Barrie, Ontario spreads its secondhand books along the roads that fan out from the downtown waterfront on Kempenfelt Bay. The Downtown Library on Worsley Street and Bell, Book & Candle by Centennial Beach are a short walk apart; Rivendell Books sits in the Wellington Plaza to the west, Big B Comics down Essa Road to the south, Mission Thrift out on Big Bay Point Road to the southeast, and three charity counters line the north end along Penetang Street, Cundles Road and Bayfield Street. The farthest stop is a spring sale at the library branch in Elmvale, well up in Springwater Township. Orillia, northeast along Lake Simcoe, has bookshops of its own that aren't covered here. Every dollar figure here is Canadian.
If you're here to sell, Rivendell publishes detailed buying rules, a rulebook that separates small walk-in credit trades from booked appointments for bigger loads, while Big B takes graphic novels for credit over the counter. The charity shops run on donations, so what reaches their book shelves changes from one week to the next.
Two things moved in 2026, so a list compiled before then may be out of date. Bell, Book & Candle left its former premises in March and reopened on Victoria Street in May, and a CTV News piece dated September 3, 2026 says the Salvation Army's Essa Road thrift shop, open there since May 1995, is relocating to 250 Innisfil Street, a few blocks away, with neither a closing nor an opening date yet made public.
Used bookstoresRivendell Books
165 Wellington St W, Unit 2B, Barrie, ON L4N 1L7
In the Wellington Plaza, 1.3 km west-southwest of downtown, a shop that headlines itself on its own website as Barrie's best used bookstore and says it has sat at the centre of the city's secondhand trade for more than 16 years. The buying rules are spelled out: a stack of fewer than 10 can be traded for credit at the till without booking, 10 to 100 need an appointment where you pick cash or credit, credit is worth double the cash rate, and rare or antiquarian material gets an appointment of its own, while the refusal list runs from Harlequin romances and encyclopedias to condensed Reader's Digest volumes, textbooks, magazines, computer manuals and Chicken Soup anthologies. Since May 1, 2026, store credit may cover at most 50 per cent of a single transaction, although balances still never expire. According to the Barrie Advance of April 29, 2026, the shop was staging its second grown-up retro book fair at One Eyed Jack in the same plaza, after the first, the previous November, raised about $1,200 for the Barrie Literacy Council.
Hours: Mon–Wed 10am–6pm, Thu–Fri 10am–7pm, Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 11am–4pmWebsite Metaphysical shop with used booksBell, Book & Candle
11 Victoria St, Unit 1B, Barrie, ON
Crystals, incense, candles and giftware share the room with shelves the shop's own Facebook page lists as new and used books, at a new address in Unit 1B of 11 Victoria Street, beside Pie Wood Smoked Pizza and facing Centennial Beach. The move was announced on March 31, 2026 with parking out front and behind off Ellen Street, a reopening was set for Saturday, May 2, and June posts pointed shoppers to a curated used section and a run of classics for summer reading. In the CommunityVotes Barrie 2026 poll for rare and used bookshops, voters ranked it gold, one step under Rivendell's platinum. Barrie 360's 2024 bookstore round-up put the weight of its shelves on mindfulness, spirituality and alternative healing, which makes it a niche stop more than a general browse.
Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–5pmWebsite Comic shop with used graphic novelsBig B Comics Barrie
45 Essa Rd, Barrie, ON L4N 3K4
Down Essa Road, 1.8 km south of downtown, a comic store that moved into its 2,400 sq ft space at number 45 on January 17, 2023, and says it keeps a large bargain-priced run of used graphic novels next to over 5,000 new titles, plus back issues starting at $2. Graphic novels, used or new and in decent shape, earn store credit any time with no appointment, though used manga and newspaper-strip collections such as Calvin and Hobbes are declined. Whole comic collections go through a booking form instead, never on a Wednesday or a Saturday and with photo ID required, and a note dated August 2026 on the same page put a pause on buying any toy made since 2000.
Hours: Mon–Fri 10am–7pm, Sat 10am–6pm, Sun 11am–5pmWebsite Library book salesBarrie Public Library Fall Book Sale
Downtown Library, 60 Worsley St, Barrie, ON L4M 1L6
The Angus Ross Room of the Downtown Library fills with community donations and freshly withdrawn library stock for the third annual one-day fall sale, which the library has set for Saturday, October 17, 2026. Its price list is fixed: $1 a paperback, $2 a hardcover, 50 cents for children's and youth titles, $3 an audiobook, $4 a video game and 50 cents off the bargain table, with a library tote for $2 or free once you spend $20. Donations for it are collected at the café on October 14 and 15, and the multi-day BIG Spring Book Sale that precedes it each year drew some 575 visitors across the May 23–24, 2026 weekend, raising $4,736.35, according to BarrieToday.
Hours: Saturday, October 17, 2026, 10am–4pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Barrie?
Time it around the library. The Downtown Library's fall sale on October 17, 2026 prices paperbacks at a dollar and children's books at half that, and the spring edition in May 2026 was the longer, multi-day version. Between sales, watch the charity counters: Give Back Rack put every book at 50 cents on March 20, 2026, and the Cundles Road re-Source cut its books, films and CDs to half price for a week in spring 2024. For graphic novels, Big B keeps a bargain shelf of used copies all week.
Where do I sell used books in Barrie?
Rivendell spells out its buying terms in full: a small bag can go straight to the counter for credit, while a box or more means booking a cash or credit appointment, and credit comes out at twice the cash figure. Big B is the place for graphic novels, credit only. Before you book, take one shelf photo with BiblioScan, which attaches a resale estimate to every spine it matches; the handful worth real money then gets your own listing on Amazon.ca, Kijiji, eBay.ca, AbeBooks or Facebook Marketplace, and the leftover pile rides to Rivendell's trade counter.
Which day is best for book hunting in Barrie?
Saturday. Rivendell, Big B, Bell, Book & Candle, Give Back Rack, the Habitat ReStore and re-Source North all post Saturday hours, though re-Source closes at 3pm, and each of the two sales listed here was set for a Saturday. On Sunday only three published schedules keep you busy: Rivendell, Big B and Give Back Rack. Early in the week, remember that the Penetang Street charity shop stays shut until Thursday.
When is the big library book sale in Barrie?
The Barrie Public Library holds two: the BIG Spring Book Sale over several days in late May and a one-day fall sale, whose 2026 edition takes up the October 17 Saturday, both held at the main downtown branch. The library says 2027 dates will be announced early in the year. In Springwater, the Friends' sale in Elmvale lands on Maple Syrup Festival day in April.