Book Nook

My fiancé and I went in because she loves used book stores. I was initially impressed at the collection of vinyl, CDs and movies. However, I quickly realized that the prices were steep. I found my fiancé in the books and asked her about the prices. Apparently, the used books are 60% of retail price which is steep considering that’s how much members pay for new releases at Barnes & Noble. So my recommendation is that if you have the Internet use it. If you’re just bored and have some time, look around, find something you want and buy it off the internet.

Totally dig this place. Whether you are a habitual bargain hunter or looking to unload some previously loved media in your stash, I think this is an excellent place to start.
MUSIC (buying): This is our go-​to place for used music in ATL. Though you might not find what you are looking for if you have a specific release in mind, we have yet to find a better place to do some serious treasure-​hunting. CDs are priced by letter, and there are charts posted to explain what price each letter corresponds to. Prices get as low as $ 0.25 based on what I have seen.
BOOKS (buying): the book section (s) of the store can be a bit labyrinthine, but make sure you don’t miss the AISLE OF SALE, where double stickered books are half price. For example: you may have a book that has 2 $ 2.99 stickers on them. This book would in fact be 1.50. In terms of selection, in the «aisle of sale» you will find a lot of Nora Roberts stuff, hardcover thrillers, old recipe books, political books, test prep, etc. In terms of ambiance, this is also the part of the store where you can hear Papa Johns workers gossiping, and making sawing noises (??).
Even aside from the Aisle of Sale, though, there are plenty of great deals to be had. While Book Nook certainly does carry some new books, there are many, many books that LOOK new, and in fact, bear nary a wrinkle nor a smudge (aside from the Book Nook stamp) and yet are half price because someone did in fact own it before its current home on the store’s shelves.
SELLING MUSIC: A few months ago we got 40 bucks back for 30 CDs (out of closer to 50 candidates). In general, they offer good buyback prices for used CDs ($ 1 – 3 per, assuming they decide to buy the CD); I haven’t had much previous experience with selling used CDs in GA but the boyfriend had a simply awful experience in TX at a Half Price Books ($ 80 or so bucks for seriously hundreds of CDs plus books and DVDs). Note that you should probably get as much dust off the discs as you can in advance to increase your chances that they will accept the CD.
SELLING BOOKS: The books they accept need to be in pretty darn good condition, or at least that was my impression. The only books that were accepted it out of the ones we optioned were pristine; as in, I bought them new, and then wastefully read no more than a dozen pages from each. But we didn’t have as many books as CDs that we were trying to get rid of, so I admit my assumption is severely limited by the sample size.
Regarding payment, I think we were given the option for $ 10 in credit towards books (except it’s more of a 50% off coupon for said amount of books), or some really small sum. $ 1 in cash, while a paltry offer, seems correct to my recollection. (But I think my feelings around this figure are tinged, again, by my guilt for having never really used these perfectly good books) We took the credit rather than the cash – the sane thing to do if you visit this store as much as we do!
There are also quite a lot of comics, DVDs, and even some board games and collectibles, and so I would really venture to guess that there is something here for everyone. Unless you totally hate music, movies, books, games, and saving money, in which case– don’t come here.

This place has too much stuff. You’ll spend hours going through it all

This is an iconic Atlanta place with cool reading material and vintage collectibles. Going here is always an adventure and you are sure to discover something new. I highly recommend checking out their action figure and comic book collection. This is the kind of snail business that needed and deserves your support.

The bf showed me this place, and it’s a neat place. If you’re a fan of comics that’s at a deal, this is the place to browse. Even if you’re not into comics, there are cheap pre-​owned books, DVDs, and vinyl for browsing.
They also do trade-​ins and buy all of the above items. And if you happen to purchase an item that’s not functioning, they will provide you a full refund.
This is a fun little place to browse as the employees are super friendly. Parking is limited towards the front, but there are additional parking in the back.

Very good experience at this location. Seemed like family owned and operated. Got a really good deal on some used CD’s. And the best service ever. I now know where to go when I want to purchase quality items. They have books, DVDs classic old school comics ! I was like a kid in a candy store. Would like to revisit the next opportunity and unravel the hidden treasures in every nook and cranny.

I love the selection and prices of their albums! The books are priced a bit to high for me, but I go there to get records, so I don’t have to worry about that. Nice people, will go out of their way to help you find something that you’re looking for!

