GS was going to give me half of that for (this is store credit, mind you). Books are haphazardly organized at the store, which makes them a pain to sift through.
I will say that there are some creepers/​weirdies who hang around the place, pulling indiscriminate stuff out of the free bins out front and hovering around the store staring at people. But they’re the minority, for sure. I had one guy follow me in and out of six different aisles, moving pretty close to me. Freaky. Seems like that’s part of the aesthetic, though; it’s like the place kind of harvests its own little alt-​culture, an anomaly for stores attached to big companies. Interesting place – gets busy on the weekends nowadays. Nothing else like it on the Northshore.

While I was unimpressed with their high vinyl prices ($ 3 for a Laura Brannigan 45???), I got back more than I expected for my box of comics and the staff were pleasant. The few books I glanced at were pretty pricy as well. I’d rather support the cheaper independent shops.

2^nd and Clarles is a great place to find new and slightly used books. You can also find used games, gaming systems, records, and art work. If you have a book or game and have no use for it, you can sell it to them for store credit. They also carry comic books and old toys. Very neat concept.

This is a great, big multimedia store for used (mostly used, some new) items. They have vinyl, cd’s, books, comics and other stuff. I come here for the vinyl records. I’ve found several records here that I haven’t found elsewhere. The store has a great selection and the prices are very reasonable.

LOOOOVE! Just go there if you are in the area. That is all. They even have a basket in the front of free stuff that hasn’t sold. So you can at least walk out of there with something free and who doesn’t love free? Awesome little gift/​book/​vinyl/​comic store. Just go. GO NOW.

I have been here a few times in the past year. I don’t go to the Northshore without visiting, no matter how tapped my bank account is.
There has only been one time that the book I was looking for was in stock, but this is the kind of bookstore that you walk through to browse through, not with a shopping list.
As a very literary-​minded person, I could happily have a first date at a bookstore. This store is amazing because I’m pretty sure just about anyone I brought here on a «date» could find something to fall in love with, from the nerdy tshirts and socks to the old video game consoles and games for sale to the comic books and gaming section. Okay, I date nerds. For non-​nerd types, there are all sorts of classics, cook books, self-​help books, hobby books, and literary novels for sale.
On my first visit here, there was a small nerd convention taking place, and there were a few authors there for a signing. It’s good to see a business taking interest in the local community.
In a weird coincidence, I also found a card written out to someone who shared a name with my then-​boyfriend stuck in a cookbook. I gave it to him and he thought it was a joke, once I’d convinced him I actually had found it in a book, we stuffed it in another book to pass it on. That’s the kind of magic that happens at this store.

This place is awesome! It’s like Bookman’s in AZ but clean, organized, and staffed with friendly people.

This place is a nerd-​vana. They have a wonderful selection of books, vinyl records, DVDs, CDs, even old Atari 2600 games and Intelevision games.
The downside is the fact that the book organization is done by genre and it’s very difficult to find books that you actually want. Other than that, the place is aces!

Really fair trade-​in prices and a great selection of quality used books, movies, records, etc. and super fun to browse, but, for the love of sweet baby jesus, please alphabetize and correctly categorize your books!
For example: short story collections are not «anthologies,» novels about animals still belong in fiction, not pets, and, Hilary Mantel shelved in romance? Come on now.

Yes, I’m one of them people who drive all the way to Covington for this store. In my normal obsession with Covington it was pretty great to find this store along the way.
At this location it has vinyl, books, comics, notebooks, electronics, and much more. These items or new and used and beyond reasonably priced. I love that I could go in there and find me some vinyl for cheap.
Whatever your needs or from gaming systems to relaxing books you can get it here. You can also bring in your stuff to trade for goodies in store or cash, which can be dope.
Ample parking at this location so no worries there and it’s never too crowded. Also a very friendly staff.
I love this store.

As an avid book reader, this place is great. I can trade in my used books for store credit to get new ones. LOVE not having to deal with Amazon and Ebay over books anymore!

Imagine what would happen if you combined a used book store, a thrift shop, pawn store, and comic book nerd haven. Got it? Ok, it’s called 2^nd and Charles.
2^nd and Charles is a division of Books a Million that specializes in used books, cds, vinyl, dvds, blu rays, electronics, video games (all the way back to Atari), comics… you get the idea. They even buy, sell, and trade action figures. In fact, my nerd friends regularly clean them out on action figures and comics to complete old sets.
Most of the space is for used books but there are racks and racks of music and movies. I wish there was a better selection for video games and comics, especially graphic novels/​trade paperbacks.
Prices are pretty fair, usually below the ridiculous things you may see on ebay. Here there’s no bidding war. However, you can engage in a little haggling. One member of my group was buying two Star Wars action figures, a half dozen Marvel comics figures (part of a set, no less), some Atari games, and a DVD for his girl. He managed to talk them into giving him three figures and the DVD for free if he bought everything else.

What a fun store. The staff is helpful and there is certainly a wide variety of merchandise. I dare say it has a better collection of books than the Books A Million that used to be there. I’m not into vinyl, having embraced the MP3 thing but, if you like that, they seem to have tons of vinyl records.
I got an Asterix graphic novel for under $ 4 and a hardcover about the history of Sotheby’s for $ 2. There are deals among to clearance items, for sure. I’ll be back.