Anaheim City Hall is the pin for this guide, and the ground it covers reaches roughly 7.4 miles out: Fullerton and Brea to the north, Placentia and Yorba Linda to the east, the north end of Orange along Katella Avenue, and Buena Park, Cypress, Garden Grove and La Mirada to the west. Orange's public library and the Friends shop inside it lie nearer Santa Ana City Hall, so the Santa Ana page covers them. Only one of the eleven stops below lies inside Anaheim's own city limits, the Friends' sale at Central Library; the densest cluster is downtown Fullerton, where Half Off Books, the Brick Basement and the Friends' shop in the public library stand 0.31 miles apart at most.
Two counters on this list pay money for books. Half Off Books in Fullerton buys every day between 10am and 2pm, makes one offer for the whole load and writes a receipt that is only good that day, to cash out or spend; BOOKOFF in Garden Grove pays a single cash total once it has seen official photo identification. Bookman in Orange trades for credit instead, on weekdays only, while the six Friends groups and the Cal State Fullerton Patrons all live on donated books and pay nothing for them. Pick the counter before loading the car, because Half Off asks each seller to keep it to a couple of boxes and Bookman asks you to call ahead when you have more than one container.
Sale days set the floor on prices here, and each organizer keeps its own calendar. Half Off Books posts its quarterly Fire Sales on its website well ahead of time, the Anaheim library's event calendar carries the Friends' Friday sales at Central Library, and the Cypress Friends publish a whole year of sale dates at once; the entries below give the next date where one is known.
Used books, records and filmsHalf Off Books Records Films
141 W Wilshire Ave, Ste A, Fullerton, CA 92832
In downtown Fullerton, 2.7 miles north-northwest of Anaheim City Hall, this shop first opened on February 2, 2011 in Uptown Whittier and, by its own website's history, came to Wilshire Avenue after leaving Whittier on October 25, 2017. The same site claims over 85,000 titles on the shelves, secondhand stock alongside new releases taken on preorder, with vinyl, discs, manga and comics in the mix. Its Fire Sale comes around each quarter, pricing hardcovers at $3, paperbacks at $2 and pocket-size mass markets at $1, and the dates it publishes ahead are November 27 and 28, 2026, then February 14 and 15, 2027.
Hours: Daily 10am–7pmWebsite Out-of-print and secondhand booksBookman
320 E Katella Ave, Orange, CA 92867
Over the city line in Orange, four miles east-southeast of Anaheim City Hall on Katella Avenue, Bookman has sold used, unique and out-of-print books since 1990, as it tells it; the Orange County Register kept it on the map of Southern California independents it refreshed on May 20, 2026. Its trade policy runs on credit alone, Monday through Friday, one box or bag per visit, with nonfiction named as the wanted subject. Credit never lapses but covers up to 50% of what you buy, and it is not good on books tagged as new, on the collectible cases or on certain leather-bound sets; larger libraries need an appointment by phone.
Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–6pm, Sun noon–6pmWebsite Friends of the Library saleFriends of the Anaheim Public Library Book Sale
Central Library, 500 W Broadway, Anaheim, CA 92805
A third of a mile southwest of Anaheim City Hall, the Anaheim Public Library calendar entry for Friday, November 20, 2026 calls these Friends sales monthly and places them at Central Library on the third Friday, from 11am to 4pm, although the same calendar showed no sale in August or September 2026. Previewing the December 19, 2025 edition, Orange County Register columnist Andrea Manes sent shoppers down to the basement and listed jewelry, curios, puzzles and knick-knacks beside the books. The library says the money goes to its children's collection and the Summer Reading Program, with some teen and adult programs also funded.
Hours: Next sale: Fri Nov 20, 2026, 11am–4pmWebsite Friends of the Library bookstoreFriends of the Fullerton Public Library Bookstore
Fullerton Public Library, 353 W Commonwealth Ave, Fullerton, CA 92832
Inside Fullerton's main public library, 0.3 miles west-southwest of Half Off Books by straight line, the Friends run a store whose hours, Tuesday to Saturday from 11am until 3:30pm, matched the February 2026 Wayback capture of their page. The group dates its start to 1961, when women from the Fullerton branch of the American Association of University Women sold used books and house plants for the library, and the store still sells donated books and other media, with book gifts taken at a bin on the building's southwest corner. On top of the store come one-day and three-day sales, one of them on the City of Fullerton calendar for October 9, 2026, and membership buys early entry to those.
Hours: Tue–Sat 11am–3:30pmWebsite Friends of the Library bookstoreThe Book Corner
Yorba Linda Public Library, 4852 Lakeview Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92886
Up in Yorba Linda, 7.1 miles east-northeast of Anaheim City Hall on the library's main floor, this volunteer-staffed used bookstore was established in 1992, according to the Friends of the Yorba Linda Public Library, who run it and spend its takings on library programs. Shelves cover everything from art, classics and business to science fiction, foreign languages and young adult, and the room also carries DVDs, CDs, records, audiobooks on disc, puzzles and board games. The shop's Facebook page, on October 5, 2026, announced fresh Halloween stock and a batch of Easton Press editions it expected to sell quickly, and members of the Friends get 10% off.
Hours: Mon 10am–7pm, Tue 10am–4pm, Wed 1pm–7pm, Thu–Sat 10am–4pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Anaheim?
Sale days are where prices bottom out. Half Off Books' quarterly Fire Sale prices hardcovers at three dollars, paperbacks at two and small mass-market editions at one, with free bags handed to the first 50 people lining up outside. The Cypress Friends mark most of their sale stock two for $1, and the standing price list at Cal State Fullerton's Book Sale Center starts at $1 for paperback fiction. Each entry below carries the next date where one has been announced.
Where do I sell used books in Anaheim?
For cash, Half Off Books on Wilshire Avenue in Fullerton buys from 10am to 2pm every day, asks you to bring two boxes or fewer, and pays out on a receipt you have to redeem or spend the same day; it does not buy at all on Fire Sale dates. BOOKOFF on Valley View Street in Garden Grove pays one cash amount for everything after you show a government-issued photo ID. Bookman in Orange gives store credit instead, and only Monday to Friday. Run a phone over each shelf with BiblioScan first: one picture of the spines puts a resale value against every title, so you can tell the books worth a cash counter from the ones that belong in a Friends donation bin.
When is the Friends of the Library sale in Anaheim?
Anaheim Public Library's event calendar describes the Friends of the Anaheim Public Library sales as monthly, held on the third Friday at Central Library, 500 West Broadway, though its listings have skipped some months; the entry below gives the next date it shows. Around Anaheim, the Cypress Friends post their year of sale dates on their own website, Fullerton's Friends add single-day and three-day events to their library store, and the county library page for La Mirada puts the Friends sale there in April and October.
Which day is best for book hunting in Anaheim?
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday each find every shop with published hours open: Half Off Books, Bookman, the Brick Basement, the Fullerton Friends store, Yorba Linda's Book Corner and the Placentia library, and the three downtown Fullerton stops are no more than 0.31 miles apart. Sunday loses the Fullerton and Yorba Linda library shops, since Fullerton's Friends store works Tuesday to Saturday and the Book Corner shuts that day. If you are trading books at Bookman rather than buying, go on a weekday, because it takes trades Monday through Friday only.