Ophelia’s Books

Love this bookstore, has exactly the cozy vibe I want for a bookstore. Found some great books here (you never know what you’ll find). There’s also a lovely tortishell cat that happily accepts love from customers.

I really dig this shop.
Spiral staircase down to the historical and fantasy tomes … and bunnies, for some reason.
A cat that doesn’t mind the affection of bibliophiles.
A loft for the children’s section.
And hundreds of bound, paper friends to be bought and brought home or read on a sunny day in the park. Some of them new, others an old dog just waiting for another master.
To me, small, indie shops like this will always have a leg up on Amazon. They’ve often got a really diverse selection of obscure reads and this one’s got the friendly staff and neat and cozy, little corners to tuck yourself away in for a bit.

Cool little place. Obscure book selection, which is pretty neat. Definitely coming back for that Teddy Roosevelt book.

Friendly store with cozy atmosphere, a unique little spiral staircase leading down into a secondary section of books and a small loft space upstairs with Children’s/Young Adult. Very compact but the selection is diverse and prices are fair. But upon entrance, you’re immediately greeted by a very friendly cat, and almost as friendly staff. Be warned: if you pay attention to the cat, it will love you and let you be. Try to ignore the cat (like some did) and the cat will hound you forever until you pay attention. I watched a gentlemen try to ignore the cat and after 5 minutes of intense meowing and repeatedly walking in front of his path, he eventually conceded to petting the cat where the cat finally stopped its incessant meowing and accepted the attention until it moved on to the newest patron that entered.
During my visit, I acquired a Guide to Seattle, which was a $ 3 «discount book» from the outside racks, as well as 3 fiction books inside. Altogether, I think they tallied to $ 28 with the sales tax.
It should go without saying, but it is a smaller store, so do try to pay with the smallest tender possible as they’re not likely to have a large amount of cash around to break $ 50s and $ 100s. I only say this because a kid had come in and bought a few books totaling about $ 20 and he tried to break a $ 100 there so… he eventually put it on his debit card I think.

This bookstore is awesome; like a mini Powell’s bookstore! The prices there are pretty fair and they have a great selection of books. At first, I thought the store was really small because the main and top floors looked very compact. The set up made me feel a bit claustrophobic. I asked the guy working there to refer me to the cook book section and he pointed to this really narrow stairway that wrapped around to the basement level. Make sure you don’t wear high heels because you might trip and injure yourself.
At the basement level, there is surprisingly a lot of room filled with bookshelves. Everything is pretty organized where you can easily find the genre that you’re looking for. I enjoyed coming here and walked away buying four (in very good condition) books. Great bookstore!

Yay for bookstores that sell REAL books!
This is one of the last great independent bookstores as I highly encourage repeat patronage :)

This was my happy place when I lived in Seattle. Not only did I find the prices extremely reasonable, but the selection was fantastic for such a tiny place. $ 4 per EM Forster book? I’m going to have to buy 3, thank you. And $ 7 for the Shakespeare anthology that I’d given up searching for years ago? Don’t mind if I do.
(Did I mention the adorable cat? Don’t forget the adorable loudmouthed cat.)

Music: N
Layout: Very organized
Selection: Lots, however, didn’t have what I was specifically looking for.
Price: Very decent.
Customer Service: 5 out of 5. Owner was very warm and inviting.
There is a very talkative friendly cat that lives there who is awesome. My best friend and I were playing with her as she purred and meowed.

I have fond memories of visiting Ophelia’s before I moved to Seattle, before I knew I would end up in Seattle even. It was a beautiful day spent in Fremont with my little sister, visiting all the various Fremont attractions. We stopped in at Ophelia’s and picked up a few great used books before heading back downtown.
I remembered this yesterday when I visited Ophelia’s again with some friends. It’s a great little shop. The selection isn’t huge, but chances are you’ll find something you like. Plus there is a very friendly and talkative feline who lives there.
Whenever I’m in Fremont, I try to stop in.

I love this place. +1 star just because they have an in-​store cat resident. They have amazing vintage/​antique volumes and prints, plus old postcards! So rad!

This is my happy place. I often wander in just to say hello to Claudia, the sweet torty cat who lives here, perching and mewling atop stacks of well priced paperbacks.
Their poetry section leaves something to be desired, but the «Smut and Tail» section more than makes up for it with erotica galore. Any bookstore that displays «Ada or Ardor» under a picture of a pug’s ass is Unilocal!worthy.
I love spending time here. It’s my place to savor and indulge, alone, happy as can be.

As long as I am in and out of Ophelia’s pretty quickly, the cats don’t trigger my allergies. Fortunately, a used bookstore isn’t like a coffeehouse, and I don’t have any need to stay longer than about 5 or 10 minutes at a time. This means, though, that I have to know beforehand what I want to get, and I wish I could stay longer to browse and see what they have. Otherwise, an interesting neighborhood used book store that has a good set-​up and a nice selection.

I’ve been taking Ophelia Books for granted. It wasn’t until I heard a false rumor of the store closing that I realized how special they are.
Ophelia Books is where you go to be inspired by something unusual or to treasure hunt for out of print gems. I still have regrets about not buying some of the bat-​sh** crazy vintage non-​fiction I’ve unearthed in their lower depths.
They also have a very respectable myth and religion section, not to mention a fun tucked-​away «smut and drugs» shelf.
Drop into Ophelia’s and next time someone annoyingly asks you «watcha reading?»; they won’t yawn when you answer.
Prices range from cheapos on the bargain shelf to more spendy (but definitely worth it) one of a kind treasures.

