Half Price Books

Compared to the other locations (Huebner & Bandera) this one is a flop.
First of all, items at this location cost more than the identical item at their other stores. For this extra price you do not get a better shopping experience, space is more crowded & the store employees are not as eager to assist as the other locations. Still, I keep it in my rotation when I’m looking for particular books I can’t find at the others.

Half Price Books is such a cool store!
This place is really great for getting an old paperback. They have a wide variety of books, most at low prices. They also sell audiobooks, DVDs, CDs and vinyl.
The prices are generally half of the cover price of the book, but often they go a lot cheaper than that. This isn’t the place to go to get something currently on the NYT Bestseller list, but if you’re looking for something that was on there a while ago, this is the place.
The store is clean, and well lit. There aren’t many places to sit and read, so you have to sit on the floor to take in a sample of your book.
The staff is helpful, and friendly. They’ll buy back your old books once you’re done with them.

This is my go-​to location when I’m in town. Two decades in Texas means I’ve racked up quite the quantity of literature, and I regularly stop in with a few boxes to sell back as I pare down my collection. HPB is quick, staff is friendly, and their selection is massive– this isn’t their largest location in terms of square feet, but I do feel it’s the best-​stocked in town.
Gifts, records, music, DVD, and other media towards the front, with a bonus rear entrance for those looking to sell*. Book sections are neatly divided by fiction and nonfiction with subgenres. On my most recent visit, they were running a 20% off sale for the entire store during Memorial Day. Join their mailing list for regular discount coupons.
NOTE: Despite being a used book store, they do have deals with some publishers to offer slightly discounted (20% max) new release books (usually the hardback edition only, some are even signed). These are located near the entrance.
EDIT: about selling back your books here. If you expect face value or even half of MSRP, you’re delusional. For that, you’ll have to list your books yourself on Amazon used and ship them out. Roll back your expectations, people. Also note that they will take everything you bring them, but may donate or «recycle» unsellable materials (typically due to condition).

This is the go to place for me for used books and the variation in the quality of the books is a big draw. I have found some volumes in amazing shape and some in a little tattered shape but for bibliophiles this is a great place to find some quick reads for amazing prices.

Usually come in to this location (nearest to home) Im not much of a book person so I stay away from that section, I collect comics. Along side my younger brother. Today we went in and asked if they could unlock the area where more valuable comics are kept, we waited a good 10 minutes and nobody showed up to unlock it, then asked again for help, nobody came. We had some other comics we planned on buying but after that service we put them back. So we may just start going to another location.

I generally love this place but sometimes the prices can seem a bit high for the condition and age some of the books are in.

I recently went through my bluray collection and gathered some movies that I realize I no longer watch. All discs were brand new, some watched only once, all but one were bluray+dvd combos and one of the several was a double feature. The guy counted the number of cases by hand and then offered me $ 15. He didn’t scan anything, compare it to what’s in stock or anything. I looked at him almost in disbelief and then laughed, put my discs back in their bag and left the store. $ 15 and you didn’t even scan, compare to what you have or anything? I’m good. Titles like Goodfellas, Leon The Professional, No Country For Old Men, Prometheus, Skyfall and 8 other bluray+dvd combos both recent releases and the offer is an insulting $ 15? I sold less quality titles to CD Exchange for more than double that. This was definitely a joke.

I will probably write this again and I totally believe this, when go to any franchise food or book no two of your businesses will be the same. Contrary to popular belief the experience you have at the Wal-​Mart on Vance Jackson will be different than the one you will have on Jones Maltsberger Road. Similarly with the Half-​Price Books locations on Broadway and Huebner Oaks these stores will yield two different experiences. Unfortunately, the location by NW Loop 410 is world’s apart from the two. If for no other reason than to use these as references to gauge your experiences there go check them all out.
There is nothing really wrong with this location. Certainly it does not suffer from a lack of inventory. It’s big and spacious. They have books on just about anything and everything you can imagine. They carry books on art, film, cooking, metaphysical read, sociology, fiction, poetry, Brit Lit, comic books, DVD’ s, vinyl, etc. They have sections in the store where books are locked; rare books and adult themed literature. Which oddly I find myself glancing at.
One issue this location has is in the available space here. Books where inventory is shelved can be compromised when too many people try to look at items. Since the space is narrow only a few people at any given time can realistically occupy these areas. For example their Huebner location has ample space for patrons to move more freely without nudging other people. At this location I always find myself bumping into customers. While other times I feel like I am engaging in a game of Frogger where I am bobbing and weaving between shoppers. Add to the fact this store is not user friendly.

