Edward McKay Used Books & More

The store has a wide selection and the staff have always been friendly. They’re not particularly useful, though, as there’s no centralized inventory and they can only point you in the general direction of where a book you’re looking for may be (if they have it … which they don’t know).
I wish the shelves were better sorted by alphabet, but I realize that would be a monumental task given the size of the shop.
I find the pricing of their books to be strange. Some books are a total steal, others are ridiculously overpriced — they had a book for sale that was in «definitely used» shape (scuffed up, some bent page corners) and it was priced above the cost of a brand-​new copy from Barnes & Noble (online).
Still, it’s a very good place to browse and kill 30 – 60 minutes, and I go often.
I have only dealt with Edward McKay’s as a buyer of used books, not as a seller, so I can’t comment on whether they’re fair with pricing.

Not bad as a buyer (though the selection is a bit sparse).
As a seller they are pretty bad — don’t expect to come away with much cash (almost all of their sales are for store credit).

I was really impressed at the selections and how organized such a huge store could be. I purchased 3 books at the price of $ 4.00,$ 6.00 and $ 1.00. I think the prices are fair being that the books I purchased retail are $ 20.00 and ^.
I will definitely go back.

Complete rip off when it comes to selling to them. They now have a policy where they will rifle through your books, decide if there is anything they want and give you a few pennies on the dollar of store credit. If they determine what you brought is not worthy, then you take it back. It basically amounts to you giving them good stuff to sell and profit on.

Way over priced. Enjoys screwing me over for the things I bring which are way over the value they order me. It’s disappointing

Poor service!!! Too long of a wait to trade & not flexible to pickup the next day. Rude and «I don’t care» attitudes.

I just love this place. I’m a huge book lover, but they also have CDs, DVDs, video games, and cool posters and toys and electronics. Everything is super cheap and I have so many books from here. I stop in every time I pass through Raleigh.

This store has an amazing thrift selection! Very much up my alley. Was not greeted when I arrived but the girl at the register was kind. Not a bad experience and I will definitely return!

This place is huge!!! It’s definitely one of those stores where you want to have some time to leisure, browse, and just be looking to look. I have found some great treasures in this store, as well as sold some items for store credit and cash! It’s the best used book store in the area that I have found so far.

I work near Edward McKay and like to go browse on my lunch hour. I always leave with a couple. I had not been by since the spring. I know I have bought nice hard backs there for $ 4, but yesterday they were largely priced 20% off new cover price?

Great place to sell your stuff, they’ll basically pick through your stuff based on very specific guidelines for what they want. When they do find that stuff, they hook you up, but dont be surprised to find yourself taking home half of what you brought.
Okay place to buy from, pricing is meh, generic fiction is cheap enough but a lot of their video games and graphic novels are pretty pricing, Id recommend amazon/​ebay for used even after shipping costs. I see a lot of $ 9 for a used copy of a $ 15 graphic novel thats been there for months. Which is probably just shortcomings of the staff not knowing their stuff and poor pricing guidelines.
Really amazingly cool atmosphere though, lots of neat posters and knick knacks to pick up while you shop.

I only come here for books as I’m not into gaming, but the selection is wide enough and diverse enough that I always leave with something. I’ve been on a 20^th century American classics kick all year, and I never have any issues finding what I am looking for.
Now, three suggestions:
1) Start selling local T-​Shirts on top of your own brand.
2) Consider expanding and add a no frills coffee element with seating.
3) Digitize faster. I know they’re in the process of this, but let’s get a move on!

This bookstore is «just OK». For its size, I expected a lot more.
The pros:
* Large selection of used graphic novels, including a lot of manga.
* Movies and games appear to have large selections, although I didn’t really dig through them.
* Large selection of young adults books.
* Wide variety of books available, from car repair manuals to erotica.
The cons:
* Shelves are very disorganized. Books are only sorted by the first letter of the author’s name, so, for example, all the «D» books will be together, but they won’t be alphabetized within the five or six «shelves» (fruit crates) that are labeled «D».
* In the books, records and CDs, I found many misfiled items. Sometimes just in the wrong alphabetical section, sometimes in a completely different genre (e.g. they have an «R&B/Soul» section, but I found Stevie Wonder and similar artists in «Rock»). There are occasional dividers in among the CDs and records, but they seldom bear very much relation to which CDs or records they were adjacent to.
* Since the bookshelves are stocked two books deep, you have to spend a lot of time digging through the shelves to see if they have anything worth buying. This will inevitably involve digging through multiple copies of volumes from various crappy series that nobody wanted to buy in the first place and (evidently), nobody wants to buy now (although I was very impressed to see a complete hardcover set of L. Ron Hubbard’s magnum opus, «Mission Earth»).
* The music sections were similar. Multiple copies of ZZ Top’s «Afterburner», but none of their other albums. Multiple copies of Neil Young’s 90s CDs but nothing recorded before 1992 (not counting one overpriced LP copy of his debut album that will probably still be there when the zombies attack).
Overall, the number of duplicates seems to indicate that that there’s no back stock and everything they own is out on the shelves. It doesn’t seem to be turning over very quickly, so I don’t see myself making a special trip over here again, although I might stop in if I’m in the area.
Finally, prices are not that great (as others have mentioned) and if their pricing policy was posted anywhere, I sure couldn’t find it. Some books are marked and some aren’t, and I couldn’t find any description in the store of how to price the unmarked books. I’m sure it’s posted somewhere but they don’t go out of their way to point out that you will be paying cover price for some 30-​year-​old books.

