Do you like inexpensive used book hunting? Do you enjoy an old book smell? Do you want to chat with…read morea sweet, funny, knowledgeable employee who has been working at the same book shop for 40+ years? This is your place. A weird and wonderful selection of books both ancient and new, all priced so perilously low that you will have a problem not leaving with a large stack for under $30. Adorable in all aspects, this shop made me long for days I spent in my grandparents' library at their house as I grew up and kept me hunting in the stacks for almost an hour.

Great bookstore!! If you've never visited before: hardcovers are 50% of their original sales price…read moreand paperbacks are marked. The owner is always there working and can help you find any type of book you're looking for. There's an excellent selection in the History Room, especially if you're looking for interesting UVa or Virginia knowledge!

Rude service -good customer service goes a long way and this book store does not that have that at…read moreall. Uncomfortable seating small kids section.

There were some good options and a somewhat aesthetic atmosphere (like most bookstores). Since this…read moreis a 'new books' bookstore, all titles were cover price. The advantage of bookstores that aren't Barnes and Nobles is the better pricing and atmosphere (at least in my opinion)-- and New Dominion just didn't have either advantage on a typical B&N! The prices were more expensive than most bookstores, excluding B&N of course. Further, they didn't have a sale, clearance, or just any special sections. They did have a good selection of classics. When I asked the sales associate about a book price, which was damaged, she acted offended and gave me a shrug saying that that's just how it is. I didn't mention it being damaged, I just asked to make sure that the hardback was indeed the price listed on the cover. Many of the books they had were not in mint condition and there were not multiple copies of titles so you couldn't just select another one. Might as well save the bad parking and cramped store and head to a Barnes and Noble. I try to support small business whenever I can, but this store just didn't have any perks (that I could find) above a normal big manufacturer like Amazon or B&N. I will try to visit again one day and give it another shot.

I've gotten books here for several years. It has a great selection of books and books on CD. I…read morealways leave with a couple of months worth reading. Great store.

I love this place. My son and I have been going there for years. Cozy and a great selection of good…read morereads. I haven't met a person working behind the counter that I didn't like. The staff is friendly and helpful. I'd much rather buy from this place than the Amazon and Borders. Worth supporting a small bricks and mortar store for tangible books. Going there today in fact. :-)

Always my first stop when looking for obscure military history for my father's Christmas presents!…read moreTheir military history section is the best in town and always has reasonable prices. The owners are always pleasant to have a chat with as well. I always bring guests to Blue Whale if they want to experience the Downtown Mall.

A very fun and eclectic bookshop in downtown Cville. We stopped in to look around and had a lot of…read morefun checking out the books and art/drawings. The woman working there was also very kind and helpful.

Be Super aware of the return policy. I purchased 5 items on Sunday. The baby wasn't thrilled by two…read moreof the items. Went to return two items on Monday and the they could not be returned because the box had been opened. One of the items was not even assembled and neither was played with. Tried to shop local ‍

Bottom Line: Great toy brands and tons of variety…read more My husband and I went into Shenanigans because it has such high ratings, was located a 1/2 mile walk from out hotel and its holiday shopping season. I was impressed with the size of this toy store and excited to see that they carry many of my favorite toy brands like Folkmantis, Calico Critters and Ravensberger puzzles. They had a lot of fun sounding games I hadn't heard of as well. Aside from high quality toys and puzzles Shenanigans also had some really nice seasonal stuff like Advent calendars. My husband and I explored for quite awhile and finally landed on a Jellycat branded stuffed animal for a friend. For such a lovely store I would have expected there to be a little bit more in the way of service. For the fifteen minutes we spent in there the only acknowledgement we received was three words when we checked out - twenty-three seventeen. Maybe the employee was just having a hard day.

Such a cute and quaint bookstore. And the staff make it so much better…read more My husband and I were in Charlottesville for the weekend. With a rainy weekend on tap, hiking was out of the question so we went to the Downtown Mall and wandered through the stores. I love Charlottesville...I want to live here. But that's a story for another time. Back to the review. We walked in and were immediately greeted by the nicest person I encountered all day. She was taking down Christmas decorations but offered her time to help us find our next read. She also offered some restaurant recommendations and went above and beyond to help us as we shopped. If course we bought books! She was so lovely that I would have bought something even if I didn't want it. We went to Blue Whale later that day and it was like night and day as far as shopping experiences go.