Went in a couple weeks ago. Place smells old/stale…but I’d let that go considering it’s a used book store — to be expected, eh.
My issue is with the two people working there. Attitude, disgust, rudeness. I said hello, smiled when I entered, nothing but a look of distain from the woman at the front counter. Went down the stairwell of death (sort of cool) and the man working downstairs was the same… apparently these two are tortured in having to work there.
EEEeeeeeeek.
Prices were high as well.
But it was their unfriendly customer service that kept my wallet full in my pocket.
Really folks, it’s retail. And a poor economy. SMILE!

When one imagines a cozy, local used bookstore, this is what they imagine. I can totally see this place in a movie or any number of small towns across the country.
This is not only a great space, it is full of interesting and unusual books. My only complaint here is the book prices. I didn’t see anything less than $ 6, even the fairly beat-​up looking kids fare.

Top notch customer service. I was greeted on my way in and asked if I needed anything, and not in a creepy way. They helped me find some vacation reading I was looking for and told me more about the books I was purchasing.
Overall, terrific experience and I’ll be back and I’m bringing my Bibliophile husband along!

This is how a used bookstore should be like. There are a lot of books here, but a lot of books you want to read. Some used bookstores have a bunch of crap but I always seem to find something I want to read here. They always seem to have a couple Terry Southern books which are kind of hard to find. And the people who work here are pretty nice and helpful.
Big plus being right next to Jive Time records so I can rock and read!
Zipzap Zubidy Bop!

Every bookstore is improved by the presence of a cat.
Imagine my joy when, already enchanted by the spiral staircase and my complete solitude in the bowels of the store, I spotted a lovely little feline asleep on top of the shelves. Underneath her (him?) were shelves and shelves of plays, which are always a pain to find even in new bookstores.
I browsed until I had to consider the fact that I’m a starving artist. When I brought my (very reasonably-​priced) play anthologies to the counter, the clerk bantered with me about the picture of Ionesco on one of the covers. Even though a bookstore doesn’t provide service the way a restaurant does, I always appreciate an effort to make customers feel welcome and at ease, especially if they have some knowledge of whatever subject the customer clearly finds interesting.
I will certainly be back for the chat, in all senses.

Ophelia’s Books is a gem of a used bookstore. From the outside it looks small and potentially disorganized, as small used bookstores tend to be. Step inside, however, and you’ll realize that your initial impression was completely wrong.
They’ve got a loft with young adult books, a coffee table and a couch for reading — couches in used bookstores are essential, in my opinion. They’ve got the main floor for fiction and literature and they’ve got the basement (reached by a tightly wound spiral staircase) packed full of perfectly organized nonfiction. It seems that not a title is out of place in this shop, despite the frequent visitors and the resident cat. (To be the fair the cat isn’t the mayhem-​causing type — even if you try to pet it, it will mostly ignore you.)
Many used bookstores in Seattle are going out of business it seems but I’ll keep spending my book money at Ophelia’s and hope that this particular store can survive!

Okay, I have a bit of an embarrassing confession to make: I’m deathly scared of metal, spiral staircases.
Reason being that as a young (and quite handsome) lad, I was involved in a horrible accident with such a treacherous entity while vacationing off the coast of Northern California. It was a blustery day, with the army of white caps storming over the ocean waves outside. Game night it is! My four year-​old brother (who is also my twin, which would thus make me four years of age as well, in case your mind was lapsing on the concept of a «twin») and I teamed up against our parents for a sure-​to-​win victory over whatever game was chosen.
Now, we were almost set: hot chocolate w/​mallows = made, board game = setup, blanket = …wait! I needed my blanket! Surely I couldn’t win outside the warmth of that lovely stretch of fabric! So upstairs I ran, bounding up the spiral staircase like a damn wallaby on a mission. Grabbed Mr Blankie and off I went.
Everything was going swimmingly during my descent, but my fatal mistake occurred around step number nine — roughly half way through. Being the amateur-​spiral-​staircase-​descender that I was, I neglected to keep a tight grasp on my blanket. A corner spilled out of the (not so) ironclad grasp of my hands, falling directly in the path of my thunderous footie pajamas. Murphy’s Law took hold and…
BAM!
David’s forehead, say hello to metal railing. Metal railing, this is David’s forehead.
The volume of tears greatly outnumbered the amount of blood — but that didn’t stop the fear from being embedded in my heart and soul FOREVER. I refused to sleep upstairs — where all the beds had been located — residing in a makeshift bedroom on the first floor, just so I wouldn’t have to encounter that pile of twisted steel and death appeal during the remainder of the trip. Even an oneirologist-​in-​training would have found my brain filled with evil staircase thoughts that evening!
Since that day, I never set foot on a spiral stair case again — until Ophelia’s Books came into my life.
I won’t lie, the sight of such a stair case frightened me a bit. Years had passed since my little/​big incident and thankfully, spiral staircases are fairly non-​existent in modern architecture, so I’ve never had to worry much. But the time has come for me to grab hold of my fear, take it out to a nice seafood dinner, and NEVER call it again.
So I did.
Ophelia’s is the kind of book store I like — complete with the requisite old book smell, multiple cats and well… books. Lots of books. All of which were reasonably priced, too! Fantastic cook books, fiction galore, humorous books, historical books, books with pages/​words/​pictures, piano books, naughty books (with pictures!), old books with that fun gold edging and a binding larger than my Grandma’s bunion, books for only a buck (specifically: a dollar, not a male deer), and even just your normal paperbacks.
Even if you have climacophobia, don’t let that scare you from stepping into (pun intended) Ohpelia’s Books and taking a gander at the treasures within.