A superfluous and over-priced seller of yard sale books that offers little to no customer service, the Bookstore was bailed out by misty-eyed Chico idealists after it tanked due to being a superfluous and over-priced seller of yard sale books that offers little to no customer service. You see, rather than looking for other work when the business began to shut down, the manager of over twenty years wished to buy the Bookstore from its original owner despite the store's descent into oblivion. So he pan-handled online, using crowd funding, gross begging, and leveraging the plight of his two children for guilt, tears, and wads of free cash. Somehow Chico folks raised $35,000 to save this outdated and pretentious redundancy, deciding that it added to the community in some way that I fail to comprehend. I mean, why would you want to keep around a bookstore whose prices for used and often poorly-conditioned books are higher than Amazon prices when its "local business charm" is comprised entirely of bland hostility and smugness? Why would you want to hand a sneering store manager who cannot even be bothered to get up from his desk to help you find a book, the deed to this store? Why would you throw so much money (Not loaned, GIVEN with little to no oversight) at such a failed mess when Chico has several other very good VIABLE bookstores with better prices, better selection, and astronomically better customer service? Not to mention if you carry a bag in there they treat you as if you are already guilty of shoplifting, and mock you passive-aggressively if your selection of book is not up to their superior taste. If you want to buy books in Chico at fair local USED bookstore prices, I suggest the ARC thrift store or any other number of Chico thrift stores. After all, thrift stores and yard sales are where the Bookstore gets most of its inventory, so just cut out the middle man and save yourself a lot of pain and cash. Maybe when this business fails a second time Chico won't rescue it. But who knows? Bailouts are still pretty popular, it would seem. This kind of thing would only happen in Chico, and the sad thing is, they're proud of it. read more