Boise keeps its secondhand trade in three clusters and one of them is not in Boise. Downtown holds the Rediscovered Books family — the Linen District flagship on Grove Street and its all-used offshoot four blocks northeast on State — plus the volunteer-run shop the library Friends operate on Fulton. West of there the trail runs out Fairview and Five Mile into the suburbs, and then it crosses the line entirely: the state's only Half Price Books sits in Meridian, a town that runs its own city hall and carries its own zip code, and the entry below says so up front.
Come expecting credit rather than cash, because that is how this valley settles. Rediscovered runs the intake desk for the whole group and states outright that it does not offer money — credit only, half the price of a new book or the whole price of a used one, and void after five years. Bent Corners does not buy at all in the usual sense; it discounts, taking paperbacks from 50% off retail to 75% off if you hand over your own. That leaves the Half Price Books counter out on East Fairview as the address to aim at when what you want is money rather than a credit slip.
Three names in the older roundups will burn an afternoon. Bargain Books Boise on North Cole Road, a fixture for close to thirty years, shut at the end of July 2024 after its landlord moved to put apartments on the lot, as the Idaho Statesman reported at the time. Trip Taylor Bookseller left 10th Street in 2018 and several directories still carry the listing. And Oldspeak out in Garden City turns up under used-bookstore searches on Yelp while its own FAQ answers the question flatly: it does not take used books.
Used bookstoresOnce and Future Books
1310 W State St, Boise, ID 83702
An all-used offshoot of Rediscovered Books, opened in 2018 according to the shop's own Biblio.com storefront, which is also where the shelves get indexed if you want to check stock before driving over. The Scout Guide's Treasure Valley bookstore roundup of December 30, 2025 called it the used counterpart to the flagship a few blocks southwest, stocked from whatever readers carry through the door. Anything past three bags or boxes has to be booked in here by appointment rather than dropped at the Grove Street desk, and the group settles in trade credit that covers the full price of anything in this room and expires after five years. Sunday is the short day, shutting at 4pm.
Hours : Mon–Sat 11am–5pm, Sun noon–4pmWebsite Flagship and trade-in deskRediscovered Books
1576 W Grove St, Boise, ID 83702
The Linen District flagship, which ID Guide reported on February 25, 2026 had moved to 1576 West Grove and would reach twenty years that September; its own events board was booking an artist reception for September 3, 2026 and a graphic-novel signing the following afternoon. New titles dominate the floor and the shop describes itself as carrying both new and used, so the price tag matters more on this floor than the spine does. What brings sellers across town is the intake desk, which is here rather than at the used store: a three-box limit per visit, first come first served, and you are asked to wait in the building until an offer lands. The published refusals are worth memorizing — ex-library copies, textbooks, encyclopedia sets, magazines of any kind, advance reader copies, Reader's Digest condensed volumes, Harlequin and Silhouette romances, audiobooks, DVDs and puzzles.
Hours : Mon–Sat 10am–6pm, Sun 11am–5pmWebsite Used bookstoresBent Corners Used Books
3343 N Five Mile Rd, Boise, ID 83713
Out at the corner of Five Mile and Ustick, running the plainest arithmetic on this page: paperbacks sit at half the printed retail price on any trading day, and handing your own copies across the counter takes that to 75% off cover. The shop puts its holdings above 50,000 volumes, dates itself to 2005, and shelves by genre from paranormal romance through international intrigue to true crime. The Scout Guide picked out those same two things on December 30, 2025 — the breadth of the selection and the trade discount — and pointed to the second branch down in Nampa, which takes trades as well. It works a weekday schedule, dark all day Sunday and closing an hour early on Saturday.
Hours : Mon–Fri 10am–6pm, Sat 10am–5pm; closed SunWebsite Permanent Friends bookstoreTree City Books
775 W Fulton St, Boise, ID 83702
The Friends of the Boise Public Library keep their own shop a block north of the Main Library, and their bookstore page explains the address: the move to 775 West Fulton was made to clear the way for renovation work at the library. Volunteers work the till, every dollar goes back into the building, and the donated stock covers all genres plus magazines and selected media, restocked as it arrives instead of being hoarded for the seasonal sales. Weekdays give you six hours, Saturday and Sunday two, which turns the weekend into a quick raid rather than a browse. That grid, together with a 2026 list of holiday closures, sat on the page when the Wayback Machine captured it on April 9, 2026.
Hours : Mon–Fri 11am–5pm, Sat–Sun 11am–1pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Boise?
Start with the library volunteers rather than the shops. Tree City Books on West Fulton trades on all seven days out of a donated pile, and the Friends who run it hold their bigger clear-outs in the same room — November 5 to 8 for the 2026 fall sale. Among the trading floors, Bent Corners out on Five Mile has the most predictable rule, with every paperback at half the printed retail price and 75% off if you bring copies to trade, while the Half Price Books over in Meridian cuts across the whole store during chain promotions like the 20% holiday-weekend markdown it ran over three days in early September 2026. Books on the Vine is the unpredictable one, publishing nothing about when it opens but filling its shelves largely out of estate sales.
Where do I sell used books in Boise?
One counter pays cash and two pay in other currencies. The Meridian Half Price Books buys books, music and some electronics from anyone who walks in, quotes at the desk and settles immediately. Rediscovered Books on Grove Street takes in for the whole Rediscovered family and offers store credit only, three bags maximum, first come first served, with a long published reject list — ex-library, textbooks, encyclopedias, magazines, advance copies, condensed editions — and a request to keep Saturdays clear. Bent Corners converts what you bring into a bigger discount rather than a payment. Do the sorting at home first. One photo of a full shelf, priced by BiblioScan spine by spine, gives you a current resale figure per title — which is what splits the few worth listing yourself from the crate headed for a credit slip.
When is the Friends of the Library sale in Boise?
Two different groups hold one, and they do not share a calendar. The Friends of the Boise Public Library sell from Friends on Fulton, 775 West Fulton Street, in a room Idaho News measured at 2,400 square feet in March 2025; their published 2026 dates put the fall sale on November 5 to 8, with a spring online auction that ran from April 22 to May 3 and another auction live that September. Their February edition uses a different entrance, off 8th Street between Fulton and River. Out southwest, the Friends at the Ada Community Library's Victory branch run theirs on separate dates — noon to 7pm on February 6, 2025 and 10:30am to 2pm on the patio on June 7, 2025 — so the two library calendars both need checking.
Which day is best for book hunting in Boise?
Friday, by a distance. Each stop with published hours is trading on a Friday: Tree City Books until 5pm, Once and Future until 5pm, Rediscovered until 6pm, Bent Corners until 6pm, and the Meridian Half Price Books until 8pm, which gives you two extra hours after the rest of the valley has locked up. Saturday still works but costs you an hour at Bent Corners and drops Tree City Books to a two-hour window at midday. Sunday closes Bent Corners entirely and shortens Once and Future to 4pm, so treat it as a listing day unless the Friends have a sale running.