Katy Budget Books

HAH! I am so glad to be seeing reviews that help me realize I am not insane every time I am checking out at KBB. THE PRICING SYSTEM IS FRAUDULENT. This is Enron. This is Goldman-​Sachs. This is Bernie Madoff. Etc. Some may take these references as jokes, but it isn’t funny when local readers’ hard earned money is being swindled from their wallets. The place is not that bad (I live close, and the inside is like any local mom and pop bookstore), customer service leaves a lot to be desired, but they do give one free cup of coffee (score! I can retire early). All that would not only be tolerable but could be liked if it wasn’t for the outrageous used book trading/​store credit system that they have in place. My little sister traded in MANY books and got a decent amount of store credit, at a significantly lowered price per book (I even advised her not to as she would be better off trading her 150+ books to Half-​Price). The amount she told me seemed mildly fair. So I started thinking hey maybe Katy Budget Books isn’t that bad and that day I sternly spoke to the saleswoman about their pricing and trading was me having a bad day. WRONG! I was not in a bad mood at all that day :) and had a completely valid reason for feeling used/​violated (KBB, atleast buy us customers some dinner first?). So I found out at the counter that my sister has to pay money for used books we are getting even though she has over $ 300 in credit with the store. I am currently looking into taking college courses to try to decipher the madness that is Katy Budget Books’ trading system. Actually it is not that complicated it is fraudulent. And half the time they aren’t even smiling while they are doing it.
TLDR;
Buyer beware, take heed of the reviews that are negative. Although a quaint and cozy little book store, this place can ransack your wallet harder than some of the corporate chains (Sad but true).
Also I have a feeling that some of these extremely positive reviews are of friends of the family operated business or the employees that work there. I wouldn’t ignore them, since the good things they are talking about are somwhat true. But they leave out so much of the customer experience that makes it very hard to trust these reviewers.

My 19 month daughter and I have been at this book store for approximately 35 minutes. We were not greeted walking in, as other patrons were. We were not offered help. When I asked for assistance locating a book, a customer offered help; as two employees seemed SUPER reluctant to help us. We worled our way thru the maze of an establishment section to section from Children’s books all the way thru to the other side. Not once were we offered assistance. Business relationship severed before it can began. My little family is full of readers. Sucks because they are down the street maybe family owned. We will stick to Half-​price & Amazon… better selection and prices. Everything from the books to candles to little knickknacks is over priced. The smallest my little pony plush is $ 7.99 for the basic one. They are 3.99 at Walmart. Maybe if the service was better I wouldn’t mind overpaying for everything.

Love! This! Place!
I’ve only been to one of their semi-​annual sales, but I loaded up and I’ve been going back occasionally since then. I live on the other side of town, so it’s a trip, but I’ve found that anytime Half-​Price doesn’t have something specific, this place does.
I also like the credit you get to trade with, ignore a couple of these bad reviews, especially the one whining about, heaven forbid, they make a little money for buying your books for store credit by adding a little fee on top (No, really, cheapskate, you’re already selling used books to buy used books. It makes you look pretty stupid. But at least you look pretty.) It’s a much better system than Half-​Price where they had the balls to offer me 4 bucks for 30-​something novels I wanted to get rid of (now THAT is worth getting your panties bunched!)
I’ve also always found the staff incredibly helpful whenever I’m looking for a book or even a section (the shelves are a bit of a maze, but that’s part of it’s charm.) and I have never been to one of their book signings before, but I will be soon because one of my favorite authors is going to be there soon!

spent 31 bucks for 48 books, some of which were hardcover, can’t beat that for value. They always have the biggest and best selection in the greater Houston area. They do a month long sale twice a year and now is one of those times, they put out new stock every day, hardcovers for 1 dollar, paperbacks for 50 cents… posted a few pics… the service is awesome too… if you’re near here… be here… bookworms do seem to be a nicer class of people. Just saying…

The semi-​annual sale is awesome. Fan this place on Facebook so that you don’t miss out. I came in there as a lost puppy and the friendly staff was able to guide me. I also have been there for author signings and they are pretty organized. Highly recommend.

Had a horrible customer service experience. I have been a customer of this store for over 15 years. It had been a year since I had been in as I have been reading kindle books. But I miss paperback so decided to come back. I picked my books and waited in line. As soon as I got to the register I was met with silence and the cashier continued stapling paperwork from previous customer. She never said hello and just asked for my number to look up my account and told me the number did not show up. I find this strange as I know it had been in their system before. She was slamming my books down and sighing. I did let her know I was very stunned at her attitude. She then apologized (very insincerely) and tried to make an excuse. I know we all have bad days but when you are in a customer facing position you have to be polite. Also I noted she was very respectful to the precious customer so not sure why I got the bad attitude. Will think twice about coming back to this store that I have enjoyed in the past.

I love quaint feeling little independent bookstores-​it makes me feel like i’m back home in new orleans. The employees always seem to be very busy, but always try to help. A very relaxed place with nice people and interesting finds.

Not the best book store in the world, but it is one of the endangered species of independent book stores left in an ecosystem dominated by big chains. I did enjoy finding pretty good deals on several books that caught my eye. There are also some cool crafty items including candles and pecan pie filling made in San Saba Texas. If you like books and live in Katy, you will easily find enough variety to spend a half hour indulging your bibliophilic urges.

This is a very nice book store to find lots of new and used books. I get books for my 2 year old. I can always find books that she likes and the prices are great. They have a large selection of books for kids and adults and also offer story time for children.

A nice book store. I often came here for books for school and there are some nice things if you dig a bit.

