One Dollar Book Store

Greetings! Welcome to my review of the now closed $ 1 bookstore of Orange.
Treasure Hunt. Treasure Hunt. Treasure Hunt.
Did I mention that the purpose of frequenting this amazing establishment was for purposes of a Treasure hunt. I browsed this store for years. It was the largest used bookstore in Orange County, after the Book Baron (Anaheim), sadly closed it doors.
The charm of this store was that you could walk around the store, and find anything, anywhere. There were always new shipments of books being circulated into the store, and my favorite thing to do was to find science fiction genre, or fantasy genre books from wherever they were in the store, and walk them over, and place them upon the shelves of the science fiction/​fantasy section. Yes I was the store employee, without the pay, and darnit, I was happy to do it.
I cannot tell you how many gems I pulled from this store, for $ 1 each.
Some rare books, some that weren’t rare, but favorites from earlier in my life, and my daughter Loved the kids section. I could browse while she would frequently find a title right away, read it cover to cover before I was ready to leave.
I’ve always wanted to own, and operate my own used bookstore, since I was in my twenties, and I can think of no better way to lose money every day :(Unfortunately, it is no longer a profitable venture, (Thank you Amazon).
Why am I writing this review more than 5 years after the stores closure?
Some very happy days were spent combing the voluminous shelves of this sacred house of literature, and I’ll never forget it.
R.I.P. $ 1 bookstore of Orange.
Peace.
There is now another $ 1 bookstore in Orange, off Lincoln Ave. near Tustin Ave.
Address: 1526 E Lincoln Ave, Orange, CA 92 865
Phone:(714) 363‑3854
Hours: Open today · 10AM-​8PM
P. S. There is now a $ 1 bookstore in Orange (much, much, much smaller) off Lincoln Ave.

THIS STORE IS CLOSED. Sorry y’all. I was pretty disappointed when I drove all the way out here to find out.

Too many books.
Not enough dollars.
They closed.

I really loved this bookstore! I was devastated when i heard they were going out of business. They closed their doors on July 31, 2010.
Whenever I needed to find some good books to read but had nothing in particular in mind, I’d find myself shopping here. For a dollar you can’t go wrong! Sure, there wasn’t much organization and it was always hot during the summer (hence the reason for 4 stars as opposed to 5), but spending hours scavenging through the books was well worth it. Then again, I’m the type of person who likes to really search through things. To me it makes a great find seem all that more rewarding. Silly of me? More than likely. Great bookstore? Definitely!
I’m really hoping the new management will either re-​open the store back up in the same place or open another OC location real soon. I can only go so long before I need to get my $ 1 book fix again!!!

Very Disty & must as Previously mentioned.
Great values on books but you have to be in the mood to scan all the shelfs. It’s a lot like going into Ross or Marshalls… lol
Really bummed… just found out about this place, to find out that they are closing on July 31, 2010 :(

Only come here if you have several hours to spend searching through the piles and piles of books. But if you do come, you’ll be rewarded – it’s like a treasure hunt. Of course, that’s all a nice way of saying that the store is completely disorganized. Labels on the shelves are really just suggestions, although some sections make more sense than others. I get it, though – it’s a super cheap secondhand bookstore, and they’re not going to put a lot of effort into making everything look pretty. You come here, you dig through all of books, and hopefully you’ll find some hidden gems. At the very least, you’re almost guaranteed to find something that’s worth a dollar.

Yes, this place is huge and they do have a lot of books. But it’s so disorganized I got a headache just walking down one of the aisles. You really have to be willing to fish for a while. I’m not a big Nora Roberts or Tom Clancy fan so there wasn’t much for me here.
I have much better luck at the Friends bookstores attached to the Orange County Public Libraries. They’re smaller but they seem to have a more organized and better selection.

Their Philosophy and Mathematics section is quite impressive. Or at least was, before I came and bought up all their stuff. With the exception already conceded earlier (yes, the place could use a good sweeping/​mopping), this place is heaven. Every book is one dollar. I love it. The frugal philosopher inside rejoices. If you haven’t checked out this place yet, DO IT.
Also good for college students who want to buy textbooks cheap. Why buy from your school when you can buy from here, and for only $ 1.00?

