Brilliant bookshop with a fabulous warehouse in Didcot! Chris, the owner, has been very generous to this bibliophile!

This is a first class used bookstore. I found a very nice edition of the chronicles of Henry James travels through Europe. Lovely gem of a book! read more

Such a cool bookstore! Firstly, I love the name- it's creative and fun to say! Skoob is huge with an infinite number of shelves with an even bigger infinite number of books! Organized it a bit of a manic way that also makes complete sense, I found myself spending over an hour in the dark shop scouring the shelves for anything that looked interesting. As a used bookshop, their books are very reasonably priced. I also love their penguin collection, with hundreds of books crammed together that all look a like and are the world's most classic stories. The staff is very smart and incredibly helpful, having a thorough understanding of what books are moving in and out of their store. Highly recommend, whether you're a Londoner or a tourist like myself. read more

Skoob Books - Bookstores Near Me - London, XGL

Wow, I love this book store! I have wanted to visit it for quite a while after seeing all the good comments here and various other sites, but I didn't actually visit until yesterday. The store was smaller than what I had expected, but the selection was varied and extensive. The staff is friendly and will help you try to find what you're looking for - they all seemed to actually LIKE books rather than simply working there, and although I didn't request assistance, I saw quite a few other people ask for it, and the staff seemed to go out of their way to help them. The store had quite a few customers, and it seem like they rotate their selection pretty quickly, which makes me want to visit again soon (and I will!) They are about half a block from the Russell Square tube station, just go up Marchmont and turn right at the Brunswick and you'll see their shingle. Any book lover should check out this store. read more

Skoob Books - This is the view in the stairwell entering the store. I fell in love immediately! - Bookstores Near Me - London, XGL

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Still a very good used bookstore, although I have to say that I thought it was better in its previous location. Now in a basement under the Brunswick complex, and just off Marchmont Street. Very helpful staff, and a nice bookish atmosphere. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect is their extensive Penguin paperback collection, with the distinctive orange spines. Seeing that alone is worth a visit (well, if you're a Penguin fan, as I am). I do wish they had a stronger fiction section, that's why not 5 stars. read more

Now this is more like it! Skoob is what a book store should be. This store is filled of used books and used books alone..the best kind. They have a great section of books about alternative sexuality, sociology and all around an interesting cocktail of books. You'll find whatever you didn't know you wanted here! This store is all spread out on one lower level of great books, on shelves that snake around into corners. This is one of the best bookstores around! read more

Skoob Books - Bookstores Near Me - London, XGL

Skoob Books is located on the backside (northern side) of the Brunswick Centre, to the side of the secondary entrance to Waitrose. It's a bit tucked away and therefore overlooked, but it offers a good selection of used titles of all kinds. Once you walk in the door, you walk down a flight of stairs to the basement (there's also a lift), and the shop opens up. Entire bookshelves at the front of the shop are devoted to Penguin, Penguin Classics, and Everyman titles. The shop has a good balance of academic and non-academic titles. Skoob offers a 10% discount to students. And the sales people behind the counter are friendly, not surly, which is a plus. The store is never generally very busy, which gives you more room to browse without feeling as though you are in the way. The prices are generally reasonable for used out-of-print titles, although as used books go the prices aren't 'inexpensive'. read more

Skoob Books is a second hand bookstore...and books are still my number one passion ...despite the advent of the iPad (the next version of which I am assured will have wings). Skoob Books is not your typical book store. Here you will find musty dusty second hand books which are a pleasure to hold...flick through and feel the cool old course paper between your fingers....open.... and finally inhale the mustyness of the spin and the bindings. Ahhhh.....yes. Be warned as with all places of this nature this place is hit and miss and you are never guaranteed to find what you are looking for but more often than not you will find something. Prices are not crazy. read more

A first edition, first printing in 1906, of Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill for ten pounds??? amazing... after spending an afternoon in this glorious little heaven, the thought of having to return a city where the only bookstore option in my city consist of Barnes & Nobles, I felt terribly heartbroken. read more

Best bookshop I've seen in London. Been going for over 10 years and I can't wait to go back whenever I'm in town!