Katy Budget Books lets you donate books and earn credit to be used towards their used books which make everything super cheap. They also have new books and audio books. My wife has bought a few audio books to listen to in the car and loves them. We have been going here for years because why pay $ 20 for a book when you can get it used for a few dollars. The staff is always friendly and welcoming. We even order our new books from here because we like supporting small businesses in Katy. I would recommend using this bookstore because if they don’t have it they will order it for you or put you on a wait list and call you when it comes in. Saves time and multiple trips.

The staff was very attentive to my questions about a variety of topics. They were having a super sale, so there were boxes of books every where. Despite all the books on shelves, books in boxes, books levitating in mid air, the store was very organized and flowed very well. I am curious to know how they operate on a non super sale day, but that will be a question posed and answered for another day. The pricing on the used children’s books was awesome, and the upkeep of the books being sold was awesome as well. Definitely worth looking around if you are not familiar with this establishment.

I love coming to this local bookstore as much as I can when I’m in town. Yeah I’ll admit that their selection isn’t as great as say going out to half price books wayy out in Houston.
However I will say that the staff is Extremely knowledgeable about their selection and if they can’t answer your question then they will find you someone who will or figure something out. I’ve never left unsatisfied from this store. A plus about this place is that they have really good sales, if you catch them right then there’s a .50 paperback and $ 1 hardback sale on select books and I always seem to find a gem in the rubble.
This store has the comforting feeling like your entering a home with a personal library collection, there’s a small coffee station where you can buy the little kuerig coffee thingy and a few chairs to do some light reading. Also another plus is that there’s a section where all the staff members have selection their favorite reads and compiled them onto a bookshelf for you to purchase (almost all of them used so you don’t have to pay full price) and there are a few book clubs to choose from to read what might be current.
The last (and to me the most IMPORTANT) plus that this store has over ANY half price books store is that every… and I mean all their books are listed in the COMPUTER… if you can’t find it in the piles of books that is this store then you can ask and they can look it up for you… You don’t understand how many times Ive had to leave half price books empty handed because I couldn’t.and they had no idea… where a book I wanted might be.
A con to this store is the strange buy back system they have set up, I usually never question it because to me any discount on a book is a plus in my book but I can understand how someone might be confused by how it all works.
Oh and by the way you can be put on a waiting list for a used book to come that you might not want to buy full price. As long as this is something you’d be willing to kick back and wait for its such a nice thing. I would definitely recommend going here if your in the area and want to kick back and unwind at this unique bookstore.

Every time I go here, I swear it is going to be the last time. Their selection is not as good as half price, the pricing is so strange (especially when you have store credit) and half the time you thought you were buying a used book but it was new.
It’s just so hard to stay away when it is only a few blocks from our house… I guess I’m a used book junkie. So. we went back. And promptly got screwed over again. This time, I swear I’m going to quit. For good.
After explaining it to me again, for like the 50^th time, apparently after you sell your books in you are not getting full price for the books (which is normal, but wait for it.) Each of the books get put into a little category. When you go to buy a book using your credit, you have to buy the book as its cover price (even if it is a used book) and then you additionally have to pay your own money as well as using your credit. Your credit has to match the type of book you are buying too (so, for example, if you sold in hard cover book in science fiction then you can only spend the credit on hard cover science fiction books.) So, bottom line, when it is all said and done, when you buy your used book, using your credit and the additional money, it is at least the price of a new book.
What makes things even MORE confusing is that these rules do not always apply. Sometimes I go in and, I swear, they sell the books to me like a normal store. Other times I feel like I have no idea what is going on and I walk out upset and confused.
So, unless you are hard up for a used book, keep looking. Although I know what is like when you need a used book and need it now. So I’m not going to blame you, but consider yourself warned.

I love to go to Katy Budget Books during the sale. Lots of great books at really cheap prices. Can’t wait to see what’s put out tonight.

One of the best used bookstores in the area with a decent selection of new and used books and super friendly employees. They are a little heavy on the romance… instead of one section for romance like most places, they’ve got sections for historical romance, series romance, paranormal romance, romantic suspense, animal romance… Ok, I made that last one up. Point is, there are a lot of sections dedicated to romance. So if that’s your thing, this place’ll be an easy 5 stars for you. If not, probably more like 4.

Overpriced… wayyyy overpriced for used books. ½ Price book store is 1000x better.
Their selection is very limited. I was looking for joke books to give to my nephew and they had like 5. Cookbooks were old and missing pages.
Don’t get ripped off, avoid Katy Budget Books

Travel a lot and see a great number of used book stores. This one is up there with the best. My wife even gives it lots of stars and she IS hard to please!!!

I recently purchased a book from Katy Budget Books. One thing that really caught my attention was that the staff is so friendly. I was having trouble finding a book, and a lady spent about 20 minutes helping me rummage through boxes and shelves until I found what I was looking for. Very Nice! Oh, and they give you a punch card, that says you can buy 8 new books… and your 9^th is free! Not half bad!

This is one of the best second hand bookstores around. Katy Budget Books is certainly worth a look if you’re in the market to buy or sell books of any type.
At the beginning of the summer, my daughter and I went to Katy Budget Books to sell some of the books she’d outgrown and some I didn’t need anymore. The store gave us credit that never expires that we can use to buy other used books in the store. Sure, we didn’t get cash but we got more than enough credit to keep us recycling books there for a long time.
In addition to the great selection and set up to the store, there are active book clubs that organize through Katy Budget Books. Just check their table up front to see the books the groups will be discussing each month. You’re sure to find a group that suits your reading tastes.