The Bookcase Store

What a great place. John is a super laid back guy who knows his stuff. He talked me through my needs for a shelf for vinyl records, and he had a bunch of great ideas and issues I never would have considered. I ended up with a custom
Shelf that exceeded my expectations and looks great in the house. I think customers need to expect that they’re getting a custom product that takes time to build. It’s worth the wait!

I drove past The Bookcase Store today and my eye caught some bookshelves outside. I’ve been wanting one to place some decorations and books on so I turned around and went inside one of the houses. The owner, John, was extremely nice and helpful. I saw one bookshelf I fell in love with at Homegoods (similar to TJ Maxx, same company) but didn’t have the space at the time and now I do. Anyway John helped us custom build the bookshelf EXACTLY like the one we saw in store but we got to choose colors! (and we could have made changes but it looked great). We placed the order 12.20.14 and John said they were backed up and would be complete around Valentine’s Day. We had to place a 25% deposit. I will post the final product!

I stopped into this quaint Austin treasure today to be greeted by the owner John. He explained that the business had been there for years and showed me pictures of interesting custom creations. He explained that no customer has ever returned a book case for lack of quality. All the wood is made from Texas Pine and the quality and service can’t be beat. I highly recommend checking out this little wood working business as they can make anything… not just book cases. Two thumbs up!

Beautiful work. We hired the Bookcase Store to build some custom shelving for our home and match a black matte finish we had on some other Indonesian furniture in our house.
They matched the finish and style perfectly and delivered a beautiful beautiful product.
The price point was very reasonable and they delivered the shelving on time.
This is a unique place. The storefront is actually two homes next to each other — a very Austin kind of place.
This is not Pottery Barn. If you want Pottery Barn go to Pottery Barn. This is a great place for custom and unique work by Austinites.

I’m a terrible customer in that it’s taken me a full year to get around to writing this review. This sad fact is multiplied exponentially by the fact that the bookcase we had built is terrific.
The wife and I decided that we’d much rather buy a custom bookcase from a local place than a particleboard piece of temporary furniture. We sketched out the dimensions of what we wanted and took photos of where it would go in the house. John was really helpful in telling us what would and wouldn’t work, and tweaking the dimensions to make it workable.
If memory serves, it took a few weeks to get the bookcase back (which John delivered). We told him up front that we weren’t in a hurry, so they may have been able to get it to us quicker if we were in a hurry (but who the hell is in a big hurry for a bookcase?).
The bookcase works great in our house. We painted it ourselves instead of having them stain it. It looks like an architectural piece of the house; not quite a built-​in, but close enough.
These guys get high marks all around. Their customer service was great (I suspect that having a clear idea of what we wanted helped), the quality is excellent, and we didn’t throw our cash at a shitty big box retailer. Unreservedly recommended.

This is a locally owned store offering handcrafted, well-​built furniture that will serve your every shelving need. The owner, John, greeted us and explained dimensions and details of the shelves. He is quirky and nice and introduced us to his sweet dogs. We got a great deal on a quality shelf, all while supporting local business — couldn’t ask for more!

John hooked me up with a beautiful bookcase. I bought it as a birthday present for my wife’s birthday. The quality is excellent. John’s service was excellent.
I had grown frustrated trying to find something sturdy on craigslist, and after being referred here, I wish this was where I started.
The bookcases here are made by the owner out of Ponderosa pine. Beautiful and built to last a life time. It’s great having a business like this here in town.
I am sending a friend over who is needing a custom job done. My understanding is this is what they do the most of. It was nice being able to stop in and buy a bookcase that was already built, because I was a week late on my wife’s present. She forgave me because the bookcase is so awesome.

I’m so excited to see this place still exists! I bought bookcases here when I lived in Austin almost 15 years ago, and I love them so much I’ve been dragging them across the country with me ever since. I came to town for a visit recently, and went back to the shop to order bookcases with my sister. The bookshelves are custom made and totally gorgeous. It’s a real relief that junky big box stores haven’t put this kind of old-​school crafstmanship out of business.

You need a bookcase and are thinking of going someplace else? Well, does that other place HAVE BOOKCASE RIGHT IN ITS NAME? No. And they don’t deserve to.
The Bookcase Store does.
John was super friendly, helping us pick out 2 pre-​made bookshelves and thinking of an easy and awesome custom solution for a third bookcase-​needy spot in our home. All of the bookcases look and feel great. This is real quality wood.
Plus, it was a pleasure to come into the store, and talk with John. He also guided us through painting one of the bookcases ourselves, and designing the custom pieces was quick & a pretty cool process.
Double plus, the custom pieces were finished up a whole MONTH before they said they’d be ready, and you can’t beat that.