I went there earlier with a friend and they didn't have what they were looking for my friend so we…read morewent to somewhere else but still a nice store.

Welcome to the monkey house, loud awful music - that according to the employees can neither be…read moreturned down NOR selected for. Wow, corporate mind control and distraction at a dystopian level. Funny thing is I think I'm the only one who has ever complained? Why, why do you need loud music in a place like a bookstore? Employees - this should be an OSHA issue, workplace health and safety. Having sound such as that piped into your environment is not healthy. Sadly, bookstores are not really plentiful in C'ville, college town and all...

Service was excellent. The staff was very happy to help me find certain volumes. I don't have…read moreanything more to say. I would like to end this review.

Long-time book seller. Hosts annual open house for students from The Rare Book School at UVA.read more

Arrogance at its nastiest. The lady who runs the place is a know it all who could care less about…read morethe the customer's interests.The selection at Gilliam's is stale and prices are closer to Christies catalogues from the 90's than the current market. There are some nice things but for a serious collector there are much better shops in VA.

Reasonable priced bookstore with a large selection of both collegiate and classy items. They have…read moresome super fun finds in here and it's some of the best UVA merch I've seen.

I need to get with it and write some UVa related reviews. In the past, I had a thing for UVa…read more With Monticello nearby, and its unique history, the Jeffersonian world made an impression on me. Part of it could have been that I began my college studies at a place where going to school in shorts, Hawaiian shirts, and flip flops most of the year was the norm. And it wasn't just the surfers who did that. In that regard, UVa was a definite counterpoint. I had also visited the campus and was quite taken with it. So, I would purchase things from this bookstore and have them sent to me, out to "the Coast." I'm talking coffee mugs and t-shirts. To have ordered license plate frames would have been disingenuous, so I didn't push things that far. I didn't get in to UVa for a graduate program to which I had applied. Perhaps you now better understand this mitigating behavior. I see reviewers weighing in on the prices of items, notably textbooks. That textbooks are high priced, and ridiculously priced, is a ubiquitous situation. It's like that everywhere. With the interwebs, one now has other options. Clothing and gifts are also always high priced. The best one can do is scour the store and look for discounted items. I was at UVa again and realized I hadn't been in possession of either UVa coffee mugs or UVa clothing for years. I reasoned that, to avoid postage and the headache of looking on line, I should buy a few things at the bookstore while there. I bought 2 coffee mugs and 2 t-shirts. The typical college bookstore is a likely candidate for 3 stars. However, the customer service at UVa stood out. A person initially helped me with locating apparel and pointing out some of the better values. I was then turned loose on the gift section, where I did a compare/contrast of which coffee mugs offered the best price-quality rapport. I found two. At this point, I needed to complete the purchase at a cash register. The woman working there was humorous and friendly, listened to my "story," and knew the mugs might see some bouncing around for some distance in the trunk. So she made sure she meticulously wrapped each mug and packaged them so they would make it home intact. They did! I'm not the only person who likes college paraphernalia. When I worked in downtown Atlanta, there was a lady on my floor whose cubicle was festooned with University of Georgia and Bulldogs items. I didn't know her, so I never asked her why. I did ask another employee: "Hey, what's with 'so and so,' and why is her cubicle plastered with University of Georgia stuff? Did she go there?" The employee I knew said, "No, she didn't go there. But she's a big UGa fan." I had some friends outside of work with whom we would discuss our respective jobs and just cut up. I told one friend, an Auburn University grad, about the lady at work whose cubicle was a shrine to the University of Georgia. She knew where I was going with this. And I added that she didn't even go there. She just nodded and laughed, explaining that, in the South, this can happen, saying, "We call them 'pickup truck alumni'." I bring this up because, as I was buying my items, it made we wonder if I was now a "pickup truck alumnus" of UVa. I did get a sheepskin somewhere else, though. So, if assigning stars by word count, I could use "pickup truck alumni," which would only make for 3 stars. I need to "find" that extra star, and that extra word. I can do it one of two ways. I can make pickup two words. That would be "pick up truck alumni." Or, if I didn't want to make pickup two words, I could just exclaim, "Pickup truck alumni ... Wahoo!"