Phoenix Books

A little disorganized and it’s hard to believe in such a «hip» town like SLO that this is the ONLY used bookstore here…

Phoenix Books… I give you one star in the hopes that you will listen to your customers and change your ways. The one star is for PRICE.
The store is adorable. Amazing. Cuteness beyond cute. Others that are saying it’s disorganized and messy… that’s the charm! Stepping through Phoenix Books is like walking into a Harry Potter movie. The stacked books falling over… the old building full of ambience makes me want to come every single day and buys books from them every week! But I can’t, for they are so overpriced I fear they will go out of business and do NOT know the market at all.
For example, I wanted to buy my daughter the book «Found II». I saw the price of $ 4.25 on the front cover and was very pleased to buy it. When he rang it up for me, it came to $ 16.25. «Excuse me sir, but that is $ 2 ABOVE what it cost brand new. That can’t be right!» He snaps the book away and says it is right and $ 4.25 was the price they paid for the book. He said the price was so high because it was out of print.
A quick Amazon search shows me that there are 98 copies of this book used in excellent condition starting at $ 4!
I wanted to love you Phoenix Books. You have everything I would ever look for in a bookstore; charm, ambience and that feeling that you could stay for hours and hours and just get lost in a magical land of old books … but you are too overpriced to stay in business for much longer. And that makes me sad.

This store has pretty much any book you could ever ask for… as long as you don’t mind taking the time to look for it yourself. The store is understaffed and disorganize (they’re getting better!) simply because they have so many books! The best gift I ever gave my wife was an empty box with the instructions to fill it at Pheonix Books. I spent under $ 100 on an amazing gift that was exactly what she wanted (she picked out over 10 titles!) and it gave her joy the entire year. I love that this one of the lasting local businesses in SLO.

A great used book store from paperbacks, books on tape, to sheet music… just a great place to find almost anything! Best place to lose yourself and enlighten your day. A must in SLO

Ok, this may be a disorganized store to a degree and it definitely has old book character, but it is a small business and has a constant influx of used books. It is a great place to find used books and they have an amazing selection. They also have a good selection of new books. If you are a book lover and/​or you are looking for a book that is out of the mainstream, this is the place to go!

I just discovered this book store yesterday. First of all, it’s extremely disorganized and there really isn’t any order to the store. Also, the guy at the counter was very stiff and not too friendly. Here’s the thing: the chaos of the books and the indifferent demeanor of the cashier sort of added to the charm if that makes any sense. It’s a nice break from the cookie cutter businesses. I look forward to going back and «finding» my next literary adventure in the many heaps of Phoenix Books.

The only reason, and I mean the ONLY reason, this place is still in business is because it’s the only used bookstore in town. It’s disorganized, it’s impossible to find anything, the customer service is horrible, it’s dirty and the books are overpriced. The first time I went in I asked if they had a particular book, the employee walked me to a huge shelf and said, «If we have it, it’ll be somewhere on this shelf.» Nothing’s in order, so I didn’t end up finding it. Thanks, pal. Second time I go in I find a Dr. Seuss book for my daughter with writing on the cover, a spine that was literally falling off and writing on the pages that was priced for $ 8. It was an 8^th ed book, so not rare or anything. I asked the employee if he could move on the price and he replies, «It has quality issues, but someone will buy it.»
It pains my heart to say this, but just buy your used books on Amazon. Go somewhere else if you can. Barns and Noble is better, and that’s coming from someone who is a diehard used bookstore fanatic. Every town I travel to, I always seek out a used bookstore. This is the worst I’ve ever been in.

I called expecting to be disappointed but that wasn’t the case. I have a couple of cartons of books and called Phoenix to see if they knew of a worth place to drop them off. The gent on the phone pulled me back from the edge, found out what types of books I had, and suggested I bring them in for their buyers to go through. It seems the historical and art books are in bigger demand than fiction. Plus, without actually saying so I got the impression that if they were only interested in a portion of the books they would see the rest made it to a good home. I’ve never had a bad experience inside the store and now the same is true for on the phone. Keep up the great work.

I’m a fan, but I would LOVE this book store if they would just let me reorganize…

Great store — one of the last great local bookstore. Some fantastic rare books along with a wide range of beach-​ready pulp fiction.
The employees are also incredibly thoughtful — one chased my wife down to bring her drivers license back after it fell our in the stacks!

I’ve been coming to this place to simply pass time for a while. You can get lost in the amount of books on any subject imaginable and this store is wonderful in that sense. It wasn’t until recently that I actually went in and bought a couple of books. One very important thing I noticed was that they charge the full original price for used books. Maybe not all of them, but definitely the ones I got. They were just a couple novels and a book on film development, nothing special. They were worn and had been used a lot but Phoenix charged me the printed price on the back of the book and not any kind of used price. Definitely a turn off. Especially when it was my first time buying something there.

