Half Price Books

I’m a fan of theirs because they will take almost anything that I have. However, they will not give you the best price for almost new books– that would go to Green Apple in San Francisco. But, in the East Bay, this is a great chain for selling/​downsizing and also looking for newer books at a discount. Also, they’re open late!

Had a great experience today. I’ve been in this store so many times and generally find something I want pretty easily. Today my goal was to get a French pocket dictionary.
I asked the very helpful employee at the register & he pointed me the right way. The same young man rang up my $ 4.99 purchase only minutes later and he was very sweet, polite, and friendly at check out. (Receipt says «cashier: TLon067»).
The store has lots of used books, cards, maps and more. Fair prices & good service. It’s wonderful!

What’s not to like about Half Price Books? Where else can you go and shop for an interesting mix of goodies such as cool greeting cards, CDs, blank journals and notebooks, colorful owl kitchen timers, and a Batmobile keychain?
Those were some of the goodies that I saw yesterday on my Wednesday, 5÷18÷16 shopping visit at this Concord location. Ironically, when I go here, I usually buy stuff that isn’t books.
I buy greeting cards, I lose them. I buy more cards, send some out, and misplace the rest. So I always need greeting cards and love to send them out because we go to a lot of birthday parties and are invited to a lot of social events.
They have a wall of a selection of BOXED GREETING CARDS and this is a happy place for me there. They have single greeting cards, too, located on turning carousel displays near the cash register area. I also love looking at all the different blank writing journals — so many to choose from.
It was busy when I went there at 3:00 pm and there was a line for the register about 4 – 5 people deep, but the line moved fairly quickly and the wait was ok. Cashier service was friendly enough.
RESULT
I walked out with a fun little haul of two boxes of greeting cards (1 box of 20 fun children’s birthday cards and 1 box of 16 colorful happy birthday cards = 36 cards!) and I also found in the clearance section (out front in the street by the front side doors), a crafts kit in a box for making pom-​pom animals for only $ 2! This was a fun surprise to give to my daughters. All this happiness for just a little over $ 11! :)
I RECOMMEND
Check out the clearance sections — yellow price tags will be marked «Clearance» in red with the marked down price. One clearance section, as I mentioned earlier, is out by the front side doors (Spaghetti Factory side of the street), on the rolling book shelving units. Many books out there for $ 1 and $ 2 and also children’s books and other goodies!

Always amazing deals to be had at half price books! Especially love the collectible section where I find amazing vintage children’s books for $ 1 and $ 2. They also buy your books once you are done with them– if you can part ways! They don’t usually have the newest titles but sometimes you get lucky. Keep an eye out for the 20% off new releases days, my son purchased the 2^nd installment after the 5^th wave for $ 8.19 brand new which was a deal. You have me hooked Half Price!

Half Price Books is a chain of privately owned bookstores. I like this store it’s clean, well-​organized and it’s fairly easy to park. They have a nice selection of books– both new and used records, CDs and related stuff.
I really prefer to shop at small book stores, but this is a close second; reading their company information they do promote a lot of things that I believe are important. Half Price Books is a great alternative to big box stores.

Pretty cool place. My brother really likes this store and I finally had the chance to stop in and take a look around. I really wish I had known about this place before I moved here. I could have earned back a lot of money that I had to throw away.
They buy back nearly everything, books (not textbooks), CD’s, DVD’s, even VHS tapes. What they pay you all depends on the condition, need and whether it’s recent or not. (Not sure how to phrase that last statement), but they’re more likely to give you more if the item is newer, more recent? Maybe that’s a better description.
Anyhow, I ended up throwing away a lot of VHS tapes before I moved to the Bay Area, because libraries in Orange County don’t accept those type of items.
Very recently, I was able to buy a book at 50% off it’s normal retail price, saved me money I don’t have to spend, for a book I need to read and learn to move on with for my life. To rebuild my life and pursue the dreams I want to pursue. Thankful this store is so close to where I currently live.
I’ve had nothing but good experiences here, the employees have all been helpful and friendly. I’m looking forward to being able to spend more time or selling more items as I continue unpacking and transitioning to the area.