We have 6 bookcases and 2 end tables from The Bookcase Store and just bought 3 more bookcases. They are really well made and don’t bend or shift like other bookcases under the weight of the books. We will continue to buy bookcases from John and his team.

We bought a custom bookcase from The Bookcase Store this summer and are just getting around to writing a review. Well, it looks like we don’t have to as Guy S. already wrote what we wanted to say. We love our bookcase and will go back to this store every time we need a quality attractive bookcase. If you want to work with bland robots, go to a big box store. We really liked the custom experience of this locally-​owned business.

I just returned from The Bookcase Store, finalizing the details on one of two pieces I’m having custom made by their builders. I already own two custom pieces and three stock pieces from the store, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the quality or price of them. Also, Jason, the person you’ll usually deal with at the store, is a friendly, smart and creative individual, and a great listener. He has the flexibility to comprehend the variety of ways a bookcase can be used, and the intuitiveness to design what I felt like I was only marginally capable of describing. I feel respected when I deal with him and valued as a customer.
I read over the reviews here before I posted mine, and I can empathize with the folks who felt snapped at by John (I think that’s his name … not positive), the owner, and the frustration with communication on some occasions. My first experience with The Bookcase Store was in January-​March of 2010, when I was having a shelf custom made (for a cheap bookcase that I really should have just replaced with one of their bookcases!) and the extreme weather we had did put the store way behind schedule. There was a glitch in communicating when my shelf would be ready and when I talked to John, I did think he was abrupt. If I’d written my review based on that one experience, it wouldn’t have been a good one, but I’ve dealt with Jason every time since and the quality of this store’s work is undeniable.
Some folks have a gift for customer service — Jason certainly does — and some are just better in other areas of operation. Jason is nearly always the person you’ll deal with at this store. All said, The Bookcase Store is my favorite place to buy furniture (they will build drawers, desks, coffee tables, cupboards … just ask them) and except for my first experience, I have been treated to five-​star service and craftsmanship. As near as I know, you cannot do better in Austin. I’m confident I will treasure the many pieces of furniture I have from them for as many years as I have left to care.
p.s.
I should have mentioned that every custom piece I’ve bought at The Bookcase Store was ready later than when they said it would be. (I think I have two stock pieces and seven custom pieces).
Plan for that ahead of time. I think they must not want folks to be angry that it takes time to build custom furniture, so they promise an earlier date than what they can meet. Just go into the deal knowing you’ll have to add two or three weeks to whatever they tell you.

About two months ago, we ordered two giant, mirrored bookshelves. We paid in full at the time we ordered them — over $ 1100 — and were told that they would be ready between July 17^th and July 24^th. When we went to order them, the store didn’t have a working credit card machine (really?), and we had to stop by later to drop off a check (seriously?), but aside from that, the ordering process was fine. We were quoted $ 50 for delivery and were on our way.
On July 25^th, I called, and was told they were «in production» and would be ready on July 29^th. I called back on the 30^th, and was told they would be ready August 5^th. On August 6^th, we stopped by the store, and were told that they would be ready on the 12^th.
I told Jason (the salesperson) that this was not satisfactory. After paying a premium price for a product, I expect that it will either be there on time, or they will call me with an apology and an accurate update for the delivery. He said that the owner was coming in later that day and would give me a call.
Four days later, the owner calls me while I’m at work to say that the bookshelves would be ready for pickup on Friday. I asked if there could be some concession made — free delivery, a partial refund on the order, a discount on a potential future order — and the owner asked how much I had been quoted for delivery, so I told him $ 50. He said that $ 50 is way less than they charge for delivery, so he’d do delivery just for the $ 50 to make it up to me. I told him that providing me with the service for the price I was quoted wasn’t a concession, and I was looking for something to make up for the 1-​month delay. He made excuses about how they lost a person in their production process and things have been kind of hard for them (the same excuses I was given every time I called to see where my cases were). With all due respect, I told him that the issues he suffers with his business are just that — his business — and as a customer, I do not think that my requests were outlandish. He refused to give any further concessions, said he’d meet me at my house at 5:30PM Friday.
«Oh, by the way,» he says, «will someone be there to help me unload the book cases? I can’t do it on my own.» So not only am I supposed to pay $ 50 for delivery, but you want me to help you deliver the items into my house? Why am I paying you?
So today (Friday), I get a call saying that he would probably send someone else to deliver the bookcases because his ankle hurts and he’d see me sometime between 5:30 and 7. So the time is now flexible, and includes the time in which I usually eat dinner. Great! Good to know.
EDIT: I called to advise that 5:30PM was our agreed upon time. The owner showed up at 5:50. We moved the bookcases in (yes, we — I had to do half the lifting) through the front door (going over and slightly damaging the plants in my garden, as opposed to using the back door which would have been slightly longer). When I questioned whether or not delivery is a taxable service (apparently it is), the owner threatened to call the tax office, raised his voice, and said that I had already agreed to pay him. Before he left, he snidely told me that I would love the book cases because they were the highest quality (who cares if your service is so bad?!). I wrote him a check and slammed the door behind him furious that he would talk to me like that in my home.
Jason called me later to apologize that I had gotten upset. I told him that we wouldn’t be doing further business with him, he could read my review, and that I thought his boss was a jerk.
The owner then called my boyfriend, I picked up the phone, and he proceeded to tell me that the cases were only two weeks late (NOPE) that it’s not a big deal because they’re so high in quality, and that he was sincerely sorry if he offended me (the first apology I’d gotten). I told him I was unhappy, and that it was not a good time to talk (7:30PM on a Friday).
Jason then wrote a five-​star review of the shop (which is against Unilocal’s content guidelines) and sent me a message asking me not to «discourage others from buying our product because of your bad experience».
This has been my experience, and I’ll update the review if anything changes. So far, so terrible. I sure hope these bookcases never break and I never have to call in the lifetime warranty they hold, because I really don’t want to deal with this place again.

