Horizontal Books

So I have probably walked past this book store hundreds of times and each time I have thought to myself how sad it looks on the outside. Most of the time I couldnt tell if the store was still open but today a friend and I decided to stop in while walking. I was very surprised how cool this store is. The walls are lined with makeshift wood shelving that looks like it belongs in someones unfinished basement but dont let the look fool you, the store itself is amazing. They sell only new books (so no worries that it is all ratty used copies of things) and they do so at huge discounts (50% for 1 book, 60% for 2 books, and 70% for three). Now they wont have every book you are looking for (like a barnes and noble or borders) but they seemed to have a pretty solid selection of new releases and classics. I would definitely suggest stopping in and browsing. I dont think you will regret it.

Walking past the book store, it looked sad and sketchy. But I saw the sale sign and my friend insisted we go inside. Sure, it’s no Barnes and Noble, but they do have a decent selection of books! Buy 1 for 50% off, 2 for 60% off your TOTAL, and 3 or more for SEVENTY PERCENT OFF your TOTAL! How could any book lover pass that up? They had an updated best seller section, a huge children’s section and a little bit of everything in between.
Negative: don’t go in there set on buying certain books at a discounted price. It’s not a library or a Barnes and Noble, think of it more as a hipster book store!
Positive: 70% off after buying 3 books!!! Even if you just wanted one book, you’re still paying half!
What I got: 4 books at a total of $ 92.06 cover price BUT I only spent $ 29.11!

Love the idea behind this bookstore… how they manage to have prices this cheap and stay in business is beyond me, but I’m greatful. They have a nice selection of kids books, but the layout is a little messy and awkward. It sort of feels like a warehouse that really needs stacked. I also wish they would have a better display of new or best sellers or staff favorites or something at the front to really catch my eye from all of the other stuff. All this being said, this place has prices you can’t beat and a fairly decent selection of books. If you are looking for a soecific title, this is not the placw for you; however, if you want to find something new that you didnt necessarily need, this is a great place. Plus its always nice to support local places. I always walk out happy.

Great for browsing and finding things you didn’t know you wanted :)

Don’t come in here looking for a specific book, but if you’re just browsing for whatever catches your eye, this place is cheap! If you look lost (like me) the staff will explain the set-​up to you but otherwise leave you alone.
Not to be weird, but I liked how it smelled in here. Wood and books and then you get a little whiff of the Mideastern food from next door? Mmmm.

This place is awesome. I went with my grandparents and friend to West Side Market and we decided to check it out after seeing some of the reviews on here. The shop has the books labeled on the chalkboards on the wooden shelves, but other than being in the right genre there isn’ t much organization. There aren’t a lot of books in this establishment but we found 7 books that made us happy. Using the 70% off deal we only spent $ 44 instead of $ 144. Will be returning next week to see what other goodies I can find.

Definitely one of the cooler bookstores in the Cleveland area. I almost wrote «used,» but nothing here is used, only brand new. It seems like they get extremely frequent shipments of new stuff, because going here from weekend to weekend, their selection will change like crazy. So if you see something here you think you’ll like, pick it up then, ’cause it may not be there again.
And the deal they have is silly — buy one book, get half off. Two books, 60 percent off. Three books, 70 percent off. Which means that, for around twenty bucks, you can come out of this place with a huge bagful of stuff. It’s not like I needed that coffee table book of the history of the whatever regiment of Akron infantry that fought in the Civil War, but book nuts will recognize the fever that comes with shopping in a place that has a cheap and abundant selection as this. Really awesome.

70% off everything if you buy three or more books! AMAZING! The only reason I am rating HB 4 rather than 5 stars is that the selection isn’t huge. But, I found Christmas gifts for several members of my family by randomly looking through various sections.
Located near Ohio City Burrito, too… visiting both places in one day would make for a very enjoyable day. I speak from experience.