Selection: OK. This place lacked fairly popular titles in both books and movies, but then had random junk like a 1980’s Time-​Life collection on paranormal events. Who buys that?
Price: Bad. You’re better off on
or the like.
Buyback: Inconvenient, bordering on shady. You give them your stuff, they take it behind the counter, and they call you later when they’re done looking at it. They bring you back the stuff they don’t want to buy, and keep the stuff they do want behind the counter. But then they don’t tell you what they’re buying, or how much they’re paying for each item!!! The sheet they gave me to sign just said «10 books — $ 10.» Really? I brought in 100! Which 10 are you buying? And are you giving me $ 9 for 1 of them, and 10 cents each for the rest? How can I decide if this is an OK deal? I would not come back here to sell again…

Horrible. Stay away. They advertise «buying» books from people, then offer pennies only to be used in store credit. The staff is not trained and dysfunctional. Every question i asked a worker, he /​she had to go find out from someone else. Not to mention the staff was stuffing their face with food when i walked in. Lazy employees. Don’t waste your time.

The biggest used book store in the Raleigh area, this location of Edward McKay has a reasonable selection of books and video games. (The selection and prices aren’t nearly as good as the Greensboro store)
Parking can be an issue. They’re in a mini strip mall with an awful used/​pawn shop store and a Golden Corral. The organization of some of the sections leaves a lot to be desired, as does the friendliness of some of the staff.

Great selection and many titles but marred by the complete lack of organization on the shelves (double and triple deep stacked shelves? Come on) and the inability to find anything specific in a timely manner. Awesome if you want to browse shelves though, or are hunting for just ‘something’ to read.
I have to admit that I was a little put off by the atmosphere. It was a bit unfriendly, almost like those that worked there were burdened by our questions. Docked a star for this.
Docked a second star because even though they are cheaper than buying new, they’re still a bit more expensive than other options/​competitors. Amazon is cheaper even with shipping and they still don’t compare to Reader’s Corner in terms of price.

I came here looking for a used car repair manual. This is a little treasure trove of literature here. I didn’t find what I was looking for, but I will come back to search for other stuff. You can also call them and they will check the shelves for you before you come. When I asked for assistance, they were happy to walk me to the area and help me search.
They also have video games of every vintage, movies on DVD and BluRay. I didn’t see any VHS or Betamax. Their Movie section appeared as if it larger than Best Buy, or F.Y.E. They also have a vast music library. It is on CD, and a huge selection of vinyl for those that are into the pure unadulterated sound, not that MP3 crap you download from Amazon, iTunes, or Google.
I recommend them for a good inexpensive book, game, movie, or music. Plus they will buy all of the stuff you are not interested in anymore. It is a win-​win.
#270

I have been to this business on a weekly, and I’m not kidding here, weekly basis. At least once a week. You never know what gem you will find at this place. Just the other day I picked up a hardcover novel of a book that will be at least another 8 months until it gets released in paperback. It made my day seeing it in the back row of the shelf (which also should remind folks to pull the front row of books aside to see what might be hidden behind!).
My movie collection has nearly doubled due to Edward McKay’s. I have bought blu-​rays to replace DVDs and used the DVDs to earn store credit towards the purchase of even more movies. A review placed earlier was spot on about making sure and checking
and Best Buy amongst other places to make sure you can’t get the same movie new for the same price. I always have my phone in hand scanning bar codes and checking prices.
Books… say what you might about digital books, nothing to me is better than the feel and smell of an actual book. The prices are usually so good on these gently used books. Because of this I have at LEAST 6 months worth of books waiting for me to read them.
Do yourself a favor and check it out. Just make sure if you have items you wish to sell to make it there before 8 p.m. (Mon-​Sat) because their buy counter closes. If you come in at 8:05 p.m. (2005hrs for you like-​minded folks), you will be out of luck.
See you at the Ed!

I am giving this place a 4 out of 5 only because the selection was low when we went. I was not able to find copies of several books that have been on the best seller list over the past year and a half. I did find a good selection of books published in 2011, but 3 years is a long time to wait to read a book. I am aware that the book selection is based on what is brought in and they are probably seeing less now because of the electronic books but I really expected to see more recent titles in stock. They had a large selection of games, DVDs and albums. The isles were arranged with subjects lists on the ends and it was easy for me to find books. I will definitely return to this store.