Mostly Books

THIS IS THE CUTEST PLACE ON EARTH.
I stumbled in here a few times on my way around south street. It looks itty bitty on the outside but it’s HUGE inside. You can find all kinds of books, CDs, DVS, etc. There is every kind of genre. I’m really into fitness and health and their section was amazing, with so many awesome cookbooks!
The merchandise is super cheap and there is so much of it. If you don’t know what you’re looking for and just wandering: prepare to hang out for a while! My friend was looking for a particular book and found it. They often have books outside for free or less than $ 1.
They have a great selection of any type of book you could imagine! The only thing this place is missing is a good bookstore cat.

Wow! what a find. stumbled upon this place while looking for someplace else. talk about a literal cave of books – this place is huge, filled with used books of all sorts, makes you feel like you could look forever and still not be done looking thru it all. worth checking out if you love a good book store.

For those who love to flip through books, search ever deeper for some exciting new story, and get lost in a labyrinth of book stacks– this place will please you. It is an unassuming place, spilling out onto the sidewalk from the open garage door in the warmer months. The «mostly» part of the name refers to the fact that other media is represented here, but books are the main inventory. The books are sorted by subject and despite the rather cluttered and unorganized look, its not to hard to find the section you want. As you walk ever deeper into the store, you will continuously find yourself following signs telling you to «keep on going» and «more books this way». From a price perspective, they are on the expensive side of the line for used books (in my experience), but the charm of the store outweighs that small note.

Mostly Piles of dusty books.

This place is big, and at first it looks overwhelming because of the variety and sheer number of books, but it’s actually very well-​organized and the owner knows his products and can guide you if you’re looking for something specific. Since it’s now winter, here’s a helpful tip: find what you’re looking for, then walk toward the back, take your first left, take another immediate left, go straight back to the door, and you will find a room that is warm to preview your books, make decisions, and collect yourself before venturing back into the cold.
This is also a great place to spend some time just wandering around with friends looking at books, making an affair of it. There are some real gems — for instance, we found a book about the prostate «for men, and the women who love them,» a very old book describing the rhythm method as the hot new form of birth control, and a book entitled «The Mullet: Hairstyle of the Gods.» Seriously, what is more fun than getting lost in a huge second-​hand book store amusing yourself with silly books with friends? Or did I just out myself as a former English major to everyone on Unilocal

Such a cute little store! It is actually not little at all though. It seems like this place could be a maze that keeps going.
We biked by here today and was immediately intrigued. We parked our bikes and went inside. At first it looks like just a garage but as you go towards the back you realize it’s a house of two of rooms filled with books!
The books here are in really good condition and for really good prices. My brother bought a comic book/​newspaper for just $ 0.85!
We didn’t get to stay long but I will definitely be coming back to check out the whole store. Not at night though. I feel like things could popup anywhere and my brother said one of the room has creaking floors as you step!

Mostly Books has high prices, labyrinthine organization, and service that is mostly nonexistent, but rude when they are around.
I was originally excited to find Mostly Books. It’s exactly the kind of store that I usually like, in that it has lots of used books spread over a lot of space. However, my experiences there beat that excitement out of me.
Mostly Books has a large selection, but finding anything is more a matter of chance than perseverance. The sections are confusingly marked and sometimes go from one room to another seemingly at random. There has been some attempt at alphabetization, but it is inconsistent enough to make it frustrating as often as helpful.
This might not be a problem if there was staff willing to help, but in my visits to Mostly Books I had to try and answer more questions from fellow customers than I ever had answered myself. The books are also fairly expensive for used copies in average to below average condition. Pairing high prices with a decidedly low cost atmosphere isn’t a great combination.
The one time I actually had staff ask me a question it was to stop reading a book I’d picked up and was planning to buy. Despite the many chairs throughout the shop suggesting otherwise, apparently this is not a bookstore where you can read some of the book before you buy it. I wouldn’t have a major problem with this if everything about the store didn’t seem designed to have people spend some time. I was also told that the reason I needed to get up was because the chair was for all customers. Considering the store had maybe a 5:1 chair to customer ratio at that point, this seemed like BS.
Suffice to say, it’s not my favorite bookstore in Philly.

When Philadelphia AIDS Thrift packed up for its bigger home on Passyunk, Mostly Books moved in on the next door spot that used to house all of the thrift stores furniture. The end result really succeeded in clearing up a lot of the clutter and making things much more easier to find. You’ll still sift through some random oddball stuff from section to section, and find the occasional rows in total disarray. But at least that treasure is much more accessible, which succeeds in making the store a little more reputable.

This is one of my favorite book shops in the city. It’s spacious, organized, and always has something that I need. I don’t get to go as often as I’d like, but whenever I do, I walk away with several awesome finds. I highly recommend!

Great spot!!! My old roommate left a box full of old shitty CD’s and some crappy books in his closet when he moved out. Instead of throwing everything out, I made the walk to Mostly Books and exchanged all the junk for over $ 100 in store credit. They have two locations and each is packed with books, movies and records. It is a bit unorganized but the sheer volume and diversity of their selection makes it worth while. Prices are very cheap and the staff is super friendly. For a bookworm like myself, it is a must visit.

