Logos Books & Records

This place is SOLID they always have what I am looking for. The staff is very helpful and knowledgable. Never had a bad experience at this place. I always stop by whenever I am in downtown Santa Cruz.

I have been coming to this place for over 20 years! each trip is an adventure.
The main draw are the books. They have thousands of books! Every genre you can think of, you can find at Logos. There are lots of used books, and new books too!
I could spend days in this place!
They also sell music: vinyl records, and CD’s. You can find some treasures for a couple of bucks!
Store is 2-​levels. Can’t wait to visit again!

Best bookshop in Santa Cruz County, hands down. Great memories coming here as a kid with my Dad.
I couldn’t believe that Bookshop Santa Cruz (sanitized front for a certain political family/​dynasty in town) has a higher review.
Logos is the real deal, a real Santa Cruz bookshop with extensive used goods including vinyl music, and the best local history section in town. The sale cookbooks never cease to delight, as well as their extensive selection of just about everything.
With how challenging the internet age is for the traditional bookshop I am really rooting for Logos to stick around forever. I hope our community realizes the value of this place before Santa Cruz completes its screwed-​up transition from funky, literate, culturally-​diverse beach town into Silicon Beach, where books have been banned in favor of IPads and smart phones, and higher-​speed internet in the privacy of every yuppie’s home takes precedence over patronizing a third-​place packed with awesome books and legit local flavor.

I’ve been vacationing in Santa Cruz my whole life and just discovered this bookstore two years ago. Oh my word! I’ve been missing out. I’m a HUGE book nerd. (I need books like I need air) When I discovered Logos, I was in heaven. Unfortunately books are quite foreign to my husband so I couldn’t spend as much time as I would have preferred in there. I will definitely be hitting this place up each time I come to Santa Cruz!

Favorite bookstore south of San Francisco. Had everything I needed (a bunch of Joseph Conrad) at a great price.

Pros:
–huge store
–many different genres
–helpful workers
–books, music, movies, etc
Cons:
–expensive for a used book store sometimes
–the ‘classics’ are hard to find and very expensive. They had zero used copies of mobey dick, 1984, etc but plenty of new copies in the $ 20-​$ 30 range. Why aren’t there dozens of copies of these kinds of book?
–the setup of the store isn’t labeled very well and forces you to walk around the whole place several times or track down a worker to find what you’re looking for
Overall I would give it a 3.5÷5 but rounded up because it’s a local store and not a huge chain!

The people at the checkout counter were very friendly tonight. Maybe the owner read the other reviews mentioning poor service. As another review mentioned, yes things can be a little hard to find but that’s half the fun. This is a very large store with lots of books on different subjects so if you’re patient and wander around you might find something interesting that you didn’t have in mind looking for when you came in. For example tonight I came home with a cookbook I never buy cookbooks! This store is the answer to Amazon. LOW prices and you can actually look at the books and touch them before you buy them.

I’ve spent a lot of money in Logos but no more. I needed to use the bathroom, was walking in Santa Cruz with my elderly sister and she needed to go to bathroom. Went into Logos and asked where bathroom is. They said no one can use it anymore to my elderly sister.
Well, after spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars at Logos, I will never go there again.
Bad customer service. I can see why no one goes there to spend money anymore and why there are no customers in the store. PS We are well dressed elder women who have money to spend, but never at Logos again.

Here’s their buy policy from their website:
«Paperbacks (Trade): clean, quality (not mass market) = up to 30% in cash or 50% in trade (of the cover price).
Paperbacks (Mass Market): = up to 20% in cash or 40% in trade (of the cover price)»
I guess the two words that prevent the above from being a complete lie is the «up to».
They wanted my paperbacks — but, oh, «we don’t (ever) pay cash for „pocket“ books, we only offer trade — which can only be used in-​store for used books or music».
Although most of my paperbacks were in pristine condition, their trade offer must have been $ 1 each or less — nowhere near 40 — 50% of the cover price.
My advice — if you still want to schlepp your books down there, be prepared to «just say no» and take your books back if they treat you like they did me.
I would have gotten more for donating them, felt better about it, and had way less schlepping to do.

Have always loved this store and have purchased hundreds of books over the past years. However, this past weekend while shopping in Logos, the people who work there were being obnoxiously loud – yelling and screaming to one another over the customers. It was quite unprofessional and inappropriate especially since this bookstore has never been known for responding well to customers. It seems like the employees have no supervisor and no training as to proper behavior in a workplace. Like others have said, I, too, have stood in line while the employees talk to each other about their evening escapades instead of ringing me up. Who is in charge of this place?