What I mean to say is that I don’t see that many employees surveying the area like the one on Broadway. At the Broadway location I constantly observe employees surveying the store in order to help patrons. Most recently I saw an employee spend 20 minutes with a customer searching through piles of records trying to help them find Motley Crue on vinyl. But here the employees shuffle frantically through aisles, sometimes right past patrons.
Lastly, the checkout lanes can be interesting as well, depending on the time of day or season of the year. They have three checkout lanes but most times one station is actually open. This doesn’t make sense since most of the time this place is slamming with customers. As a result the lines get long and areas along the store get clogged with traffic. While I do like the online discounts they send you via email sometimes the buck or two you save is not worth the trip.
My suggestion to them is to move the vinyl section to the back. This area disrupts the flow of the store. Or at least move stuff you aren’t selling. This will free up some space in the store. Secondly, they need to have helpful employees on the floor to answer patrons questions instead of sending them to restock misplaced items or worse to work registers. For the most part the typical employee is a bookworm and a resource, so why not let them flex that muscle? Keep them in the aisles where they are really needed the most. And lastly have all the checkout lanes open! Get us in an out of your store so more people can rummage inside for more items.
I do like this store. It has areas where you can sit and read books. It has an awesome collection of literature, DVD’ s and vinyl. But there is still room for improvement. It just needs to tighten up on the available space, the extent to which employees interact with patrons and the check out time. Other than that all is well at this location. Yes, I still believe that no two store are alike.

It’s not as big as other locations, but it wasn’t bad. No one asked if I needed help, which is good, because I don’t like to be bothered while browsing for books. Pretty good ambiance, and also relatively quiet. I would recommend any of the locations to the avid reader on a budget.

It’s hit-​or-​miss but I have found a couple of treasures here. I enjoy popping in here when I happen to be in the area and have some time to kill. Just last night I found a really obscure band (that I only discovered because they would play on my Pandora station) CD tucked in the clearance section for only $ 1.00! What serendipity!

The last time I went to a bookstore AND bought books was… hhmmmm…I don’t remember now. I have always been ordered books online. But since I moved to a temporary place, I don’t want to mail anything there, so I decided to pay this bookstore a visit.
What type of books I like to read? Mostly history and autobiography. But I don’t have a favorite author and I don’t have any particular topic that I follow closely, one day I“m interested in the Tudors family and the next I’m reading Andrew Mellon (which is a great book BTW), I was looking for a book that I can read on the plane (I’m traveling overseas during Thanksgiving and Christmas). After browsing for 30 mins, I found Defenders of the Faith and Young J. Edgar, both are 5.99. Great prices.
My only disappointment is this place doesn’t have too many selection on autobiographies. But I love their vast selections on World History and American/​Texan history.
I think I finish my books (I“m currently reading Meet You in Hell (Carnegie and Fricks), and House of Morgan, both are great books if you are interested in Robber Barron), I’m going to come back and spend some times browsing the books, maybe Napoleon?

My friend and I decided to check out this place. Not too bad I really enjoyed their record selection. We didn’t have too much time to check out the whole store but I’m sure we will come back for a longer visit next time. My friend did buy some sweet vinyl.

I hate this store. Tons of wonderful books I want to buy and a helpful and friendly staff. Darn it! I’m gonna go broke at this place. haha Seriously, it’s a wonderful store with a great selection, great staff and great prices.

Get lost in the heaps of books! What a wide selection.

I hate this location with a passion, I’ve only been once or twice because they had a book I was looking for, for school. It’s not even close to where I live. If you make the mistake of going on a Saturday like I did it’s nearly impossible to get through the store, it’s tiny. For some reason it doesn’t smell like a book store, there is a mixture of old books and body odor. There are some strange people in there at times.
The employees, however, were helpful and showed me where I could find a particular book. He even opened the book and showed my how it could help me out.