I’ve never experienced rude service here, as some other reviewers have. I can’t say the employees were bend-​over-​backwards-​friendly but I don’t have any complaints. I also think the prices are pretty fair. I’ve had pretty good luck finding some out of print and semi-​rare titles here, too.

I love going to bookstores particularly secondhand bookstores. One could buy the books online but there’s something nice about browsing for an particular book or simply seeing what there is.
However I was very disappointed at the pricing structure. I won’t be going back again: they are certainly pricing themselves out of the market or should be in my opinion. They books are sold at 60% of the price of the book cover whether it’s from the 1990s or 70s or today. A secondhand book that should be just a few dollars can be almost as much as a new book compared to Barnes & Noble’s with a 20% discount. There are the same books at thrift
and
for just a few dollars and this competition should send your business elsewhere. They are helpful but overpriced++.

Update! I received a message from Unilocal user «Fran,» who I can only assume is one of the rude employees that I (and many other users) referenced in their reviews. User suggests that we all avoid going into places that we don’t like, or that make us «uncomfortable.» Well, I think it was pretty clear from my review that I wouldn’t be making a sophomore trip to this specific Book Nook (and I haven’t!), so what was the point? To further validate my review? Also, how was I to know, apart from reading and trusting the other bad reviews, that I was stepping into a disorganized store with rude employees? The store/​staff in Lilburn is GREAT!
Reduced rating from TWO stars to ONE.
He/​she also suggested that we just «go to the mall» because «they have music there,» whatever that means.
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Went in here for the first time over the weekend. I’ve been to the one in Lilburn several times and it’s great. This one… Significantly less great.
The staff: rude. Even when checking out they refuse to acknowledge any customer who doesn’t look like they just crawled out of a nerd convention. I thumbed through the records for a while with my husband and any time I glanced up the lone lady at the register was glaring at me like I was an expert 12″ thief and she was just holding out for her chance to nail me. So I guess there was SOME acknowledgement? But when my husband checked out, the cashier refused to look up or speak. The other dweeb employee came over when a couple walked in with a box of dork goods to sell and moved our pending purchases from where the original geek employee had placed them without a word; not to us or his coworker. COOL. Needless to say, our cashier was confused when he came back. He didn’t tell anyone he was confused, but I gathered as much from the way he stood there with a panicked look on his face with his hands up. Luckily I was there to point our stuff out to him. I’m assuming he saw me because he found them!!!
The store: disorganized. It’s seriously an enormous disaster. Aside from the nerd materials, nothing is really in order. They have signs and labels that would signify that at some point they had INTENDED to be organized, but it proved too difficult so they put all their TLC into the areas of their own interest and all the lame non-​nerds will just have to suffer and spend hours browsing through their dumb regular fiction and music to find anything of interest. Beyond that, stuff was in toppled stacks on the floor — merchandise AND a used pile of paper towels…
The smell: not books. Stumped.
Prices: I’ve seen better.
Ambiance: LOLOLOL no music, just nerds behind the counter having LOUD nerd debates.
I usually try to avoid giving negative reviews unless someone or something just REALLY irritated me, and here we have both. The people suck, the store sucks… 2 stars because I did happen upon an awesome Jesus & Mary Chain CD. I wouldn’t advise going in here unless you are a legitimate nerd or a regular person with a believable geek disguise. Sticking to Lilburn.

Great store for hard to find books, movies, collectables, vintage, comics, and hard to find titles. The employees are nice and funny. Great neighborhood shop with all your Walking Dead needs.

FANTASTIC used book/​cd/​dvd/​collectibles store! I have lost myself for hours many a time inside this house of delights. I’m there on a weekly basis, can’t keep my money in my pocket. The staff is helpful, good natured, and quick (as quick as borderline librarians CAN be, lol). Only, only, only complaint is that some of the folks behind the counter are vehemently conservative, and can sometimes project their partisan politics throughout the entire front of the shop, which can be very distracting while perusing thousands and thousands of items. And a little obnoxious at times. But ce la vie, not my store! Other than that, couldn’t be happier to live so close to a such a great establishment.

Making a day trip today just to visit this store. Love, love, love it!

Now this is a book store, damn comics, antiques, toys, movies, games. The people are nice and service is divine.

