The Great Overland Book Company

Nicely maintained local bookstore in SF. Price is reasonable and I like how they have free give away books sometimes. :)

I absolutely LOVE this book store, I’ve found my new favorite author from here, and I can seemingly only find their books here as well, I’m so happy I found this place! It’s quite charming as well, lovely selection and books are in good condition.

Great bookstore and the man that works there is super nice and willing to help. The store is FILLED with books at very reasonable prices — books cover really any topic you could imagine. Quite often there are books on racks outside for as little as $ 1. They take debit cards, but prices are such that you should really support the local store by paying with cash when possible given the amount of fees they incur for processing debit and/​or credit cards.

I collect older books and I’m in love with their old and antique book section. I got a pre-​1900 two vol. edition of Arabian Nights for $ 80 and they’re in great condition. I think I just found one of my new favorite book stores.

The owner describes his shop like a children’s book that opens up a secret world when you enter and disappears between the Chinese restaurant and DVD store when you exit– I agree. And you’ll get sucked into this secret little world of magical books for hours if you’re not careful. I picked up some good stuff and got some good Hemingway stories to boot. What a delightful find!

Adorable.
Staff I met was so genuine and kind. I tried to sell back books and she was gracious when she turned down my crappy romance novels. They gave me a very good price for the stuff they did buy.
I don’t quite get this but simultaneously they ALSO sell their books for totally reasonable prices.
So what I’m saying is it’s great. Such a little gem of a place.
I killed a bunch of hours browsing their store.
The fiction was a bit chaotic and unorganized but their selection was WIDE.

If I ever had a bookstore, it would look like this. Please be aware of your surroundings not only are so many books crammed in here there are literal piles of books everywhere.

Ditch the kindle and come to the Great Overland Book Company.
Super old school. You can barter with books here. The nice man in front is willing to buy, sell and trade with you no problem. Despite being a relatively small bookstore, they pack a huge selection of second-​hand literature. The place looks a little rusty dusty, but oh well.
Reading second-​hand is pretty cool because you get to see the quotes/​notes made by the previous reader. It’s like the old school version of a literature forum.
Refresh yourself with classic High School Literature (East of Eden, Catcher in the Rye) or immerse yourself with in some cool new fictions (New York, Casual Vacancy). As a wise man once said, Reading is the Cheapest Way to Travel!

The diminutive size of the store is completely deceptive, if it’s quality of selection you’re after. They have great sections of many topics; for my interests, I had a blast perusing the literary theory, sociology, gender studies, art, and of course fiction sections. And the prices are just amazing — I honestly don’t know how this place stays in business, but I hope they do interminably. I don’t know how so many choice, erudite, excellent selections all find their way to this place, and how they are able to sell excellent academic works for $ 10 or less. I very much like the idea of a used bookstore, but this is one of the few I’ve been to where I was actually continuously surprised and tempted and overjoyed by what I found. Really, go here, buy some books.

Romantic, charming and unique is how I would describe this great bookstore. Really good selection and the staff is quite friendly and helpful! Found a wonderful David Hockney book for ½ the price and the book is in mint condition!

I ‘m impressed bt the store’s variety (icluding newspapers published many years in the past) and by friendly staff who are very helpful.
This store is very easy to get to by public transportation.

I moved to the Inner Sunset just over a year ago, and I cannot believe I let an entire year pass before I set foot in this shop a mere two blocks from my apartment. Had I ever had a dream in which I visited some bookstore that met my wildest desires, this would have fit the bill. Now that I’ve seen it, if I ever do have such a dream, I’m sure GOBC will stand in for that fantasy in some way. I stayed in the shop for nearly two hours browsing the two floors of books and could have easily whiled away the entire day.
Notable qualities:
° One and two buck bargain boxes and shelves before you even walk in, and they aren’t full of junky crap, rather they hold unusual quirky niche items that will include something you never thought you’d find but for a buck have to have.
° A great (extensive and varied) collection of Art, California, Western US, and Memoir, among others.
° Not only books, but paper ephemera of all kinds: poand asters, prints, color plates salvaged from books that perhaps were otherwise damaged, photographs, postcards, pamphlets, maps etc. Oh and old, even antique, copies of newspapers and magazines from around the world. Cool cool stuff.
° Really friendly staff who clearly make connections with their customers, engaging them and knowing what new finds may interest them. (I heard the man working there the day I visited talking to several regular customers about things they liked and pointing out books to them.) I also heard the story behind what the only 1-​star review here describes, and really no one should stay away from this business based on that incident. It was rather more complicated than she describes, and the employee (not owner as stated) was compassionate and competent in dealing with someone passed out and blocking entrance/​exit through the store’s front door. He was the person who called authorities to assist the guy as I understand it. Regardless, this was an employee trying to deal with a barely conscious, uncooperative, apparently homeless dude blocking his business’s doorway. Not a reason to boycott a great bookstore.
° The owner is probably a hoarder to some extent, and that is a good thing for whoever stocks a used bookstore. A discerning hoarder with a tendency for fairness over greed in pricing and selection — even better!
I dropped in to browse and ended up finding some really interesting and unusual items, both for myself and as really great gifts perfect for several friends. If you love unusual used books at great prices, don’t miss this shop. I’ll be back regularly, in fact, I think I’ll take a walk over there now.