Weee! Used books! In a basement! For sale! Welcome to an excerpt from Sarah O's childhood! Seriously though, I was a nerd as a child (fine....still a self-proclaimed nerd...but it's in style now so it's all cool) and read books like nobody's business. When moving across the pond, I had to leave most of mine at my Dad's (undoubtedly they got tossed in the dumpster the moment the car left) but thanks to Skoob, I replaced the most necessary of them for relatively cheaply. And, I got them same day IN my hand for my reading pleasure, which is why I love actual bookstores as opposed to online. The staff seemed quite willing to find books in the back if the wanted tome was not already in the wide selection. They also had a great sense of humour, as some really really idiotic sounding Americans came in and started throwing a Texas sized tantrum about the price of a book (and the rest of the world hates us WHY?). I apologized on behalf of my country and they joked around with me about the former colonies. Great guy, whoever the staff member was. Now excuse me as I re-read 'Animal Farm' for the 5,362nd time. read more

A fair sized subterranean bunker of a place, with miles of browsable shelves covering the full gamut of "regular" bookshop sections, plus the rarer genres other reviewers have alluded to; a place for hours of happy browsing. Generally a better and more heterogenerous selection than the remainder-heavy competiton on the Charing Cross road, or the slightly seedy places round the corner on Euston Road. read more

This place is brilliant, particularly if you are a poor drama student looking for cheapish plays. The selection is enormous and half the price of french's. There is also a piano if you fancy trying out the sheet music available. I spotted a play about lee Harvey Oswald that probably isn't in print any more, and a good few copies of a Sam Sheperd one whose title escapes me at the moment. On the sci fi front they had a very rare John Wyndham novel that I hadn't even heard of before. And for cinema buffs how about the For Your Consideration Screenplay, printed exclusively for academy members and presumably as rare as a hen's tooth, for wes anderson's The Life Aquatic? I'll race you there! (huge selection of shakespeare plays too) read more

This is quite a useful bookshop to visit. Every time I go in here, I always leave with something in my hand. Sometimes I would go to this firm to buy DVDs from Amazon.co.uk, they guys here are always willing to help out. read more

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I loved it! New and old books from all kinds over than half price cheaper than in a normal bookstore. It was lovely to discover and to enjoy the spirit ofthis little place. Loving books? Must go here! read more

Skoob Books - The outside look - Bookstores Near Me - London, XGL

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RIPOFF ! I want to support my local second hand book shops - i really do - but being asked to pay 4 quid for a yellow old copy of Terry Pratchetts 'The Light Fantastic' and getting rude when i offer 3 quid is just too much to expect of me ! There is a USED - AS NEW copy winging it's way from Amazon as we speak for 2.81 including postage ! Not to mention the 2 pristine Discworld novels i picked up from Oxfam Dalston on the way home for 99p each ! Get a grip SKOOB or become another sad statistic . read more

Ah, the second hand bookshop, how you have died a death. In my university town they all went the way of the dodo being replaced by Amazon Marketplace and cookie-cutter chain bookshops. But there is hope! Skoob Books is pretty low-key inside, there are no built-in cafes, no upholster leather couches. Just books and stepladders so you can reach more books! Being in university land there are plenty of heavyweight academic tombes (that I thankfully no longer have to read) and plainer fiction and non alike. Prices aren't bad, certainly far less than you'd pay new but not as cheap as online. The staff are friendly and know their stuff. Go on, have a browse. read more

I'm actually quite shocked that Scoob hasn't been yelped yet! I suppose I shouldn't be overly surprised given the location. The Brunswick Center is a hopping shopping centre. Located in back of the building with a much less obvious entrance, Scoob can feel like a bit of a best kept secret. This used bookshop is quite large with not-bad prices and a surprisingly good selection of fiction. Located downstairs, with its own sort of 'broken in' type look, this is a comfortable lived-in type place to have a browse. Don't expect Scoob to have things perfectly alphabetized. It's more of a hit or miss type of a shop. I recommend that you grab a few literary gems and head to the pub across the street to enjoy them. read more