Me thinks I should have headed up El Toro a long, long time ago because not only did I discover sweet bread but I also found this $ 1 book store.
It was too good to be true so we had to stop and look and oh my, what a treasure.
If you have time and patience and you love books — mind you, books that a little worn and old, you’re in luck. From the looks of it, this must have once been a Rite-​Aid or a grocery store but now it’s just a large storage area for books. You’ll find just about everything and it’s all a $ 1! The books range from paper backs to hard covers and there are text books, comic books, kids books, history books, health books, cook books, and art books. You’ll also find CD’s and DVDs, cassettes and video tapes.
We took home 9 books. We bought some Dan Brown, some classics, Gregory Maguire, and few others.
This was a great little find especially in this economy when I still want to read but don’t necessary want to borrow from the library. Unfortunately, the store is pretty dirty, stuffy, and a bit smelly. They’re running some fans and keep the doors open but near the back it does get smelly and the musty odor can start to get to you after a while especially since we were browsing for a while. However if you don’t mind all that, you’re in for a treat and just might find something you like.

Ewwwwwwww.
This place is nasty. No, seriously. We sprayed Lysol on all 22 books we brought home.
Pros:
–LOTS of books! A lot of them are in great shape and I saw quite a few that I bought for way more than a dollar!
–Has stolen Albertson’s shopping carts for your shopping convenience (Is this a pro or a con? I’m not sure!)
–I love me a treasure hunt, and there’s treasure to be had here!
Cons:
–Dirty. Really dirty. Also, smelly and hot.
–Extremely creepy guy following me around and acting very, very suspicious in general. I was ready to punch his lights out of he came near me again!
–Lots of the items would be more useful as firewood or hamster cage lining. Computer magazines from the 1980’s? Check. Fodor’s Las Vegas 1990? Check. A nice selection of Jerry Springer VHS tapes? Check!
–The organization, or lack thereof.

A definite gem! I went here because of the Unilocal reviews and wasn’t disappointed. I walked around for about an hour or so and kept thinking to myself that I really have no idea how many books there are in the world. I’m not the best read person so it should come as no surprise that I did not recognize 99.9% of the titles in this store. It is humbling to discover how much is really out there.
I did manage to find what I can only describe as the «Classics» section even though it wasn’t marked as such. Here I found an old copy of Moby Dick that had been annotated extensively by a previous owner. I’ve always wanted to read Moby Dick and plopped down my dollar and eight cents. I think I’ll visit One Dollar Book Store first when I am ready to cross another legendary novel off my lengthy «To Read» list.

Ok, so I have a confession.
Somewhere deep inside this profanity-​spewing, booze-​swilling, live-​action incarnation of Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous lies a Smallville-​watching, pop culture obsessed nerd of epic proportions. So for unleashing my inner bookworm, this place was pretty much Nirvana.
Natalie L. and I only made it down like four aisles (approx. ¼ of the ginormous store) and I already had five books and she had seven. We threw in the towel and vowed to come back ASAP. The store is an absolute clusterfuck but it’s part of the charm. It’s dusty and musty and some of the books are older than I am, but we scored some excellent selections and I can only imagine if we had made it through the whole store how many more we would have gone home with. I mean, holy fuck!!! 1 $!!! For anything and everything! My inner nerd is doing the happy dance again.
Oh, and for whatever reason they had 2 465 461 654 167 copies of Cold Mountain, so if you’re in the market for one of those you’re all set.

Imagine an empty albertson and then shove tons of random books in there… Yeahhhh this was what it was like when i walked in.
Coming in hoping to score some books (like how i always walk our of Bookoff with tons of books) i was really disappointed! Books in here, i swear, were older than me! Okay that’s a little exaggerating maybe the book was half my age *pshhh i’m 22*
I went to the cookbook section… nothing!
Went to the young adult section… Couldn’t find it!
Walked to the Craft/​Art/​You get what i mean… Nata!
Hmm…so i walked out hahaha there wasn’t anything in there that caught my eye, but i saw a lot of Danielle Steele (spelling?) books if that’s your type but definately not mine.
Well Well the good thing that came out of this… Finally found Santiago College… pretty nice *winks*

This place is AWESOME. Yes, I drive 20 miles out of my way just to go to the One Dollar Bookstore. I found 3 of my fave books just by searching for a half hour on my first visit. Go there with more time than that and you will come back with tons of faves :)
3 stars bc I’ve seen better organization at other discount bookstores.

If you have a lot of time and a lot of patience, this is a great place to browse and find books at. I’m just not the patient type.
They have a relatively good selection of kids books which aren’t shelved as crazily as the other books so it’s easier to find. We got some chapter books — great bargain at a buck each.
If you have allergies, this place might not be the best place to be in. First of all, old books carry a lot of dust mites (which I’m allergic to) so after about 30 mins of browsing, I started to itch profusely. My child who also suffers from allergies started itching and finding it hard to breathe in there about the same time, but he’s allergic to cats and there was a resident cat in the bookstore, so just be careful if you’re allergic to cats.
Bring cash as that’s all they take!