Stacks are a bit tighter than the Huebner location, but that isn’t a weakness. More books = less space = crowding closer with other customers = forced socialization.
In the Sci-​Fi Fantasy and YA genres, I’d say the collection is much more diverse (read: no more than 5 copies of HP or Twilight wasting* space on the shelves) and after my initial greedy grab of 9 books, I had to pare it down to 3.
I was also pleasantly surprised to find recently published novels in great condition at a cheaper-​than-​usual price. I get the general sense that books are cheaper at this location than the other HPBs, but that’s just silly. Certainly they have a regulated model for pricing.
There were a few library-​bound copies of books, tattooed with the original Boerne library stamp. Fine by me: that protective covering will make the hardcover last even LONGER, though I will have to explain to perusers of my collection that I don’t steal from libraries.
Bragging sidenote: I found a compilation of all 10 novels of Amber in a massive elegant tome for $ 9.99!
*Afterthought: I have no vendetta against Harry Potter or Twilight. They are just easily found/​borrowed, so it irks me to see multiple copies of the same book on shelves, especially for books with a higher page count = thicker spine.

Over the course of my adult life I have amassed a collection of books that could rival a small library. They’re somewhat of a security blanket for me. I love reading and somehow that has connected to loving owning all these books. About two tears ago I decided to stop purchasing new books, and have become probably the last person in the world left who still frequents libraries. But as I began to pack for my third move in two years, I couldn’t help but wonder why I’m lugging these heavy books around that I no longer read. So after much thought, I opted to downsize my book collection.
The deal I made myself was that for every book I wanted to keep, I would choose three to get rid of. A friend of mine suggested I visit Half-​Price Books mainly because if they choose to purchase anything you may get a little money but also anything they decide not to purchase they actually accept responsibility for donating to charity and have a «No Landfill» commitment for your books.
So, I packed up my books. It’s possible I shed a tear but regardless when I was ready to go I lugged 8 boxes of books over to this location. The deal is they accept things all day every day but you can’t leave the store while they sort through your things. (Books, CDs, DVDs, multi-​media, magazines within a month old, and records are accepted). You probably wot make a ton of money, certainly less than you paid new, but it’s a good program and you can be sure it goes somewhere good regardless.
The staff was super friendly and very helpful. There were five customers ahead of me and they were absolutely slammed, but they worked quickly and efficiently to get us all through. I was super happy with my experience and would highly recommend you try it next time you’re looking to downsize!

I took some books back here to sell recently. It was terrible.
It took OVER AN HOUR just to scan about 20 of my books and tell me that they were worth a whopping $ 24.75.
I DO NOT recommend this location. Check out the one in Huebener Oaks.

I never have been a fan of reading, I only read when I have too. You know, new toy manual, bank statement, speeding ticket etc. When I started taking the kids to the library to get some books. I thought to myself «What the hell, I should pick up some books myself.» Well it didn’t take me long to figure out that I’m a really slow reader. I was in the first half of James Patterson’s Jack and Jill and it was already due back. I searched around town and the Internet for a decent price to purchase the book with no luck. Then remembered Half Price Books, and found a coupon somebody posted on Twitter. So, with a %50 coupon in hand I venture over to Half Price books.
I was surprised to see that Half Price Books, had a big selection of used CDs, DVDs, and old school vinyl lps. I found a lot of records I grew up with, Van Halen I, Kiss Army, Willie Nelson and the grand one of them all the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. I wish I could have bought them all, but I will on my next visit. The staff was friendly in answering any questions I had, and they also saved the book for me when I called earlier.
My only gripes about Half Price Books is that they charge ½ off of the cover price, not the ½ of the sale price you might get at another store. So for a newer released book; you may be able to get a brand new book for just a couple of dollars more. My other gripe about Half Price Books is no matter the condition of the book its still only half off cover price. But, in my case Jack and Jill is over 10 years old and I got a good deal. If you sign up for their email newsletter they will send you coupons. I give Half Price Books 4 stars, If you shop around you might be able to find a better deal on a new book.

Half the price. All the funk.
I never understood the full price bookstore concept in the first place. The only reason I might go in there is to get some coffee and if I want to read something, I’ll just grab a book or magazine and read it.
When I’m done I’ll put it back.
I don’t know about you people but I’m in no hurry to pick up the latest Rachel Ray cookbook or Dean Koontz novel. Most everything I want to read I select because it’s in the library or at the discount bookstore.
Which brings us the long way around to Half Price Books. Rows and rows of fiction, non fiction, children’s books, cookbooks, travel books, etc. Not to mention Cd’s and DVDs all slashed to must go prices.
How do they do it?
Well the place kinda looks like your neighborhood public library branch but who the hell cares! Your a reader you should be beyond such superficialities.
Aha 36 points and triple word score!