Book-Off

Book Off is a fun place to just scan their selection of mini animé toys, animé dvds and cds, and animé manga! I had fun browsing through their collection. if you have the patience to go through their treasury, you’ll definitely find a jewel hiding in this place!

A used book/​CD store that also sells various used household and electronic items. This is a company that originates from Japan… and they really play up on those who get a kick out of a kind of Japanesey consumer experience. Even the non-​Japanese staff act kind of Japanesey. Handing change/​credit card with both hands complete with a slight bow. Announcements on the PA are in both Japanese AND very thick Engrish with a Japanese accent. Oh how charming! Still everything is quite cheap and neatly arranged on the shelves even though finding anything specific item is a complete hit and miss. It’s essentially a treasure hunt… and if you are real rucky you will find something you rearry rike. Arigato.

This is a good place to sell books if you are like me, who hates to just throw away books. If you are going for extra money, you’ll be disappointed. Book-​Off gives dirt cheap price for books you sell. I usually bring 2 full shopping bag, good condition used books — about 35 to 40 books including hardcovers. I usually get $ 15 to $ 20. I recycle for the environment. Also I’ve noticed that as they expanded, customer service level went down. When store workers were mainly tiny Japanese ladies, customers were treated politer and service was faster.

Fantastic place for books, DVD’s, CD’s and games. You can take your old ones to sell too! Love that extra cash!
The employees are super helpful. They know their stock. Once you learn the set up you can easily find what you want when you return.
The place is always clean. Items are kept in alphabetical order and by genre. You can get used and new items.
I recommend highly! I’ve sent a lot of friends to Book Off. They love me for it!

I’ve been a looong-​time customer of Book-​Off. I remember their old location that was on 41^st street where the NY Public Library would be only moments away. (Right now, their old location is home to a Japanese mart) Unfortunately, since they moved to a larger location… things have not been the same as it once was.
This place used to be great to finding great deals on DVDs and animé art books. (Things that I would get from time to time) But now they’ve raised the prices for DVDs and USED animé art books. Back in the day, they would price the art books around half of the yen price. But now, they’ve pretty much priced it equally to yen price. (If the Yen and Dollar conversion rate was on equal terms with one another. ‘Cause if you haven’t noticed, the Yen has been doing pretty bad against the Dollar as of late)
Their video games are… overpriced for the most part. If you really want to buy something here, I’d suggest you do proper research on how much they currently trending in places like eBay and/​or Amazon. Sure, you may come up with some cheap finds with older titles (I found Chrono Trigger for DS for $ 5 this one time?!)…but with newer games, it’s just safer to look up things first.
The workers here just seem… meh. Sometimes, you’d get some friendly, helpful faces. Sometimes, you get the really «I’m miserable and I hate everything» types. It’s pretty much a Russian roulette for their customer service really. You never know what you’ll get since it’s extremely inconsistent here.
They also resorted to selling new Japanese magazines and art books as well. which I find odd to be honest. Shouldn’t everything be used? If I wanted new items, I’d just end up going to Kinokuniya. Who seriously comes into Book-​Off looking for NEW items though?
From time to time, I will find some good $ 1 books or Japanese manga/​magazine deals. But other than that, this place has really lost a lot of it’s charm that made me fall for it in the first place. It’s sadly just a bland, average counterpart of it’s former self.
I honestly just mainly visit for nostalgia and some slim hope of finding something decently priced. (Which is honestly pretty rare?! Sighhhs loudly)

It was a serendipitous moment when I was feeling particularly sad and lonely, when I walked past this wonderful place. What is there not to love about this place? I don’t read many of my books so I don’t know how many I would be willing to let go to only get back 15 cents a piece (I paid full price for some of them!), but I can’t say no to used books. My traveling companions for long and arduous train rides! Most of them are in great condition and only $ 1 each. I can’t comment on the DVD collection, but I can see myself making future trips here.

