Half Price Books Westerville » Independent Bookstore Directory

It was 1972. Corporate dropout Ken Gjemre and fellow bibliophile Pat Anderson opened a used-book shop in an old laundromat in Dallas, Texas. They ran ads in the local paper, declaring “We Buy Books,” and soon found themselves with a few thousand books and hordes of customers. “You could stir them with a stick,” Ken said.

And now? With more than 120 stores across the country, plus a website with customers and sellers around the globe, we’ve become America’s largest family-owned retailer for new and used books.

Our founders coined the phrase, “We buy and sell everything ever printed or recorded (except yesterday’s newspaper).” And if you’ve been to one of our stores, you know that’s true.

Ken and Pat weren’t just talking about our enormous selection, but about our refusal to censor products. As Ken said, “We don’t let others, or ourselves, determine what our customers should read.” To this day, we’ll shelve and sell just about anything, from The Diary of Anne Frank to The History of Farting. We might chuckle at the titles, but we won’t censor them.

Store Hours

10:00am – 8:00pm 7 days a week

Karen

Store Manager

“As an employee of Half Price Books, I have a long and storied past. I first started with the company back in 1996 as a Bookseller. I took some time off to raise my children. Then in 2007, I came back and picked up where I left off. I love Half Price Books because it has such great stuff.”