I used to frequent this place, but no more. If they want me to purchase books from them, they need to open the bathrooms to customers like Bookshop Santa Cruz. NO BATHROOM FOR CUSTOMER, NO CUSTOMER.
the employees are so busy doing whatever, they hardly have time to let me know that I really wasn’t welcome, but I could mail my money to them.
After leaving here today, a lady on the street overheard me complaining to my friend about the bathroom situation, and said she also quit going there because of the same reasons, no bathroom and poor customer relations because of bad attitude on the part of the staff.
Perhaps they don’t need our business… with their attitude, no problem, as I won’t be back

Great selection but the staff is responsible for the worst customer service I have ever received. Both times I was there the two clerks I dealt with never said a word, even when greeted by me (the customer) and asked how their day was. At what seems to be the customer service desk I listened to two employees talk about their day and what they did last night while one lady helped customers. I will never go to this store again, regardless of the amazing selection and that saddens me.

Terrible Staff, Discourteous, if you are selling to Logo’s.
Though, Logos has a great selection of books andCD’s’s
Vintage vinyl is disappearing and they will not pay top dollar for it.

Amazing collection of hard-​to-​find niche books and helpful staff. The other book store down the street should really do a Customer service training at logos,

Logos is a great book store. While the sheer size of the store is somewhat daunting you will be glad if you take the time to explore.
I always find something that I can’t live without. Their selection is simply amazing, whether it be fiction, non– fiction, cooking, science … Way too much to list.
It’s a place where you could browse all day or just pop in if you already know what you want.
They also buy back books. So I say go find a great book.

This is easily one of my favorite book stores in the Bay Area. It’s right in downtown Santa Cruz which makes it fairly accessible, but the selection is amazing.
Like others have stated they have a fantastic selection of both new and used books.
I have taken home many a book to add to my collection after perusing the fiction section and reading the back and inside cover.
The book store itself is quite large, but still manages to be quiet, clean, and comfortable.
The staff has always been super helpful in the rare instances I’ve ever had a question which is a nice perk (though I feel like most book store employees are friendly and more than happy to share their favorite + recent reads).

Logo’s is a great when looking to buy/​sell rarer or out of print items. While they have a decent vinyl collection, and the movie and cd section isn’t bad the true strength is hard to find books. If something is out of print, obscure, rare or just too damned expensive on amazon Logos is your go to resource.
There are two levels upstairs has the vinyl, cd’s, movies and cooking/​art/​fiction sections. Downstairs is everything else.
While it is possible to purchase the very rare here-​once they had a book of Tibetan Chakra plates, over 200 years old, asking price 9,000 dollars, veiwable by appointment only-​more budget conscious books can be had. Want a classic sci fi paperback? Can be done for 5 bucks or so. Need an obscure hardback on the history of anything? Looking at about 10.
The inventory is constantly changing depending on whats come in recently and the pricing can be variable as well. Super bargains can be had up front. It’s always worth the time to go check out what treasures can be found.
I should also mention that they purchase items. If your spouse thinks that you should be able to park a car in your garage instead of using it for surplus library storage, one can totally bring it on down for some beer money.

Absolute favorite bookstore in Santa Cruz.
A good mix of new and used books, hard to find editions, and the ‘recommended’ titles on the display feature fun and quirky books that aren’t necessarily what’s the new bestseller.
The people who work here are super knowledgeable about what’s what, and can walk the walk when it comes to books. They’ll be up front with you if a certain genre isn’t their forte– and point you to someone who is better suited to answer your questions. Very down to earth employees and willing to point you in the right direction.
Must pop in if I’m in town– always excited to find another gem at Logo’s bookstore!

If you read books, listen to vinyl, or collect ephemera then Logo’s is a must stop place when you’re in S.C. They have a vast selection of new and used books, vinyl, CD’s, and all kinds of paper collectibles.
The upsides: Eyecandy… Lots of it… Old signed books, out of print stuff, tons of vinyl, oddball paper, etc!
The downsides: Vinyl is stored in bins with the bottom lined with sandpaper to keep vinyl from sliding (the result damaged records), most of the collectible paper is waaaaaaaay overpriced vs finding it on Ebay or Amazon (but occasionally they miss something) Check the new arrival vinyl rack, but if it’s made it to the bins it’s probably hosed!
A fun place to go torture yourself, or remind you to go home and look online, but you can find a deal there sometimes.
That’s why I’ll be back!

I am a sucker for used bookstores so I checked out Logos. There are two floors of used books and music so that was cool. Used book prices were generally marked inside the book with a pencil.
I picked up a young adult fantasy novel for $ 5 which wasn’t bad.
They had an interesting children’s books in foreign languages section.