Secondhand books in Cairns come in small rooms rather than warehouses, and the five places on this page all sit within about four kilometres of one another. Two are in the CBD, roughly 200 metres from each other on Lake Street, one inside the Oceana Walk arcade and one further south at number 21-25. Two more lie just west of the centre, an animal-welfare op shop in Parramatta Park and a bookshop in the Showgrounds centre on Mulgrave Road in Bungalow, and the fifth is the council's tip shop down in Portsmith. Any address outside the CBD carries its suburb in the opening words of its entry, and any price mentioned is in Australian dollars.
Treat the names in older directories with some care. The Bungalow shop has traded under three signs at the same address, Sue's Book Exchange, then Ree's Bookshop and, from May 2026, We Love Books, so a search for any of them lands in the same room. The big charity chains are all present across the suburbs, but their store pages repeat one state-wide list of goods, which says nothing about a given shop's shelves; the two op shops included here earn their place with a books claim made by the operator itself.
Secondhand bookshop and record storePearls Books n Music
Shop 25, Oceana Walk, 55 Lake St, Cairns City QLD 4870
A narrow arcade shop in the CBD, reachable from both Lake Street and Grafton Street, whose Facebook page says it has been trading since 2019 in pre-loved books and records. The arcade's tenant directory files it under new, second-hand, rare and collectable music, books, magazines and DVDs, and publishes a Tuesday-to-Friday day plus a short Saturday morning for it, though that grid comes from the landlord rather than the shop. On Wednesday 23 September 2026 the shop posted that a fresh batch of LPs had come in and invited people down to look. Its web store at pearlsbooksfnq.com, by contrast, was showing a notice in September 2026 that it stays closed until 30 October, so plan on browsing in person.
Secondhand bookshopWe Love Books
Showgrounds Shopping Centre, 157 Mulgrave Rd, Bungalow QLD 4870
In Bungalow, in the Showgrounds Shopping Centre, the bookshop formerly called Ree's changed its name on 19 May 2026, telling followers the shelves and the spot were staying put. The Cairns Post had reported in August 2025 that the previous owner, who took over Sue's Book Exchange almost five years earlier, was putting the business on the market. The new owner marked six months in charge on 18 September 2026 and announced the day before that from October until Christmas the shop would open late, from 5 to 7pm, once a fortnight. The one opening grid found on the shop's page dates from 2021, under the previous owner, and it closed on 28 and 29 September 2026 for the school holidays, so send a message before a special trip.
Secondhand bookshopThe Cemetery of Forgotten Books
21-25 Lake St, Cairns City QLD 4870
A small shop at 21-25 Lake Street, about 200 metres south-east of Pearls, sharing its name with the hidden library in Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Shadow of the Wind. The Cairns Post told its story on 5 April 2025: a retired Cairns lawyer with more than 4,000 books set out to clear his collection and ended up with a secondhand bookstore. The paper's Facebook post the next day described it as tucked away in a quiet corner of Lake Street. No website or social account for the shop turned up, and no opening hours are published, so pair it with Pearls up the street rather than making it the only reason for the trip.
Council tip shopBuy Back Shop
35-51 Lyons St, Portsmith QLD 4870
Down in Portsmith, about three kilometres south-southwest of the CBD, Cairns Regional Council's resale shop for goods rescued from its transfer stations, with musical instruments, books and games listed among what turns up on the council's own page. Cairns Local News reported on 7 August 2026 that hundreds of rescued books had been on sale during the 2025 Trash to Treasure day, and that the 2026 edition was set for Saturday 8 August around the shop. The council says it takes no phone calls about stock or holds, so you have to come in and look. The shop has its own car park entrance off Lyons Street, no longer through the transfer station gate.
Hours: Wed–Sun 9am–4pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Cairns?
Start with the op shop on Draper Street in Parramatta Park, whose Animal Welfare Cairns page lists books ahead of the furniture and clothing, and which restated a Monday-to-Saturday week in May 2026. Down in Portsmith, the Buy Back Shop sells what Cairns Regional Council rescues from the tip, books included, five days a week. From there, the two Lake Street shops sit a short walk apart in the CBD, and We Love Books in Bungalow takes trades and donations as well as selling, so a bag of your own paperbacks can stretch the budget there.
Where do I sell used books in Cairns?
Among the shops here, We Love Books is the one that has spoken about trades: on 3 September 2026 it showed off the day's mix of trade-ins, and the owner's six-month post thanked people who had traded or donated books, so ask about swap terms at the counter. Otherwise, Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree and eBay.com.au reach buyers without a counter, and Animal Welfare Cairns will take donations and offers a pickup service. Before any of that, set the stack on a shelf with the titles facing you and photograph it once in BiblioScan: each spine it recognises comes back with its own resale value, so the few worth a Marketplace listing separate from the swap-bag filler before you leave home.
Which op shops have books in Cairns?
On this page, Animal Welfare Cairns in Parramatta Park is the op shop whose own page puts books in writing, opening weekdays and Saturday mornings, and the tip shop on Lyons Street lists books among the goods it rescues. Vinnies, Lifeline, the Salvation Army and the Red Cross have shops spread across the suburbs, from the CBD out to Smithfield, Edmonton and Kewarra Beach, but their store pages use network-wide lists of goods, so a visit is how you find out what a particular shop has on the shelf that week. Maggie's Thrift Shop in Westcourt handles donated books too, going by its September 2026 post about photos left in one.
Which day is best for book hunting in Cairns?
Aim for Wednesday to Saturday. Oceana Walk's store page gives Pearls a Tuesday-to-Friday day and a Saturday morning, Animal Welfare Cairns posted a Monday-to-Friday week with Saturday mornings, and the Buy Back Shop runs Wednesday to Sunday, so those three grids overlap from Wednesday through Saturday morning. On a Sunday the council shop is the one of the three still trading, while We Love Books and The Cemetery of Forgotten Books publish no current hours at all, so check their pages before you head out. The monthly Tanks Markets in Edge Hill take over one Sunday in most months of the year, though the council's stallholder list doesn't mention books.