Don’t believe what you read. If you want to purchase items, then this place is very affordable. However, they told me to sell items, they would scan it for the market value, and if I gave over 20 items, I would get an extra 5 dollars. Well, I dropped off 33 items, and walked out with merely 20 bucks. This place is a scam. A good dumping ground though, if you just want to get rid of a bunch of crap.

Very cool place. Such a relaxed, chill environment that sells all sorts of things, especially older books, CDs, DVDs, Blu-​Ray, and games. The prices are pretty terrific actually. The staff is really friendly and helpful, and the place is remarkably tidy for a place that has so much stuff!
You can also trade in or drop off old items for cash. They have some of the best trade-​in values in the city on older merchandise. Before you think about trading in old games at the big chains, bring them to Book Off and you will probably get more for them. How do they do it? Who knows, but it’s pretty good!

I used to like going here, but I don’t like the renovations they have made. Plus, all their bookshelves are disorganized. Also, if you’re going to buy something there, you have to think before you purchase. I bought one book there for $ 8.50, but I saw a book there that was selling for $ 1 and I wanted to exchange the other book for that one. They wouldn’t let me. Despite the fact that I just paid for the thing, they wouldn’t let me change it. I got so angry that I left. I’ll never shop there again.

Sometimes I need a break from the cool book store places. Sometimes I just want, all business! Walking in, right away you get the smell of old books. A smell you either love or hate. I LOVE IT. They have yard-​sale like items you can purchase so it is a very eclectic collection of stuff you may need or just want to buy because why not. The BOOKS: I LOVE looking through their books, it is so unexpected, again you may find what you were looking for, or not at all, but you are likely to find something. Maybe its just due to my book collector abilities!

Great place to relax and unwind (especially during lunch time). Unlike Barnes & Noble, or virtually any other book store chain I’ve visited in NYC, staff here is polite and welcoming to customers. This pays off in droves as I’m more likely to make this place a first stop when looking for merchandise, even if I’m not looking to buy each time.
As with many Japanese places, this Book-​Off is spotless, well-​organized, and comfortable. As a plus, Xian Famous Foods is nearby.

I stumbled on this place completely by accident but I’m so glad I did. It’s a really awesome used bookstore. It’s pretty large and you can also sell books/​electronics to them.
The only thing that’s a little disorienting is the way the books are organized. There’s a very ill-​maintained classification system. The $ 1 books are hopeless. You petty much just have the luck of the draw.
I bought 3 books for less than $ 10. Two of which were over $ 15 had they been in a regular bookstore.
Will absolutely be back! And with books to sell.

Well the end of good thing, following the path of least resistance they have Raised their prices on most of the better books. Gone are the days of the good deal $ 7.00 books. Shoppers be advised if you are looking for a deal compare the pricing to Amazon and Other online sellers, at least at these market places you can return the book (Book-​OFF no return policy).
No doubt I love a good bargain and I spent hundreds of dollar in this place, however I have just been turned off by all the other stuff they now carry, handbags, puzzles, toys, housewares.

Great for finding that hard-​to-​find CD or movie you’ve been looking for. Unfortunately, their midtown location means you’re squeezed to pay for their overpriced Manhattan commercial rent. Used CD’s are typically $ 8.00 — when you can buy a new one for $ 12.
On the other hand, when you try to sell anything, regardless of condition, they offer next to nothing. I brought in a bunch of CD’s from when we cleaned out the house of a family member that passed away. All Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand and others of that ilk, but still major label releases in good to like new condition. They paid like a quarter per disc.
Also, the routine they have where they send you away from the counter while they «appraise» your items is designed to get your stuff out of sight so instead of just taking it back, they make it seem like it’s already been filed away and you can’t get it back.
Finally, when the place gets busy, it can take a while to check out and pay. The Asian staff are pleasant, but the American kids all seem like they’d rather be somewhere else.

