This small independent shopis located in Mountain Brook, just off Highway 280. Their store web presence seems to always be in flux but they do seem to do a better job of keeping their MySpace presence more up-to-date. They have a full coffee bar and the bookstore staff always seems very knowledgeable and helpful. It’s popular with a handful of book clubs and local folks.
It’s a nice small bookstore to peruse. They do a good job of keeping the most recent titles in stock, but nothing too far back.You’ll have to call about the hours, as they don’t keep them posted.
***Sadly this bookstore closed up in 2016. I’m leaving this post up as an archive ***
I stumbled across a used bookstore over in the Irondale area of town, so I thought I’d share. It’s called Doggone Books and enjoys the fortuitous traffic-inducing location of being two doors down from the Whistlestop Cafe (yes, THAT Whistlestop Cafe).
Birmingham’s southside is home to a new used bookstore. Greencup Books is holding its official “grand opening” this Friday night. The doors open at 2pm with a reading/signing by Tony Crunk and artist Peter Wilm. They will be signing their joint publishing project Stories from Real Life.
Greencup Books sells mainly used books culled from collections and sales all over the South East. But there are a few new titles on hand too. Some from their own small-press imprint Absnth Inc. So that’s pretty cool too.
It’s easy to miss this place. The doors are tucked up under an awning along 1st Avenue North. Most days you have to ring the doorbell to be let in. Just tell the person at the desk that you are there for the book sale and they’ll wind you around the office to the back area with all of the books. This space also doubles as a conference room. So if someone is having a meeting, you’ll have to come back later. But you can’t beat the prices and you never know what you’ll find. There are plenty of remainders but then also, just as many pristine copies of donated books.
The book store is open 8:30- 5:00, Monday through Friday.
Hardbacks $3.00, Softbacks $2.00,
Used books and advance copies $1.00
Buy 5 and get the 6th free.
Jonathon Benton Bookseller