This places embodies what is good about San Luis Obispo. A small operation with a big heart, supported by the loyal community Wonderful selection, for the most part well organized, good prices and helpful staff.

I like this store if you’re just browsing for something to jump out at you. I’ve gone in looking for a specific title before and it’s kind of ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ whether they’ll have it or not. It’s kind of a rambling mess but I find it charming — I’m sure it drives other people nuts but to each his own. The prices are decent and the salespeople friendly enough (ideally bookstore people ask you once if you want help then let you wander until your heart’s content — in my opinion anyway. If I need help I seek them out and they’re always helpful here).

~Feeling Smart and Reminiscing~
My girlfriend needed a book on parenting or childcare for class to discuss. Decided to check out Phoenix and see what gems they had on this topic. The place was a true used book store, which I’ve never been to. I’m not much of a reader, but it was fascinating to me to see so much books on so many topics.
It was disorganized, but I don’t mind. I came in expecting that anyways. What’s great is that I saw so many books from my high school AP English days and all those novels that we had to read. I haven’t been reading since coming to college, so this visit kinda sparked my desire to get back into the mind of great thinkers of the past and reminisce on all those nerve racking high school discussion circles.
Picked up Albert Camus novel for 3 bucks. Boom! And my girlfriend got a directional behavior book for parenting children for 5 bucks. Definitely love the discount prices!

This place should be on the TV show «Hoarders.» It’s not a bookstore so much as it is a vast, disorganized collection of stuff, some in huge blue bins stacked with detritus to the overflow point. The filing system, if you can call it that, is haphazard. So if you come in with particular titles in mind, don’t try to find them alphabetically. The location of books is a bit eclectic, too. If you want something, you might see if you can pry the guy at the counter away from doing nothing long enough to help you find a book.
With about a month of dedicated inventory weeding, filing, and re-​indexing of shelves, this could be a kick-​ass book store. You can’t sell what you can’t find, gents…

I’ve been regularly stopping in SLO on my drives up to San Francisco (it really is the perfect place to break up your journey) and I pretty much have to stop here and I always end up with a few books.
I agree with other reviewers, that it’s a little disorganized, and it’s not super cheap but I kinda like the lack of organization., it makes the whole experience like a treasure hunt. I would not recommend coming here for something specific, and frankly I would not recommend any used bookstore for specific books (isn’t that why there is
). I think the beauty of them is that you never know what you might find. I personally could spend hours just walking up and down the shelves picking up random things. This bookstore is quiet and peaceful too and you can browse as much as you want.
So yeah, it’s a little messy but give it a go, you never know what you might find unexpectedly. Definitely a must for true readers and book lovers!

This store is pretty fantastic. You do have to do some treasure hunting as some books are just stacked up on the floor, but I loved the eclectic feel of this place! I found a huge stack of books that peaked my interest. I think the prices depend upon how well the book is kept, because one paperback still ran me around $ 7, so it’s not the cheapest place to buy. But for me to waste an hour or so browsing, reading, and discovering books to buy was totally worth it.
Now, time to get to reading. My book collection is growing faster than I can get through it.

I can’t tell you how much I love used books stores! This place always has something for me, and I think I better stay away and catch up on my reading! If I go in I just get more books! Books are everywhere and the staff will help you find things, but for me I just wander and find so many things! Did I tell you I love used book stores? Oh yeah I do and this is the best in town!

Ok, I love this place because I love books and they are the only store that has a ‘smut’ section. Not really smut, even, it’s just anything sexual (so, for example, I’ve found the complete scientific articles up to 1995 on Human Sexuality in there, which is a fascinating read on gender development, etc). Also, the prices cant be beat, you’re paying anywhere from $ 4-​$ 8 for old scientific textbooks or other published materials (like Homosexuality and WWII, Joys of Sex, etc… yes, I really hang out around their smut section lol).
Only downside as other readers pointed out is its not very easy to find books — its pretty much the section, then browse (not often alphabetized or in any set order).

This is an AMAZING used bookstore but you have to know what you’re in for before going.
Pros:
+ Amazing selection of titles (literally hundreds of books per genre)
+ Reasonable prices (generally 50% off original price)
+ Friendly staff
Neutral:
? Because of the mass amounts of titles, things aren’t necessarily in order.
Cons:
— None
If you’re like me, hunting through piles of books looking for «treasure» is a joy and it’s easy to lose an hour or two in stores like this. Just be sure to give yourself enough time. If you’re in a hurry or have a very specific title in mind, you might be frustrated.