It’s a flip of the coin. This place can be a hit or miss. It all really depends on what day you come, what hour you show up, and who is working.
Parking: Honestly, it takes a rare day to have all the parking spots taken. There’s two parking garages, ample parking on the street, and many other lots where you’ll have to walk to get here.
Service: Generally the people here are very kind. They always inquire about helping you. They even have mini-​chats with you about certain subjects like Marvel movies. They have extensive knowledge in many things. But there have been instances where I would ask for help, they would say they would help, but no help came. Other times, I have been flat out ignored by some of the people who work here.
Variety: This place doesn’t merely have books. They got board games, VHS/​DVD/​Blu-​rays, gift bags, magazines, and many more. The quality of the stuff can vary though. One must remember that they accept donations and buy books from sellers. So some of this stuff may be previously owned. The problem is that some things they resell are missing stuff and/​or have been visibly messed up by their previous owners and the price remains higher than it should be.
Atmosphere/​ambience: They place different kinds of music here. Everything is organized in differing sections. The employees don’t have uniforms do one gets to see the uniqueness of each employee in how they dress. All sorts of people come here. The issue is that unfortunately there’s the homeless problem and there have been a couple that come in the store and cause problems, and sometimes the employees don’t properly handle it.
Price: It can really depend on the type of book, etc. I can grab an old CD for $ 3.99 but then have a CD that’s the same except for the cover to be $ 9.99. The discrepancy is annoying. Like some of the books aren’t even half the original price. Sometimes they just knock off a dollar.
Selling: This is the worst bit. Say for instance I sell $ 100 dollars worth of Pathfinder books. I’ll end up getting back $ 20 if I’m lucky. Why sell books here? You’ll hardly earn anything. Just donate here.
This particular location isn’t all that it’s cracked to be. I’ve received better service and better quality books in different Half Price Books and book stores.
Go in here to browse. Buy a CD or maybe a board game if you want. Maybe read a whole book when you’re here. Other than that, this place is severely lacking.
³⁄₅

You get REAL leather bound beautiful classics here for like $ 5! It’s a treasure trove for book lovers! Everything is so affordable. You can find textbooks for college classes here too. I believe the paperbacks are all 50% off the cover price. This place is well worth the visit. You can end up spending a lot of time here due to the large collection. Every book lover must come here for books as it is affordable and a wonderfully ran store!

I came here on Black Friday looking for a certain Star Wars Art Therapy coloring book that I couldn’t find at any other stores. They had them in stock and I was a happy camper. I continued to look around since they were having a 20%-off sale storewide and found a few more books to buy.
The cashier was super friendly even though I’m sure it was a stressful and busy day. There is another Half Price Books closer to me in Dublin that I tend to go to more often, but had a pleasant experience at this Concord location.

So glad this place is still around, given the demise of many other bookstores in the area :(They have a great selection and used books range from about $ 5 – 10. They also have clearance racks outside the front doors and the side doors. I’ve found some books that I saw on Amazon for $ 15 for only $ 2 here!!!

They have a good cookbook selection and children’s book selection. They even have Golden books (old school kid books). I like to browse, but don’t usually buy anything. I can see buying some gifts here though. One time they had exactly the book I wanted for a test I needed to study for. And, like their title says, it was at least half priced. They have some cute stationary too and also have book marks, lots of toys, some puzzles, and other stocking stuffer/​gift type stuff. The only reason I took a star off is that if you are looking for something in particular, they probably won’t have it. It is better to come in here with an open mind rather than a list to shop for. Walking distance from BART, County Connection bus stops, and street/​free garage parking nearby. Small parking lot next door by the Chevron.

This half price is a moderately large location. The buy back counter usually takes at least twenty minutes on a week day longer on the weekend. The store has numerous little niches for different sections. I always go for the cook book area, it has a decent variety of items. They have signs on the door now stating that they are also starting to buy back electronics.

R.I.P. Borders and Barnes & Noble Pleasant Hill soon to be the Walnut Creek location too FYI. #alwaysrememberneverforget
Now that that’s out of the way… People living in Concord, Pleasant Hill, and Walnut Creek have no fear. Half Price Books is your «get lost in an oasis of books you never knew existed» kind of place.
Perfect for: Required schoolbooks (tons of students donate on a regular basis), classics, and comic books!!! Oh and peer pressuring friends to buy books you enjoy. I mean it IS on sale right?
People to bring: Pretentious schoolmates, a date (cause you know clearly every girl wants to hear about how well read you and everyone else is on Shakespeare cause it was required in school), and your writer/​poet friends.
Parking: Easy to find EXCEPT on Thursdays when Todos Santos has it’s Farmers Market.
Tip: Starbucks & Peets are walking distance.
I always walk out of this place with 2 or more books. Hopefully this place stays around for a while.

