Alas, all good things come to an end, so does this location. Years ago, I raved about this place being a nerd-vana? Now, it's nothing like that. All the little things that made me want to drive out to this place are dead and gone. Shelving for old X-Box, PS, Nintendo, Sega, Atari, and Intellivision games? Gone. Replaced by row upon row of soulless Funko Pops. Boardgame section? Hardly any used and all new... and no real reason to buy there as opposed to Amazon or other online BG retailer. RPG section? No more 1e D&D modules or older materials, or anything else for that matter. Just the same old 5e crap, with Critical Role mixed in, with video game guides slowly spreading into the section like a cancer. The only good thing was not in the store, but in the parking lot, where they had a car show going on. The place turned from nerd-vana into just another BAM! bookstore (the owners of 2nd & Charles). Won't be back. read more

We discovered this mecca of used books, video games, role playing games, music and comics years ago on a road trip between Florida and Texas. It used to be a Books-A-Million from the same chain. They have a great selection of used tabletop RPGs that also includes some new products at full retail price. It's a huge store that buys from customers. Getting into and out of the parking lot is difficult because U.S. 190 and service roads are confusing and traffic is chaotic. I use my phone to navigate even short drives in this part of Covington. read more

Do not sell your things here unless you're desperate for a few dollars. I would rather donate than to sell to this company. They sell your items for 3 times the price that they offer you. I get making a profit but these guys are a total rip off. I hate to see companies like this thriving. They will no longer get my business. I will buy elsewhere and I'll just go donate all my things. Id rather give it away than to sell to this place. read more

Worthless place. I was told on the phone that I could bring my old vinyl records to trade in today. I told them I had 6 boxes of records and was told that was fine. I then drive 30 minutes to the store and get told I'm only allowed to bring one box of records a day, and they were backed up all day anyway. I then asked if I could just leave the boxes there and have them go through it whenever they have time since I was in no rush. The guy gets his boss over, who informs me I can't do that because all records have to be evaluated by close of day. He said he has to "look out" for his employee, and to come back first thing in the morning. In other words, waste another hour of my time and however long it would take to evaluate the records. Horrible customer service, joke of a place. read more

Such an unclean place. Already had a bad first experience here while trying to sell books. Customer service is so unfriendly. read more

2nd and Charles - Dirty toilets and bathroom - Bookstores Near Me - Covington, Louisiana

See all

Not my jam. It's hard to tell new books from used and frustrating to see obviously used books priced as new. The staff was pretty nice, if a little distracted. It's my first time in one of these stores but I don't think I'll be back. read more

I loved the selection of the books here. The amazing part is when I see a huge bin of free books outside the store. It really shows their commitment to allow people who cannot afford to buy or rent books have the opportunity to read books (Definitely they wont have new releases or Harry Potter or any other popular author books in the bin). read more

2nd and Charles - Free Books box - Bookstores Near Me - Covington, Louisiana

See all

Empty nester with oodles of parenting books that I brought in today. They're no longer taking in any books because they've had to let go of all of their staff. They're too backed up to receive anymore books because no one works anymore. Sad. Donating all these books to a parenting center or something. read more

Agh yes, what once was home to Covington's hot spot, Books-A-Million is now a large second-hand store with a primary focus on used books. There is also an array of used (and new) vinyl, cds, and movies. I entered this store recently and was told to wear a mask. I calmly obliged. But here's the thing...this a place where everything is constantly being touched and put back. That's the nature of books and records. You want to physically touch them because there's beauty in the tangible. The girl who told me to put a mask on was pretty aggressive about it and then returned to the section they price and tag all of the incoming used items. Were they disinfecting these items? Nope. Were the employees using gloves? Nope. Were the employees working 6 feet apart from one another? Nope. Point being, it's quite hypocritical to expect a customer to do something when the establishment isn't in turn practicing what they preach. If you are going to catch Covid in this establishment you better believe it's going to be from touching a Dr Seuss book or Pink Floyd vinyl, nothing a thin piece of fabric over one's beautiful face could prevent. read more

Just a shitty BAM, buy back is ridiculous, they offer Pennie's for the items you bring in, funko pop everywhere. Prices are staggeringly high. Don't recommend even going through the door to get shitty service. I would give it no stars but, that's not a choice. read more

My nieces asked me to run them over to this shop. The youngest to look at the Pusheen collection and the preteen because she was looking for a certain book. The used book selection is huge! So there's a good chance you'll find something you'd like. The gift shop items are fun and eclectic. I ended up picking up a godzilla gift for a friend who has a kaiju obsessed child. Staff was friendly and the space was clean... wish the books were a little better organized but that's just my librarian nature talking. read more

11:00am on 02-10-23 The lazy punk working the cash register needs to be fired. Tried to convince me they didn't have a database for their inventory so we had to look for stuff ourselves. I worked here for three years. Inventory management is key here. Also, the prices aren't nearly as good as they used to be. read more

This is an awesome shop that has a little bit of everything and you can buy pretty much anything here that would fall into the "hobbyist" category such as comic books, old games and consoles, instruments, board games, books and much more. We were here on a Saturday afternoon and the place was really packed. There were kids running around looking at comic books and there was even a band playing at the back of the store. I can see that this is a place where parents like to bring their kids to explore their imagination. I thought it was really cool that they sell "old" cell phones like the very first iPhone and things like that. I'm not sure why you want one, but if you do you can find it here. I was really impressed by the extensive collection of records and dvds they have here as well. Most records and DVDs are "pre owned" so it's all priced well and you should be able to find some good deals here, if you're willing to look. No matter who you are or what you're into, 2nd and Charles is sure to have something that will bring a smile to your face. read more

