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September 2023 by Alexandria Myles
This is not your average bookstore! I’ve been addicted to their vhs tapes, cds, tapes, and paperbacks. This is the last affordable place in Austin.
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September 2023 by Neena Raine
So much fun! Found some super deals! Helpful staff
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April 2023 by Matthew C.
This is my current favorite bookstore in the world, because even though the selection isn’t massive, it usually always has absolutely incredible finds. For example, pictured here is 1st edition, 1962 copy of the famous Carlos Fuentes novel, the death of Artemio Cruz. I also found one of the classics of Brazilian modernism that I was almost certain I would never find here in the United States. These are just two examples of the types of incredible gems You’ll find almost every single time you go
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April 2023 by Sunee
I absolutely love this place. It’s cheaper than Goodwill and is organized. I always find gems for under $2 each time I visit. Sometimes they even have half off sales! ? I even helped decorate an Airbnb’s shelves by buying books here.
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April 2023 by Thomas B.
For years I loved this store. The new manager is rude to customers and I will never shop here again. Sad to see a great shop ruined by awful management.
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April 2023 by Foodie Harrelson N.
Ugh...Ruth. This store used to be a magical place with amazing turnover. You could go at any given time on any given day and there would be new inventory on the shelves, with more being put out regularly.Enter Ruth.Ruth has been at Recycled Reads for as far as I can remember. But due to employees leaving shortly after the store had its post-pandemic reopening, Ruth became the head manager. Which is an interesting position for Ruth, because Ruth. Hates. Customers. Perhaps Ruth is completely different when not managing the store. Perhaps Ruth the person is a bright ray of sunshine. But Ruth the manager is a joyless, humorless husk of a person who seems to have nothing but contempt for almost everyone shopping there. Ruth especially hates resellers and does nothing to hide it. It doesn't matter that resellers probably account for at least 75% of the money that Recycled Reads takes in. Where does she think the store's success comes from? The browsing customer who picks up a couple of books here and there or the ever-present resellers who buy hundreds of books every week?If it weren't for resellers, Recycled Reads likely wouldn't even exist at this location. But this matters little to Ruth. Her petty principles and biases are a far bigger priority to her than the success of the store. This is why regulars who spend thousands of dollars there every year are often the main recipients of Ruth's ire. So what does Ruth do? She intentionally sandbags the inventory. Books that have been received and sorted through, movies and music that have already been checked for quality - these used to go onto the sale floor relatively quickly. Now they get put on carts and wheeled to the back, most never to be seen again. So where is all this stuff going? Is Ruth running a side hustle and cherry-picking through all the donations so she can resell them herself? Is she keeping them aside and exclusively giving them to customers she likes (assuming those customers actually exist)? Or is she just defiantly leaving them to gather dust in the back room for the sole purpose of keeping them away from the hated customers? No one knows. What IS known is that this isn't an issue of low inventory - Recycled Reads gets so many donations that they have a policy limiting drop-offs to two bags a person. This is not something that a place hurting for inventory would do. As I mentioned earlier, Recycled Reads used to be great. A friendly establishment with a constant stream of new inventory being put out for sale on a daily basis. You could go in on any day and walk out with a haul. These days you'll be lucky to find a couple of things a month. The CD/DVD section is particularly bad, it will go weeks and weeks without being restocked - and what little is on the shelves has been there forever because no one wants it. Meanwhile carts and carts of inventory gather dust in the back room, despite the fact that almost all the employees are constantly back there sorting through them.If Recycled Reads was a for-profit organization that paid for their inventory rather than relying on donations, this would never fly. Ruth would have been fired long ago or the store would have kept her around and gone out of business. There are rumors that Ruth is retiring. If this is true, perhaps the store will bounce back and recapture some of what made it great. Hopefully this happens before she runs it completely into the ground.
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March 2023 by Domas Dopez
This is my favorite thrift store, everything is a either two or one dollar, including blue ray movies. Realy great and is right next to an Austin public library.
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February 2023 by Amanda K.
i really liked this place! the books range from .50 cents to 2 dollars but most of my books were a dollar a piece. they aren't the newest books and authors, but they are great for the price! all the books but two were hardbacks and looked brand new!
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February 2023 by A Garcia
Overrun by resellersLiterally they run in there at opening with their scanners and take everything to reserved section. I tried just browsing what’s in their reserved carts, and employee told me I couldn’t since it’s reserved. ?Kinda sucks since as you walk around there’s not many books leftover of “value”, and their intentions is just to resell on the internet.It is what it is, I guess - lol i just wanted a good book to read on the low
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January 2023 by Jewels Wellman
This place is THE BEST!!! If you want to wander the aisles of a book store with no agenda and let the books speak to you, this is the place. It feels like exploring someone's personal connection. You'll come out with a gem of a story every time. The price is incredible!!
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January 2023 by Anita White
My first time here and I was surprised at the gems I saw from my childhood that I use to check out at the library and now I bought it for a good price definitely coming back.
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January 2023 by Anu
I love ❤️ this place ! Espc book collections & their pricing …. You can get really good books for lesser price … one of my fav bookstore !
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October 2022 by Gladys Chandler
Set-up like a Library. Books, videos, vintage books... Most hard cover books $2.00
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October 2022 by Lee Ann Mcqueen
What a lovely used bookstore! Most paperback books are a dollar and most hardcovers are 2 dollars. They also have a section of books for 50 cents. I went in and got 10 books for ~20 dollars. It seems like their inventory changes daily so every time you go in you’ll find something new!
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October 2022 by Christopher Bird
i don't even wanna write about how amazing this store is -- cheap and full of awesome books. check the hours before you set off.
