This second branch of Kazoo books is a delightful new and used bookstore. I found the selection to be quite broad, and they were willing to order anything you need. I especially liked that they marked down the price on a lot of their new books and that they drew attention to local authors.
A few tips for those interested in checking it out:
** Both branches have store cats. In this store, Aztec lives in the main building. There's an annex with classic literature that's cat free. Aztec wasn't an "in your face" type of cat, a little rubbing up against my bag and otherwise it seemed content to do its own thing.
** Trade-in policy: You can use trade-in credits toward 100% of the price of used books or 50% of the price of new books. You do have to pay the sales tax on all books (can't use credit). For example, if you have $10 in credit, you can buy a $5 used book with trade-in credit, but would have to pay an extra 30 cents or so in sales tax. The other wrinkle is you have to pay the publisher's price on new books if you use your credits. They mark down the price on many of the new books - e.g., $20 for a booked marked $25 by the publisher - so if you wanted to use your credit you would use the $10 credit and then pay the extra $15 plus sales tax.
** Trade-in Credit Tracking: They do this on computer, which is awesome! No more losing the little slips that have your used credits on them (like I used to do with Green Apple Books in SF).
** Genre Books: If you're interested in a particular genre, it's worth calling first to ask which branch has a better selection. I like fantasy, and while the selection here was good, they told me they have much more fantasy at their Clarendon location.
Great vibe. The staff there was friendly and helpful. I'll definitely be back. read more