If you’re a fan of books and/​or comics you really shouldn’t pass on visiting this fantastic (mostly) used-​book store. The Book Nook has been providing great-​books-​at-​reader-​prices for many, many years. I remember the first time I entered their previous Clairmont store I was really blown away — I do miss that old store. The new seems a bit more cramped but that just may be due to the inevitable changes in the way the merchandise now sells.
The Book Nook has a great combination of paper media and DVD/​Blueray media — there’s also a fairly large comics section — this is all good. The books themselves, and especially the Science Fiction (where I tend to spend my time) has a great depth in most titles and authors — as with any used book store the inventory can vary greatly. The staff is particularly knowledgeable and helpful (although you will get a bit of that townie attitude from some). I’ve been in some interesting discussions while there — don’t mention politics and you’ll do fine.
There trade-​in policies have changed a bit over the years — currently they will only offer trade-​in credit on books that they want (and make sure you don’t bring in anything that’s coverless, has a broken binding where the pages are falling out, or just so trashed that it won’t sell — those don’t fly). If they have a large stock of a particular, slow selling book they won’t want it and I don’t blame them. Donate those to your library. Otherwise you’ll get trade credit on about half the retail prices that you can use against have your purchase, for the same genre (so if you have $ 20 in SF credit they won’t take that against art books). Reuse the bag they give you and you’ll get a bit more off (about enough to cover the tax if the purchase isn’t too large).
They have some interesting practices on collectible paperbacks — something I have issue with. They like to put a pricing label on the spine and cover it with clear tape. Try to get that off without tearing the paper off! I avoid those due to this practice. Also, new comics aren’t bagged/​boarded which is nice if you want to take a look before you buy, but may not meet the standards of picky comic collectors — just be aware. You will meet some attitude from some of the people that work here but in general many have been employed for many, many years and know what they’re talking about.
Parking can be a bit of a chore at this location — also, it can be a bit hard to get into from the street — you basically need to be driving Eastward on North Druid Hills right as you pass Clairmont. There usually aren’t any spaces right next to the store.

An Atlanta institution. I love this place and enjoy sifting through stacks of classic Marvel Comics, various DVDs. The used CD section doesn’t offer too many bargains, but it’s ok from time to time. FYI, they also have a used vinyl section, which I haven’t tapped into yet.

The Book Nook is a secondhand business with three locations in Atlanta (Decatur, Lilburn, & Marietta). Collectively, the stores offer a huge inventory of books, music, movies, and comics. This review is for the books at the Decatur location.
After visiting the Marietta location, which is fantastic, I was really disappointed by this location.
My main issue with this store is the layout. It is a confusing hodgepodge of rooms and felt like walking through a maze. Some people like a cozy bookstore, but I felt claustrophobic among the narrow aisles. The store needs to relocate to a bigger location or thin out its inventory. (hint: get rid of the books in really poor condition, super duplicates, and harlequin romances. It was ridiculous how I kept seeing ten copies of the same book.)
Organization was another issue. Most of the books are randomly stacked in piles or crammed out of order on the shelves.
My two companions and I gave up after thirty minutes of browsing and walked out empty handed. We just didn’t have the patience to dig deep. Considering how much I liked the Marietta location and the huge inventory, I think this location has the potential to be great.

A very cool mom and pop store with a large selection of used books. The genre’s range from science fiction, reference, fiction, romance, and more.
Pros:
BOOKS! Everywhere!
DVD’s, VHS, and music too!
They have small new book section. Regular price.
The staff is SUPER friendly and helpful.
Cons:
The prices are not that cheap. They charge 60% of the cover price, regardless of condition. Meaning, you are more likely to get a better deal on Amazon.
The books are not very organized. Some are even in piles.
All in all it is worth a stroll through to see if you can find something you like. Especially to support a small business.
Wear: Spectacles and a watch on a chain.

I love Book Nook :]
I use to come here ALL the time back in high school, and surprisingly, they’re still up and running. :D
You cannot beat the prices you’ll get on some of the books here. Also, you can bring in your old books and trade it in.
I bought a book for my brother for his AP Lit class for only a $ 1. Ebay and Amazon. it was roughly $ 10. What a STEAL! :]
They also have TONS of movies and series that you can buy. Old Disney movies, up to date complete seasons of your favorite TV show, and tons more!

My favorite used bookstore in the Atlanta area. Their sci-​fi and history sections are extensive.
They probably owe me wages, though. A couple of years ago, when I was on occasional painkillers, I took to killing time in Book Nook. I’m not OCD (much), but I do get annoyed by books that are stacked up in piles, in the wrong section, or otherwise messed up. So, I would spend like an hour re-​shelving the history section. I did that five or six times.
Like I said, my favorite used book store.