Love this place!
They have a great selection of books with low prices. It is pretty well organized, especially for this kind of a shop. It’s also WAY bigger than I thought, as you walk through, new rooms keep appearing!
They have VHS and DVD movies for sale, along with old magazines, newspapers and photos. Most movies and books were $ 6 – 7. I got a copy of Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends for 6 bucks! That’s surely a good deal to me!
Great place to go if you have an open mind about what to read next!

This is an okay place, but you may need to spend a whole day here to find anything worthwhile. It is a bit unorganized, but if you have patience you will find something awesome.

I. Love. Books. So do the people here, I suspect. It’s huge. Fun to walk though and browse.
This is a great place if you’ve cultivated that thrift store mind-​set … not looking for anything, but eye out for everything. Multiple rooms filled with walls of books and media await you. Being open to anything keeps you from being overwhelmed.
It’s also a fun visit for curiosities when you’re showing someone around the town (I always show people around this area of town when they visit) — there’s a very strange trunk of old photos (who buys those?) among the other wanderings around. Nice way to take up 20 minutes on a visit from a friend.

Wandered into this place by chance on my way home from the fabulous Philly AIDS Thrift… I was still in a thrifty mood and this cute bookstore caught my eye. I was blown away.
A fairly huge selection of books, movies, and music (found a book that I have been looking for in thrift stores across the city!!), and it has this fantastic warehouse boutique (oxymoron?) feel to it, with huge ceilings and a wide space. It doesn’t have that typical, cramped and overwhelming feel that many used/​thrift places tend to have. It was well-​organized, and easy to navigate. You can expect books to be $ 6 and below (on paperbacks at least) and movies/​music to be in a similar range. Not the absolute cheapest of used places, but the presentation/​selection makes up for it!
I only had the time/​money to buy one or two things, but definitely bookmarking this one to return to the next time I have the shopping urge!

Mostly books is mostly ok. The book are everywhere and sort of organized but not done well. You need to have a whole day to dig if you really want to find some good treasures.

I feel strange redoing a review within less a month of my first visit but I went back there this weekend with a friend and I was really disappointed. I didn’t find a single book that I wanted and that just about *never* happens to me. Their inventory seems to have decreased. And there was a certain charm to the tottering piles of books. I guess its more organized and all now but I don’t think I’ll be going back, at least not to this location (the one on 10^th street is still OK).

Hadn’t been to this place in a few years. Slightly disappointed to see that they’ve cleaned up the place, organized the books, and cut their inventory. I miss the old place I remember from the early 2000s with piles and piles of books, memorabilia, «art,» and records.
That said, there is still a large selection of material and I walked out the door with two paperbacks – an academic tome on Africana philosophy and a travelogue by a punk mom – in good shape for under $ 10.
Hopefully they’ll fill up all the extra space with cool art, bric-​à-​brac, and «junk» soon.
UPDATE: Got a message from the owner of the place, Joe, who tells me that the reason the place seems empty is that he just bought the space next door a week ago and cleaned up the old store. It’s all supposed to be leading up to acquiring MORE books and stuff, but presented in a less idiosyncratic manner than the old Mostly Books. I look forward to checking it out next time I visit Philly.

I have to admit that most of what everyone else criticizes about this place is what makes me really love it. Of course its cluttered, of course you have to dig to find the gems. .. but that’s what makes it endearing.
If you have a bit of time, go peruse their book selection. They have TONS of great used books and you can easily spend an hour looking through them all.
Also — they take credit cards. .. that always deserves a star in my book.

I wish I could say only good things about this place, since I love used bookstores and try to support them in any way possible. On the contrary, this place was somewhat disappointing. It’s a really cool place, with lots of fun things to look through. The old photos are my favorite, but I would never spend $ 2 for three old photos, unless I found a really, really cool one. Most of these are random snapshots of random, boring people. If you really dig, though, you can find some cool really old ones, but who has the time?
I went there the other day (my second time there) to look for records. There was some good stuff, but it was way overpriced for the quality of the records. Most were priced between $ 4 and $ 6, which would be okay if they were in great condition, but most weren’t.
If you’re looking to kill some time and are in the area, I’d recommend checking out the place to see the sheer volume of stuff they have. But if you’re looking to actually buy something for a reasonable price, I’d steer clear.

This place is outrageously priced for a secondhand bookstore. Brittle, yellowed sci-​fi novels whose original retail price was $ 0.75 being sold for $ 4? Insanity. It’s an interesting place to spend an hour or two, looking through the hundreds of old snapshots piled up in suitcases (although I would never actually buy one at that price). I’ve bought stuff here occasionally, but only when the book was rare and I was willing to shell out $ 15 because I had to have it right then. Even when you include shipping, you can buy almost anything here cheaper from Amazon Used or from Ebay.
One of the people who works here is friendly, the other one behaves as if you are invading their privacy by coming in the store. It’s clearly a store owned by a book-​lover, but whether that person actually wants to let go of any the books… hard to say.