Good place. Can never have a bad time at a book store. One can literally spend hours just browsing through the books. Customer friendly people, too. I am just glad that they are not cash only!

And since this is an item for lovers of the printed word, Adda Dada cites the sign in the window of the Great Overland Book Co. in the Sunset: «The bookstore is an island habitat; a living laboratory of intellectual evolution.»
Read more:
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I moved into the area last year, and just stumbled upon this gem a few months ago. As a student and a book nerd, this place is fantastic! You can find amazing, good quality books at great prices. Way cheaper then Amazon. And the customer service is amazing. I walk in, and they are able to find what I’m looking for within minutes. Also, it feels great to shop here, because I feel like I am making a small contribution in supporting a small business. If you need a book, this is the place to go!

This is an enchanting place to fall into.
Like Alice down the well, you’ll find nothing but magical thinking and quixotic delights at the Great Overland. No one will be off with your head here, but it will be illuminated by les belles-​lettres, biographies, old newspapers, and all of the used books awaiting your attention.
Owned by a certified bibliophilliac, the Great Overland is as full as can be with potential best friends and bed companions. It’s up to you whether you want to peruse solo or to ask his opinion on a certain edition of your favorite classic. He’s content with letting his customers meander methodically, and probably loves to see us do that involuntary head tilt to the right to read the book’s spine and make a determination if that book is one we ought to pull off of the shelves. Here, it most likely is. Alice found little cakes instructing her to eat them, but the only commands here are, «Read Me.»
As the books fall open, and you fall in, I’ll be right by your side here at the Great Overland.

I had always seen the store sign while riding the N-​Judah, but I didn’t think much to stop by The Great Overland Book Company until this past week.
$ 1 book bins are outside; fun to dive into and look for good bargains. Inside, the store has two floors of books, and that statement can be taken literally at points: not only are there many shelves of books, but also piles of them on the floor as well. There’s some semblance of order in the chaos, but I somehow found it all therapeutic to experience.
Walking through the store is like walking to a maze as you dodge the different piles of books to look what you need. Usually I’m not so keen on used bookstores, but this one made the whole idea a lot more palatable to me. It was like walking through an old friend’s house of books.
My sister and I got a few goodies for ourselves and couldn’t even stop browsing even at the register. Some overstock fiction is 20% off from the second floor. Great deals!
They have cute front window displays as well, enticing the bibliophiles walking by on Judah.

Stumbled on this place while on an explorative walk one day.
You know the bookstore at the beginning of the Never Ending Story? Well I’m pretty sure this is it. Even the unfriendly old man is there. It just has that vibe. Books strewn all over the place, stacked up so high you can hardly see the books behind them on the shelves. It’s not small but feels cramped, cramped with knowledge.
You can find some classics here. There are many good, decent to cheap priced finds. I can’t believe I never knew of this place. They also buy, sell, and trade.
(The Ivory Tower)
Childlike Empress: He has to give me a new name. He’s already chosen it, he just has to call it out.
(School attic)
Bastian: It’s only a story, it’s not real. It’s only a story.

I stumbled upon this place by chance and it is now one of my favorite book stores ever!
They have a fantastic selection of books, in particular vintage books and newspapers. I’m a huge fan of antique books, sadly I’m not rich enough to start collecting them. But there is just something about a the smell and feel of a leather bound book with old pages that makes me happy. :)
Behind the cash register is a full wall of collectible books, and there are piles of old newspapers in protective coverings upstairs.
But vintage books is not all that this fantastic store provides. They have a wonderful selection of new and used books from classic lit to very useful referance books, this small store manages to pack in a wide variety of reading treasures.

I canceled my Comcast cable at the end of 2008.
Having cable was a nice run — while it lasted — but deep down — I knew that the endless marathons of reality TV well into 2:00 am in the morning (often on weeknights) were not helping my creative energy in any way. Despite my deep love of shows like Intervention and the like — I had to part ways with my cable box.
And so yesterday I proudly brought in the new year with a quick late night read of Chelsea Handler’s memoir of one night stands — «My Horizontal Life.» A solid read and a hundred times better than losing sleep, watching Chelsea Lately (which I’ve done many a time… because Chelsea Handler is hilarious).
I purchased said book at The Great Overland Book Company. They have one of the best and most organized memoir sections I have encountered in the city.
I’m looking forward to reading the five other memoir books that I picked up yesterday — perfect accompaniments for the slew of quiet cable free evenings ahead of me.