I first visited BOOKOFF in Japan!!! What a delight to find a branch here.
They offer an excellent selection of Blu-​rays as well as games. And they’ve got a great number of Japanese language books and games. I was disappointed to find their animé selection limited to three bookshelves. For a Japanese store I’d expect more! Their English manga was also limited; although there are more than a dozen bookshelves I didn’t find a single title I was looking for. They do offer a nice range of manga box sets. They have a strange mix of other goods, like housewares and calculators, which dilute the idea of what a used book store is supposed to be. I’d rather they focus on expanding their media selection.
Prices aren’t great, but aren’t unreasonable given the location. It is too bad I haven’t found anywhere in Manhattan that approaches Internet prices. For one example, they charge $ 100 for an SNES when a fair price is just above $ 50. Ultimately the cost-​benefit analysis favors streaming for video titles, many of which are available legally and free online. Thus is the state of physical media.
They do have plenty of sale items, some for $ 1. And some items are surprisingly affordable — take the $ 20 PS1s.
Products are clean. They note how they’ll give you more trade-​in value for clean products, and it fits the quietly refined Japanese aesthetic.
I wanted to support them but didn’t find a must-​have. So I walked out empty-​handed.

WOW ! This place is awesome ! Book Off is filled with DVD’s, Music CDs, Games, Comics, Books, Electronics, etc. You can spend hours just browsing through this store and come across books and CDs from the past and the present. I had some pleasant flashbacks while looking at their book sections (Goosebumps, Aninmorphs, etc.)
Their video game sections are clearly separated and you can find some great games, some for a good price. I am not a big manga fan, but if you are, you can find a good selection in this store. I bought a whole bunch of vintage Batman comics for a buck each !
They buy your used DVDs, books, and electronics. When you are in the store, you will constantly hear them paging customers on the wait list to approach the counter to get their stuff sold. I will definitely drop by again to sell off some of my old DVDs and CDs. One man’s junk i definitely another’s treasure in this location !

I really like this bookstore. I mainly go down to the Animé floor downstairs. If only I could speak and read Japanese fluently this would be my second home. (although they also sell translated mangas as well. I saw translated Bleach manga) XD
It’s a really nice bookstore. It’s always neat in there. And the workers are also really helpful. If you are looking for a store in NYC that sell mangas? This is this store! They have sooo many of it and at reasonable prices in my opinion. I also love the fact that they also sell Japanese music. I saw Ikimono Gakari which is super rare to find in NYC!!! I also saw other Japanese artist music they sold there. Really great store. They even sold some K-​pop albums as well. And for the first time I touched a WEEKLY JUMP book! XD I’ve always seen it in Gintama but this was my first time holding it with my own two hands. So cool~~

I’m a huge fan of the JRPG series Dragon Quest. This place (along with tons of other used books, Japanese books and magazines, DVDs, electronics, etc) is quite the find for me.
Found GBA, DS, 3DS, PS1−4 games used, but in great condition. They had Japanese strategy guides that I was drooling over as well as a used Japanese 3DS I came so damn close to buying.
Great selection of items and clean!

Pros
+ inexpensive books! They have $ 1, $ 5 & $ 10 books.
+ chairs allow for great seating while waiting for that friend that gets a little too absorbed into her books
Cons
— no restrooms
— the service clerks spoke minimal English. Though friendly, their heavy accents made it hard to answer my queries.

I came here to sell wii and some video games.
A staff on the counter told me it will take 30minutes so I came back later.
At that time staff changed and a lady staff whose name on her tag was ‘KAT’ was very rude and unkind.
When I came back she couldn’t find my record at all so she asked another staff for help, and didn’t know how to handle it with store computer system.
I think The manager had better change staffs at least with Customer service counter.

No tuve la suerte de encontrar todo lo que buscaba, pero me gasté muy poco y me llevé muchas reliquias. Había cientos de cds a 1 $… No tuve tiempo de detenerme, menos mal! Me podía haber llevado 1000!