Recycle Bookstore

Category:	Used Book Store
Address:	1066 The Alameda, San Jose, CA 95126, USA
Phone:	+1 408-286-6275
Site:	recyclebookstore.com
Rating:	4.6
Working:	11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–7PM 11AM–7PM 12–7PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 13

alex carter

This place is a treasure-trove of music books and books of all sorts. There are so many books passing through its worth it to visit as a weekly routine. Hm, especially music books .... they have opera libretti, I saw a series of books on piano jazz by Art Tatum, there are just treasures galore. However, the music books are so plentiful that there are stacks of them besides the shelves of them and rolling carts overloaded with them. I was looking for trumpet books and wanted to access one of the higher shelves, so to make a space to put one of the step-ladder-y things, I tried moving one of the rolling carts, as I had in the past .... BLOOSH!! Over it went! And nailed me on the leg because with the stacks of books there wasnt room to jump clear. which hurt. Not as much as the time a skateboard hit me in the leg but pretty painful. Some colorful language was issued and I went to the front and collected my trumpet, which theyd had me check there, and muttered something about having just gotten Amazon Prime as I left, but seriously, I love this place and consider it a treasure to be supported and cherished.

fraulein casigan

thought the residing Campbell location had plenty of great selections, but this is my new haven. A gold mine! I didnt find my 3rd book to the Twilight saga, but they did carry the last book, Breaking Dawn. Im still on the hunt for the novel. If all else fails, I might have to pre-order online from Borders! Boo. The great thing about recycled books....they cost a lot cheaper than buying a new one. If you dont mind the binding a little broken in and bent corners of a cover, this is particularly a true gem. The downside, none of the books were categorized in a helpful way. Took me a long time to rummage through a section of fictional books. I wouldve thought that they would categorize by author. Oh well! So, if youre in the area and want a good book to read but at a low cost....check it out here! Btw...make sure to be friendly with the cat and dont let it out. They love the lil one!

D Jarvis

A wonderful and quirky used bookstore. I love the cats and they add charm to the aisles and aisles of books to peruse. The owner and staff are helpful and polite. They are very interested in keeping a good inventory that doesnt just include popular titles and topics. I find most of the books reasonably priced below the list price. You can sell or trade in books. Bear in mind they have to keep their doors open, so there are some books they cant take because they will not sell. Call and ask if youre not sure of what will sell or trade. There is a little bit of everything here, but some strong collecting areas that I appreciate are the poetry, religion, metaphysics, literature areas. They also have an ample selection of literature for children and young adults.

A Private User

This bookstore is a disgrace for one reason in particular: They are located in San Jose, just five minutes from San Jose State University and they do not accept textbooks for sale. Considering that they are so close to SJSU, one would think they would be college student-friendly, or at least understanding when faced with a customer who wants to re-sell a textbook: They are neither. I do not plan to return to this store, or plan to tell my peers about this bookstore for this reason. The employees should consider this, for they could not only be making more money from the thousands of students from SJSU, they could also actually contribute and call themselves a real bookstore. Until then, Im not impressed at all. -Lauren Hernandez

Peter Maravelias

A used book store saves you from paying shipping and handling. Moreover, its nice to think of books sitting in an old and grimy place--waiting for a curious patron to inattentively flip their pages. I guess thats why book stores are still around; not because people save money or find rare titles while standing in front of a shelf of old crap. Its just nice to see shelves, glass, and wood. Recycle books is a funky place. Two mangy cats rest carelessly near the front of the store. Comfy armchairs welcome any potential loiterer, and the owners are on top of their inventory. Lots of selection if you enjoy social science. Overall, its a great place to go to when you are sick of websites.

A Private User

At my cardiologists suggestion, I recently bought 2 South Beach diet books (one hardcopy, the other, paper) for half their cover price at Recycled Books west suburban branch (275 E. Campbell Ave., Campbell CA); its main store is in bordering San Jose (1066 The Alameda, San Jose CA). The Campbell stores so nicely visually-quiet (e.g., its large, orange tomcat comfortably naps on a storefront work-counter) that Im considering offering them a few large potted jade plants for their windowsills, as well as proposing booking an occasional poetry reading series there. - Bill Costley

Matt Evans

Really eclectic selection, including a dense graphic novel section, science fiction, a respectably large art section, and a really nice music/band bio section. I used to go here to buy all my pen/paper RPG source books and supplemental guides here as well; havent checked lately but Id guess they still have a nice selection. Selling books to these guys is bittersweet, but on balance probably the best value youre going to find. Theyre very picky about what theyll take, but they pay very fair price for what they do buy.

Harry Hermawan

Saya suka buku, di tempat saya beli satu buku. Sayang kalo beli langsung nanti bawa ke Jakarta jadi berat di koper. Tapi kalo mau ke sini mending tau mau beli buku apa. Yang kelola toko juga bisa diminta bantuan loh.

Dinika M Amaral

Terrific selection and incredibly helpful staff. Im a fiction writer, so the books I was looking for were particularly literary, story collection because thats what I am working on, and RBS came through! I scored Pulse by Julian Barnes and The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, not the likeliest books to find. RBS also has a magnificent sci-fi collection. Alas, I am currently off Sci-fi or I would have bought some Le Guin.

A Private User

Fantastic shop. Its a maze with little doorways between the shelves, leading to whole other rooms. Selection is really very impressive, atmosphere is great. Looks like weve got one 1-star review from the slightly misguided. It rather pains me to say it, but go to Amazon if you want to sell your textbooks for beer money (Ive been there, I totally hear you, darn things are expensive, but this place just isnt that). And dont let the cat out.

A Private User

Via AbeBooks, I ordered "Richard Strauss A Critical Commentary on His Life". I received "Italian Fashion Designing 1945-1908". The shipping manifest had the right book, so Recycle had the correct order. My name didnt even appear on the shipping label. As postscript, the fellow there did contact the other person who got my book, and issued refunds for both of us -- if we exchange books directly. That was the decent thing to do.

James Bacon

An incredible second hand bookstore. Excellent SF, Military History, Comic (graphic novel) sections which are my areas of interest. They have a Sherlock Holmes section! I am always finding unusual abs unexpected titles her. Today a Sherlock Holmes set during the 1916 Easter Rising and a book of essays by Warren Ellis.

Arnav Agharwal

Pretty exhaustive collection of books. My friend and I have been to the LA Festival of Books twice now, and yet this store managed to surprise us! One visit to the store isnt enough, though, given the size of the collection; youve got to familiarize yourself with the content and organization before really digging in.