I’m kind of confused by this bookstore. The pricing is interesting, all the books are originally on the high end but then its 50% off the first book, 60% off two, and 70% off three and up so that kind of evens it out. The book selection is random, it seems like last years collection at their original prices. And the staff ignores you, which I really appreciate in a book store. Also, they have some used books towards the back.
Quite honestly, I am all for shopping local but I like keeping my book shopping easy. Other local «chains» have better prices. But I’ll keep Horizontal in mind when I’m looking for a certain specialty.

my god, this place is random.
Shortly before a recent trip, I finally stopped here for the first time in years. As Rachel mentioned, there’s no flair but no biggie. It’s simply a haphazard selection of books (and a handful scholarly journals) on wooden shelves organized by subject areas. Would be bumped up to 4 if they had magazines.
The pricing scheme is simple: 50% off the (the usually high) retail price, 60% for 2 items, 70% for 3+ items.
The staff existed but was more interested in sealing envelopes for their online operation.
As for the selection, it’s very random with some extremely narrow niches, with usually 2 – 10 copies of each item. A spanish/​english dictionary specific written for ranchers ?! They got it ! Copies of esoteric academic journals like the Austrian History Yearbook from 1985? Yep, they got it !
I specifically checked out the travel, language, and computer sections, there’s a few travel guides for random places although not from 2012, some were pretty recent, 2011, others, from 2006… That fared bit better than computer section which all but maybe a handful were from the early 2000s… (perhaps you still need that Admin Guide for Red Hat !?)
I ended picking up a NYT crossword puzzle book [a guilty pleasure] for the plane rides, half off natch.
Don’t expect to find a bestseller or anything current but Horizontal is worth visiting if you’re in OC and interested to pick up some very random things for cheap. A compliment to Visible Voice in Tremont.
Hope this place sticks around with the gentrification of Ohio City but note they ARE NOT open on the weekends.

A great find! The books are heavily discounted… On my first trip i ended up purchasing 6 books for $ 30! I will definitely come back — although I would suggest shopping here for perusing purposes only… They are unlikely to have a specific book in stock.

I wasn’t quite sure of what to make of this bookstore, to be honest. The idea of it is certainly appealing, but the layout of the books on the shelves left me a little frazzled.
The books are organized by genre, but that seems to be as far as it goes. I think they were supposed to also be organized by author within the genres, but it was hard to tell. I don’t think everything was in its right place. But that may have been browsing customers’ faults.
The books are stacked horizontally (get it?) on the shelves, which would be ok, except for the other books that are standing up vertically in front of, and blocking, said stacks. And it’s not just like one or two books leaning against or between every other stack. Sometimes I couldn’t even see what was in the stacks until I moved a book or two out of the way (which made me feel like I was messing with their display). What made it even more confusing is that the stacked books were often completely different titles and authors than what was prominently facing out on the shelf. You’d definitely have to have a good hour or two to scour the store and get a good sense of what’s being offered.
But if you do have time to scour, you’ll be happy to know there were a LOT of books to sift through. Be forewarned, many of them were duplicates, and most of them were by authors I’d never heard of before. But maybe you go for that sort of thing. And there were gardening books, memoirs, poetry, history books, business books, fiction, kids’ books… the store had plenty to give your average reader, as long as you had the time to give wading through it all a shot.
What I’m sure draws many visitors to the store (myself included) is the discounts — 50% off one book, 60% off two, 70% off three. Unfortunately, the more time I spent searching for books, the more it brought down my desire to buy one. I’ll probably go back again one day, when I’m feeling more hardcore-​browsey. In the meantime, the quest for the perfect Cleveland bookstore continues…

After going to the West Side Market the other day I ventured into Horizontal Books (I believe, from searching for this store online, that there was once another bookstore in its place called, weirdly, «Bookstore on West 25^th»).
I hadn’t visited before, mainly because the inside – in full view from the outside via floor-​to-​ceiling windows – looked a bit depressed, with no flair whatsoever. The makeshift, plywood bookshelves are unattractive and, unfortunately, give off an unpleasant, «home improvement» odor.
However, I quickly learned the appeal of this place, which is that they offer a progressive discount: 50% off one book, 60% off two, 70% off three, etc. So, duh, I bought three books. What, you ask? A Jewish Cookbook — originally $ 35, a musicology text, still in plastic shrink wrap, that was undoubtedly leftover from a college course, and a book detailing the history of Tiger Stadium (for my husband). The total? $ 25! Score!
The guys here are nice, and it really is a pretty good store. They do also have a (limited) selection of books on CD. Plus, all the genres are clearly marked on cute chalkboards that introduce each aisle.
Basically, if you’re in the mood to browse, and if you love the used bookstore appeal, it’s a great find. You’ll walk out with books you didn’t know you wanted. But if you’re looking for something specific, better hit up Borders.