See all

I love this place. You never know what unique goodies you'll come across from books, shirts, movies, and games to pop culture and back to appreciation of classic literature. I've never had an issue in here as the employees are always happy to see you. It's a fun atmosphere for geeks and nerds alike. They also buy and trade items! read more

See all

I like the selection at this store and have gone multiple times. But do not sell your things here! They will offer you $1 for a $20+ item. I was expecting around half price maybe a little less, not even. I understand needing to make a profit but they also don't have the decency to even offer you good store credit for your item. $25+ item and they offered $3 cash and $6 for store credit. Ridiculous, I took my item back. Good for a bookstore. Bad for anyone trying to sell your things. read more

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.. read more

2nd and Charles - Cool sign in back of store. - Bookstores Near Me - Covington, Louisiana

there was a bleach blonde with glasses working the cash register and she was wearing an orange anime jacket. i usually have had a great experience with these workers but today the worker was extremely rude. i asked her kindly to search a book for me and she rudely told me to hold up and overall the experience was bad. do better. read more

Best bookstore on the northshore although calling this place "just a bookstore" would being doing it a great disservice. New and used books. Great retro music, games, instruments and dvd/blu-rays. Cool tee-shirts, posters and other great collectibles. read more

If you are ever in the area with time to kill stop here. I say time to kill because this is not a place you can just quickly run through. It is stocked from head to toe with books, comics, games, music, ect. I love coming here because I love books and puzzles and they have both, the boyfriend loves coming here for the comics and comic related items. It's a great store with pleasant employees. read more

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 2nd and Charles. 2nd 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. read more

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. read more

Do Not Sell your possessions here! The prices they pay for your perfect condition items is frankly an insult. A whole box of special edition collectible CDs and brand new books; they offered me $8! What a racket! I will never sell to or shop at these scam artists again and urge others not to patronize this den of thieves. read more

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. read more

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. read more

I've been to 2nd 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. read more

Great store to kill a few hours in. Currently, it's my go-to for inexpensive children's books for my daughter. Huge selection! I often find many great condition copies of classics and other books on our to-read list. We always leave with a stack and rarely spend over $20. I love browsing the other departments as well and particularly like the gift item section in the front of the store. Don't forget to browse the free bins out front. Never know what you'll find in them. Wish there was a cafe inside or nearby. That would really give Mandeville's Barnes and Noble a run for its money! read more

Love the store but something has got to be done about the god awful music. I understand the need to counter the silence and distractions from others but trying to read a synapsis or simoly browsing becomes damn near impossible when some strange tune is just blaring through the sound system read more

Horrible horrible service. Decent selection of used products but don't even bother going to the games as so many of them aren't tested you aren't guaranteed to get something that works. And coincidentally there are no refunds. The man children working here and slow to answer any questions or requests you have, specifically behind the games counter. The 90% of the store that used to be games or real content is now funko pops. Phone service was rude and inconsistent. Multiple times I've called and had them check if certain items were in stock and nothing was a problem, but other times I've been straight up denied by what I can only assume are lazy employees who don't want to do a part of their job. Overall I would recommend going to Amazon, ebay, or any certified online seller if you're looking for specific used goods. Basically everything they have in there is second hand and any original products they have are mediocre. If you can wait a day or two just go online. Probably better quality and way less hassle, (especially for games). If you want any new game just go to Walmart or target Dont even waste your time here they won't have it. In conclusion we should shop online and let low quality stores like this die out like they should have years ago. read more

The service here is awful. I'm currently sitting in line with about ten people behind me with one person checking out people. One lady asked for something they had to retrieve from a case and instead of asking her to step aside while someone else grabbed it, the employee held the entire line up for another 5-10minutes. We've been in line for another 10 minutes. The service here is terrible. read more

I brought 10 books here to trade in. They only accepted 2 of them. Claimed the others were in bad shape. The credit I received for the 2 was almost an insult. The prices for the books they are selling are sky high. read more

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. read more

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? read more

Only place in town to pick up a record in decent shape or even a brand new one.

This is the superstore for used media of all types. Vinyl, CDs, games, books, etc. It's huge. Very reasonably priced--they have a $1 CD bin and most others are $4. Books are categorized and alphabetized, which is a big help. Lots of friendly workers who actually know their merchandise. My only complaint is that a lot of the CDs and vinyl are unalphabetized and uncategorized...I like to browse, but that's a little much. If you have kids, there are lots of special events and they have various theme days for the Comicon crowd. Surprising to see a place this hip in a town as dull as Covington, but there it is! read more

2nd 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. read more

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. read more

This is my first time trying out 2nd 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. read more

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. read more

Went to this store today and found an audio book I liked. I checked out. On the way home I went to listen to the first CD and found it missing. I went back to the store. I was offered a refund, however, I would have liked to have had the rest of the book but was not willing to pay full price. The manager told me that was not possible as damaged items were returned to the warehouse. She said it was corporate policy but when I called corporate they said that it was up to each store to decide on policy. I asked for the manager's supervisor. She told me that he was on leave of some sort. I asked it there was anyone filling in, "Yes, but he's still in training." Why not sell the damaged goods instead of wasting all that plastic? It was not a new item as it was not shrink wrapped. I'm sure it will just get thrown out since it was a used item anyway. This is the second unpleasant experience I've had at this store. What a waste! read more

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! read more