One of the few book shops near Hammersmith. The books look like something off an old library, Lots of selection. Sadly I am so short that I needed some help to grab certain selections, however, it was a good way to make instant friends. All the books are second hand. I was specifically looking for Company's Coming, a cooking book series that my mom got me hooked on in my junior year when I was learning to be a hobby chef. I saw some older titles that my mom once gave me that put a smirk on my face. I found the jello dessert book that had this marshmallow strawberry jello salad recipe in it. This is just one example of the treasures that made me smile at the book store among many. I got those in there for a good hour. Good customer service. read more

Skoob books is my absolute favourite secondhand bookshop. It's not pretentious, it's in a basement, and I literally spend about an hour every time I go just browsing and thinking hard what to spend my student Budget on. What's also great is that they have an additional discount for students (woo!) so this is really the perfect place for literature students like myself to scrounge up some of the best deals for texts. Not to mention, everything is really handily catalogued too, from drama to law books, and the staff are always friendly and helpful. 5/5, I always make it a point to visit whenever I'm in the Brunswick area. read more

Can't really add much to the reviews here. Second hand books piled everywhere, cool place to just chill and browse. Generally friendly staff. Definitely a place to visit, even if all you want to do is breathe in the bibliophile atmosphere. read more

This store is just jam backed with the written word....of which I must say that I'm a big fan. They have loads of plays and travel books and fiction...particularly older books. I didn't see too any current best sellers but I might have missed them. Really pleased with this find. My friend and I lost ourselves in this shop for nearly an hour before we realized that the time has passed read more

Truly the bibliophiles' paradise - books piled upon books, floor to ceiling, in a basement shop. Staff are friendly and willing to help, but never pushy (thank god). Browse for hours and leave with paper gems for a few quid. They have everything, including sheet music if you are keen for something slightly more melodious, less prosaic. read more

Love this shop and could spend hours in here. As with all second hand book shops, the digging through the stacks is half the fun. They also do a student discount, and often have the new stuff up front. They also have a selection in the walkway of the Brunswick Centre on Saturdays as well. read more

Now relocated in the side of the renovated Brunswick Centre, Skoobs remains one of the best priced and best-for-browsing local second hand bookshops. I recently went in there looking for something by an obscure Welsh author, and found two of his novels within minutes. Choice ranges from the rarer editions to fiction paperbacks. There are also used audio books and good academic sections. The staff are friendly and helpful. The only downside of the shop is that it's hard to leave once you've started browsing. read more

This is quite a good second-hand bookshop. They have tonnes of books, a HUGE! selection, and there are seats tactically placed around he shop so that you can sit down and read for a while. My only problem is that it is either too hot, or too cold here in the winter, depending on wether the heating is on, and the staff aren't that nice either! read more

You Bet! - Never Ever Again! Never sell a book there! They candidly offer you just 9% of the price for used at amazon.co.uk! If you ask them the real price of the book online? - They don't tell you! Or try to deceive you... read more

I've lived in London since 1983 and am very familiar with the the second hand book stores. Skoob was one of the first I visited when I arrived. Back in those days (two location moves ago for the shop) it was touting the same Time Out review claiming it to be the best second-hand bookshop in London it still is--a review that was dated even then and which must go back to the early 80s (possibly late 70s). Don't believe the hype. If the claim was ever valid, it most certainly is not now. Skoob used to be a good-enough place for students to get affordable copies of different types of texts and also a reasonable place to raise a bit of cash by selling-on unwanted books. You never got a great price but it wasn't noticeably worse than any of the other shops. It wasn't generous but neither was it a blatant rip-off. Not so now. Be warned: these days you would have to be desperate to sell to Skoob because they offer the worst deal in town --by far. You emerge badly burned if you try. If you're selling, best now to treat the shop strictly as the last resort. These days in London you can't realistically expect much more than a quarter of what any second-hand book dealer deems to be a title's 'market value'. And the problem is finding a place that will even accept books being flogged by punters off the street. Once, one of best services offered by the traders, not many do it now. They insist on bulk purchases and want e-mail lists to assess before-hand. Skoob exploit this sad situation. At Skoob they do a fast, very cursory bib-check by looking at Amazon where they seek the lowest available price listed (regardless of condition or whether its a paperback version) to tot up their assessment of a title's retail value and then offer you a miserable percentage of that, the cash offer of which is certainly less than 25%. Possibly (and this can only be a generous guess) they will give you 25% in exchange value if you buy from their stock instead of taking cash. It's a rip-off. They'll smile while they do it and say "Sorry" too, mind. So, if sellers lose is the benefit passed-on to shoppers at Skoob? No. Prices at Skoob are amongst the highest in second-hand shops in London. Whether you are looking for a Penguin paperback or a quality art monograph you will be paying typically more than most other second-hand places in town and certainly more than can be found online. Though in terms of value-for-money Skoob sucks, it's range of stock is still not bad, albeit not as good as it once was and hardly exceptional compared to competitors. Frankly, if you are second hand book shopping in town you'll do better down the Charing Cross road. Of course, if you are hunting for something specific you would do much better online via Amazon, Abebooks or Bookfinder than trawling the shops. The glory days at Skoob are well and truly over and I can only assume that the positive reviews for it elsewhere on this site are by visitors lapping-up the romantic notion of a characterful, booky London experience. read more