Had to move into a smaller place so I was able resell my used books and CDs. Received a fair price. A nice place to browse when in Todos Santos plaza. two thumbs up.

One of the few last AWESOME «used» book stores left in the area. It offers a HUGE inventory, with new stuff arriving daily, The shelves are well stocked with everything from books to comics to games to CD’s to movies etc. etc. A great place to shop at a great value.
Every time were near or at Todos Santos Plaza in Concord we try & always make a visit. Plan to set aside a block of your time though, because if your like us and love this type of entertainment source, you’ll soon get lost in your search! :-)
My fellow Unilocalers are correct about the parking in the area. There is an attached parking lot which is usually full (no fault of the store though) as people use it for other stores in the area. But luckily there is street parking too. There is also nearby public parking garages too.
Over all, this place definitely deserves 5 stars, as these type (s) of used book stores (i.e. brick and mortar not online like Amazon) are slowly being pushed out of business by high rent in the SF Bay Area. We like to able to see & feel the book (or whatever we buy) in our hands before we purchase it. We love the musty smell of stacks and stacks of books that have survived the years or finding a hidden gem that may be out-​of-​print in a new bookstore. I often have turned to this place to find an older classic I read as a kid, that I want to pass on to a young person or pass along a title to a friend for their reading for the first time. Luckily I usually find the title here at HPB.
Keep up the good work HPB, we need you! If your new go check out the place. And if your a regular customer, keep patronizing the place to show support for those stacks of books waiting for a home! LOL! ;-)

Excellent and diverse selection of new, as well as used, special interest books, media, CDs, DVDs, literature, and textbooks. Friendly and helpful workers.
Our youngest is an avid reader and a bookworm. She gets the latest special interest and fiction books out for her age, and reads it like she drinks water. She loves coming here. We bought her a Half Price Books tote.
We will keep coming back.

Pros: I LOVE THIS PLACE! With the frequent boxes and loads of used books, movies, and comic books that they receive daily, no wonder there are always new things available! This is seriously my favorite bookstore and my go-​to place that I come almost weekly! I am a big comic book fan and there is such a huge selection of comic books. My favorite is definitely their clearance 25 cent comic books (boxes and boxes of them) as well as other $ 1-​$ 2 comic books with sleeves. It is a treasure chest of goodness! The store is a pretty decent size with something for everyone!
Cons: Because of it’s popularity and late night hours, the parking lot can sometimes get pretty packed but generally there is usually one spot left for me.
Overall: MY FAVORITE BOOKSTORE IN THE EAST BAY! I get a thrill just by flipping through the hundreds of comic books available there! Great staff and selection of things! Highly recommended!

Great used book store!
This is a large store that sells used books, movies, CDS, records, audiobooks, manga, puzzles, video games and board games. Loved the cookbook section, especially the baking cookbooks. It is the first section on your left when you walk through the front door and I could stand there for hours.
The quality of the used books are very good. I sold three boxes and two bags full of old books/​manga after waiting for about a half hour. I was able to get $ 40 from my old books and that made me pretty happy.
It is very easy to pass the time in this store for hours and it is even easier to leave with something after every trip!

I try to take my son to Todos Santos Park at least once a week to run and play. While we are at the park, stopping into Peets and Half Price Books have become mandatory parts of the visit. Lots of books and great area for the kiddies. My son always finds a book (or three) that he needs in his kiddie collection. I like to comb through the classics and the philosophy sections for new and interesting reads. Lots of LP’s, CD’s and DVD’s for the biblophobes.
The prices can’t be beat. Every staff member I have met has been nothing short of nice. This is a gem in the area. We are lucky to have it.

This is my go to refuge when I need to escape and unwind. You can literally shop for hours with no one bothering you. I have spent many blissful hours finding many bargain treasures. They are open till’ 11pm, so if you need a late night getaway, this place is great. I have found so many wonderful books in great condition that I would never find anywhere else. They also have many gift items like notecards, journals, and greeting cards. Service can be helpful at times, but is generally hit or miss. Only negative– Don’t use the bathroom. Very, very scary.
I hope they stay in business for a long, long time, as so many wonderful bookstores in this area have closed. This place is truly a one-​of-​a-​kind gem and should be visited often.