As reading technology shifts from Nooks and Kindles to iPads, hard copies of books—particulalry used books—offer a consistent return to an analog tradition that never goes out of style. Buying secondhand books allows us a small way to keep reading sustainable in a world run off of overconsumption and data centers.
There are plenty of ways to invest in reading sustainability, whether it’s contributing to the Little Free Library system across Houston’s yards and parks, recycling reading materials or visiting a used bookstore. This National Book Lover’s Day, skip the Amazon order and discover your next favorite book at one of Houston’s most treasured used bookstores.
Peruse the stacks of 100,000 books at Kaboom, where you can find current and long out-of-print titles. You can buy, sell, or trade your books for in-store credit. The store is run by a couple who owned bookstores in New Orleans for over 30 years before opening their Houston-area location.
This family-owned bookstore specializes in used and rare books, with over 70 genres making up their 300,000 book collection. In business since 1988, Becker’s Books has been at their Spring Branch area location since 1993.
Halfway between Houston and Galveston sits Schroeder’s Book Haven, a bookstore specializing in books about Texas and West American military knowledge, art, and history. Open to the public since 1992, this shop sits in a historic house built in 1911 by an early Texas settler.
True to its name, Good Books In the Woods is nestled in The Woodlands and carries over 60,000 new, used, and rare books. This bookstore carries an affordable selection of fantasy, horror, mystery, science fiction, romance, and children’s books.
Established in 1991, Galveston Bookshop boasts a selection of 70,000 used books for you to choose from. Sitting in the heart of Galveston’s popular downtown Historic Strand District, this shop is walking distance from numerous restaurants, cafes, and vintage stores to hit after you’ve grabbed a good book.
Copperfield’s Bookshop, located in the Spring area, offers 50,000 used and new books to choose from, with used books priced at just half their original cover price. The shop also offers a trade credit program, giving customers 20% of a traded-in books’ cover price as store credit toward a used book purchase.
This Cypress bookstore has roughly 3,300 books on its shelves, costing half the price they would be if purchased new. The owners of Books Abound have been enriching the Houston reading community for nearly 30 years, participating in local events, donating books to incarcerated Texans, and selling textbooks to students.