I’ve been looking for a good used bookstore around here (Border’s gets very, very expensive) and by chance happened to stumble upon this on Unilocal.It’s huge– when I walked in I was overwhelmed by the vastness of the store, but it made the search all the more fun. I walked through the entire thing in about an hour, started getting tired near the end and probably missed some good ones, but left with about 16 books!
The selection’s big– you’ll find anything from romance novels to contemporary fiction to cooking books– as well as tons of Jerry Springer tapes. (Those were my favorite. I mourned the loss of VCR players when I came across those gems.) They aren’t really organized at all, but if you really look you’ll find books that would normally be sold at Border’s for much more, in great condition too.
And, the best part, it’s only a dollar per book. I paid $ 16.00 in late fees to the library last week– this time around, I get to keep the books. Worth it!

I think i found myself a new secret lover.
Oh…my…goshhhhhhhhhhh. ahhhhhhhh!!! :)
I discovered this place just this past weekend as i was driving up Jamboree on my way to UCI.
«ONE DOLLAR BOOK STORE,» the sign read… it totally caught my eye. Unfortunately, I was late for an appointment so i drove on. As i was checking Unilocal this week (it’s been a while), i noticed that this place was apparently «Hot on Unilocal.» It was a sign… an omen… really.
I had the day off so i decided to cruise on down to Orange/​Tustin/​I don’t know where the heck this place is located. (Basically, i just got in my car and drove)
I found the place, right across the street from Santiago Canyon College. About 1.5 Hours later i walked out with 2 bag fulls of books. FIFTEEN BOOKS… total of about a little over $ 16 dollars. That’s a bargain!!!
The store itself is a bit eh (needs some redecorating, looks like it’s stuck in the 80s)…but the concept of the store is great.
If you come here, PREPARE to get dirty (and i mean it!)…some of these books seem like they haven’t been touched in YEARS. Prepare to spend a few hrs. And if your wallet still seems heavy after your purchase, don’t fret, it’s real… you’re not breaking your bank shopping here!
Soooo SEXY.
But between you and me? shhh… let’s keep this place our little secret ;)

I’ve been going here for years. Beware! This is a trap for those with inquisitive minds. I have to stop myself from loading up on too many books. I had to put back the book on historical bridges of California and classical Armenian architecture because I didn’t know when I’d have time to read them after buying so many others that would go higher on my priority list.
Disorganized is a polite way to put it. For $ 1.00 a book I guess we shouldn’t expect to have every book organized as if it were a library, but there have been times when I simply ran out of time without finding anything because I couldn’t wade through everything in 45 minutes.
Expect to find multiple copies of books-​of-​the-​moment. Hit pieces about political candidates we don’t remember go to die at the One Dollar Bookstore.
I was surprised to find an old hardcover novel by Pearl Buck. For only a buck I can own the Buck book (which is so much better than paying overdue fees at the library). I’m sure I’ll be back soon.

The One Dollar Bookstore is a gem for a bookworm like me. I love to read just about anything and now I can do so cheaply!
Yeah, it’s not very organized. It’s the size of a grocery store (they even have shopping carts) and while there are some signs directing you to genres, it’s pretty much a hodge-​podge mess. But hey, you’re shopping for used books, right? Right. My sister and I had fun browsing and ended up with a small mountain of books, some hardcover, and all pretty new looking. It was a nice way to spend an hour.
I’m curious about the trade-​in rate, so that is on my list for next time!

Located in an enormous space, this is a great store if you’re looking for a bunch of new books to read and don’t have anything specific in mind. It’s particularly good for classics and bestsellers. Despite being close to a community college, I’ve not found many academic books.
A majority of the books are in excellent condition and a lot are newer editions that would be at least $ 6 elsewhere. I’ve bought hardcovers, university press books, and Norton Critical editions for $ 1 each! I’m very picky about the condition of the books that I buy and this is the only used bookstore where I don’t have to pass on buying a book I want because its too used.
Minus a star because it is extremely unorganized. Some aisles have labels, but they aren’t adhered to. Just when I thought I had found the classics section, I stumbled upon those same books in nearly every aisle. This is frustrating, but if everything were organized I’d be going home with way too many books.
As a bonus, there’s usually a cute Rottweiler hanging out behind the counter.