$50 fill a bag - Small Business Saturday Returns

 

The Paperback Exchange Bookstore is my kind of place.

     The Paperback Exchange Bookstore has been a once a year visit for me since I moved to the Tampa area. They don't get much new in the way of Science Fiction and Fantasy, and heavily rely on the donations from their frequent customers. Once the owner told me they had so many books dropped off during covid to keep them in business and the shelves full for 10 more years. Books are priced by Ebay sold value when the tags were put on them years ago, which is fair to today's market being the prices of everything went up. Condition of the books I would consider.. fair. Items that are labeled as "rare" almost always have pretty bad condition issues and are essentially worth just a fraction of what they are listed at. I did not get to take any pictures inside today as it was very crowded and the aisles are VERY close together; if you want to bend over and look at the bottom shelf, you have to take a knee so you don't hit the case behind you. Walking past someone requires them to leave the aisle you are in, and then you take their place. For those following along, I did the fill-a-bag deal with them two years ago today, the post is here.

The rules are a little different this year:

• Nothing newer than 3 years old
• Price has doubled to $50 - $45 if you brought your old bag
• No "rare" stickered books
• No store credits
• 20% off New and Rare books
• 10% Merch

     White tag books are no longer a dollar each, rare books are no longer BOGO which is fine, there was not that many rare books left in the sections I was in to speak of. A tent was located out back Garage Sale style with boxes of books and movies, and those you could fill a bag for $20. I feel bad for the poor owner, every person that came in was explained the rules and regulations of sale. Details are a little foggy, and the only thing I could find on their facebook referenced a Swag Bag sale, which people have no idea what that means when she talked about. Just call it Fill a bag for $50? Either way, I understood as I've been coming for a little while. 

     All said, I put 51 qualifying books in my bag, I could have fit some more, and she told me to top it off before I left, which I tried to do, but I could not really find anything else that I wanted to take home. At this point in my collection, 75% of it is in boxes and I can't even look at it, so anything that goes in the bag may not see the light of day anytime soon.

Here is the take, a good few little stacks, more than worth the average of $1.00 a book. I think there was a lot more value last time at half the price, but I digress. 

The final small stack is some books I set aside as being better condition, worth more, or just stood out to me initially when I took them out of the bag. 

     Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers was in great shape, and was not considered rare, but I have never seen one in the wild, not even in specialty stores or on Instagram. Phillip K Dick and Zelazny collab really stuck out, and was mixed in with the ton of Zelazny stuff they have piled up. I should mention that if you are looking to complete a series, this store has a ton of those books, all organized by alpha and series. It's really great, and I took advantage of that with a few books today.

     I spotted these really interesting compilation books mixed in, and married them up for a little impromptu reunion. I noticed Piers Anthony on the cover of one, and some of my other favorites mixed in, and those covers! I had to grab them and make them part of the collection. These Anthology books to me are kind of crazy in how many there actually are. I've been collecting for 25 years, and I keep finding new and interesting ones, hardcover, paperback, different themes.. you name it. They keep coming. 

Thanks for stopping by.