Am I really that difficult?
I visited today after having a conversation with the owner (?) last week about a bookcase project I was interested in. Mentioned last week that I’d try to make it in to sketch and talk about the project but time just didn’t allow.
When I arrived today he was visibly flustered that there was more than one person (I arrived first) in the store at the same time.
I identified myself by our conversation last week and he said «Oh yeah, I was expecting you to come in that day. I hate it when people do that.» Um. Alrighty then. Didn’t realize we had a date.
After deferring to the other customers since I knew my project was going to take a little more time I began to talk him through the bookcase project. He took notes and told me abruptly, «All these words aren’t helping me just answer a few questions.» Huh? Here’s a word that can help you: RUDE. Having a business for 19 years in Austin, I’m sure these people are doing something right. Call it quirky. Call it eccentric. I call it rude. I have plenty of bookcase needs and I’ll be having my needs met elsewhere. Thank you very much.

Excellent quality bookshelf and great customer service!

I had them make a custom bookcase for me. Excellent quality work, but a bit pricey. He took my design and suggested a backboard for stability — this piece will last forever. I stained it myself (which they would do for a fee).

Not really wanting to buy another particleboard bookcase from Ikea, I stopped by the Bookcase Store on Guadalupe. It’s in a small house north of the UT campus. All they handle are bookcases (and cases to hold DVDs and CDs) — nothing fancy — but made here in Austin out of solid pine. They are raw wood so you gotta stain them yourself.
I picked up a small bookcase out of a line up of 20 or so wooden cases that were ready for sale. You can order a custom designed bookcase, too. Parking is on the street only (don’t even TRY to park at the salon next door.). Great place.

A dozen years ago, I bought my first CD holder bookcase from this shop. I promptly filled it up and went out and bought another. In the years since, they have held up extremely well and they were not high priced. I also like that they come unstained. You can stain it if you like or go naked like me.
This shop is as local as it gets. If you are trying to stay local and out of the big box stores, this is your place.

I absolutely love this store. They’re a bit brusk (as the previous poster pointed out), but they know exactly what they’re doing. We’ve bought several custom pieces for both of our kids from them and the craftsmanship is fantastic. The design options are slim, but simple and clean. I was particularly impressed that there weren’t any real additional charges for our custom idea. They sat down with us, figured out what dimensions it needed to be, walked us through the pricing, and created beautiful pieces of furniture.

Several years ago, I bought 3 bookcases of various sizes and a TV stand from the Bookcase Store. After more moves than I can count, I’m back in Austin, and the pieces are still as good as new — beautiful and sturdy. I recently needed two bookcases built for odd shaped spaces in my new place. John was incredibly patient and knowledgeable as we worked through the custom height, width, moulding, stain, etc. The new bookcases are perfect. I love these guys!