I could get lost for hours here. Found a relatively recent title for less than half price. Books are priced accordingly because they may have a slight deformity that you wouldn't notice, like a bent page corner or slight ripple in the cover. University basement vibe. Boxes of old postcards abound. read more

STAY AWAY FROM THEM! Had a terrible experience with this place. I wanted to sell my law books (in excellent condition) to this supposedly biggest second-hand bookshop in London. When I approached this Eastern European woman who was absolutely uninterested in customers (I could tell from her attitude) asking whether they would be interested in buying my law books (32 books in total) she said to bring them so they could assess their condition. OK, no problem! But, I asked her twice, specifically showing her that I've got all the ISBN's ready to check whether the books are not out of date, so that I won't have to bring them all (minimum 25 kg) from the other part of town only to find that they won't buy them regardless of the condition! I even had photos of the books but nothing could've changed her attitude as If she was mocking me. I asked her whether she is sure not to check ISBNs and the only thing she said - "make sure you bring them by 6 o'clock". Well, it was 4:30 and I wanted to finish this matter asap and so I went home to collect the books. I've managed to get there before 6 pm and to my disappointment the store manager (I presume), after checking about 5 books, asked me why did I bring all these books before checking whether they are up-to-date. When I told him what I've mentioned above, his reply was that It was my own decision to bring them to the store!!! I was so outraged but still didn't shout and even said thank you when he announced that none of the books are good for them. All this time, this sad little little woman was sitting there trying to be as silent as possible. When I asked why did she mislead me she said that she didn't do that. When I asked her why is she lying she said that it was not her job to check the ISBNs... And the store manager told me to just leave!!! That sad woman's colleague started defending her. I specifically told the store manager and another woman that I don't blame them for this and only blame the one who caused all this nuisance with her ignorance. Not one person said SORRY!!! Thank you very much for ruining my Sunday SKOOB BOOKS! STAY AWAY FROM THEM! read more

They over charge customers. I bought five books with recommended retail prices printed in the back. They marked them up in the cover and claimed to be selling it for half price. A book that sells for £7.99 brand new, they marked as £11, which they then sold for £5.50. 550 percent profit ;-) second hand book stores are supposed to act in the interest of the customer, they're not supposed to be a capitalist venture. When I questioned the staff In a polite way, I live and have grown up in Bloomsbury and have an interest in my local bookshop, and explained that I would much rather spend money there, than on amazon, but I felt I had been fleeced. I thought this had perhaps been a mistake, which I then gave them the chance to rectify, but I was made to feel very uncomfortable. I was very polite and friendly, there was no reason for their defensive response except for that fact they had got it wrong. The staff member then searched on the water stones website and showed me that the book was sold for £11 in water stones brand new. I explained that they were selling the latest print and edition, and that it wasn't the same as their 2001 edition in bad condition. It also wasn't a hardback like waters ones were selling, He still refused to acknowledge. I was told to email my problem. I explained that he was making it very hard for me to resist buying online where I'm not being over charged and deceived. I then phoned and the assistant told me very aggressively to email, before he hung up. Very disappointed in this shop and until further notice I will be buying my books in Henry pordes books just five minutes away on charring cross road whose books are much cheaper, staff friendlier, and they have a better selection! read more