Charlottetown's secondhand book trade sits mostly on one stretch of Queen Street downtown, where The Book Emporium, The Bookman and The Comic Hunter are a few doors apart and a single walk covers all three counters. The Comic Hunter moved a short way down that block to number 161 on September 25, 2026, so directory listings that still show its earlier storefront are out of date. Two events round out the calendar: the library volunteers' late-summer sale in neighbouring Cornwall, a short drive west, and a Sunday thrift market that spends the winter on the waterfront at the port. All prices quoted here are Canadian dollars.
Each counter leans its own way. The Book Emporium swaps books for credit, The Bookman blends discounted publishers' clearance stock with used and rare titles and buys selectively, and The Comic Hunter keeps comics, manga and back issues among its toys and cards. Value Village on University Avenue and Mission Thrift Store on Allen Street are the thrift names people will see, but the only mentions of books tied to either store are stock lists their networks repeat word for word for other branches, so fit them in only if you are passing anyway.
Family-run secondhand bookshopThe Book Emporium
169 Queen St, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4B4
A family-run secondhand bookshop on Queen Street that has sold used books since 1991 and, by its own account, doubled its floor space in 2018 when the unit next door came free. Speaking to SaltWire for a June 2025 feature, owner Helen Huynh put the stock at more than 100,000 books, said its buy-two-get-two-free offer covers almost everything on the shelves, and explained that trade-in credit stays on file without expiring. Its trading page asks for PEI, Maritime and Canadian history, military history, classic and popular literature and children's books, and turns away condensed Reader's Digest volumes, encyclopedias and out-of-date textbooks. The website gives 9am to 7:30pm from Monday to Saturday beside a garbled Sunday line, while a 2021 Facebook post gave 10am to 5pm, so call 902-628-2001 before a special trip.
Heritage bookseller: used, rare & clearanceThe Bookman
177 Queen St, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4B4
A few doors along Queen Street, a bookseller that dates itself to the early 1970s, when it opened in a three-room house on Euston Street, calls itself P.E.I.'s first used book store, and has occupied the Currie building since 1995. A Toronto Star travel piece of August 21, 2026 described browsing its packed shelves and noted it as P.E.I.'s oldest used-book shop, and the shop's site explains that the new titles are publishers' clearance copies or hurts sold 25 to 60 per cent below Canadian retail. The buying policy refuses hardcover popular fiction, National Geographic, Harlequins and old university texts, wants old hardcover classics, Canadian fiction and paperback course books in philosophy, religion and literature, and puts a trade value on any book brought in, though paperback fiction earns credit only toward more paperback fiction. The shop posts its hours under seasonal headings: the homepage grid archived in September 2026 ran from 9am until 8pm every day but Sunday, which closed at 6pm, with a note to phone 902-892-8872 when in doubt.
Sunday thrift & flea marketCharlottetown Thrift Market
Cruise ship building, Port Charlottetown, 1 Weymouth St, Charlottetown, PE C1A 8W1
The Sunday market once called the Charlottetown Flea Market, which signs its 2026 posts as the Charlottetown Thrift Market, spends its summers at Cody Banks Arena and its winters in the cruise ship building at Port Charlottetown. A Facebook post from the market on September 28, 2026 announced that the winter season opens on Sunday, November 29, 2026 and runs every Sunday until about April 1, 2027. Books featured on the organizer's own list of vendor wares in a July 16, 2026 post, next to antiques, collectibles, fishing tackle, games and toys, and a video the page shared on January 2, 2026 gave the previous winter's hours as 9am to 2pm at 1 Weymouth Street. Its September 28 post also set October 1, 2026 as the start of vendor table bookings, taken through the page or on 902-368-8161.
Hours: Sundays, November 29, 2026 – early April 2027Website Where can I find cheap used books in Charlottetown?
Start at The Book Emporium: SaltWire reported in mid-2025 that a buy-two-get-two-free promotion took in nearly the whole shop. Cornwall's library volunteers asked $8 per filled bag at a smaller sale in March 2025, and their annual sale returned in late August 2026. Over the winter, the Charlottetown Thrift Market, whose organizer listed books among vendor wares in July 2026, is back at the port on Sundays from November 29, 2026.
Where do I sell used books in Charlottetown?
Downtown, three counters take books in on different terms. The Book Emporium offers store credit once a pile has been looked over, and that credit does not expire; The Bookman buys selectively according to current demand, refuses popular hardcover fiction, Harlequins and old university texts, and gives trade credit; The Comic Hunter buys and trades comics. For cash on the better titles, AbeBooks and Amazon.ca reach collectors, and local bundles sell through Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace. Before the pile goes anywhere, photograph the row of spines once with BiblioScan: the app puts a resale estimate beside each title it recognizes, separating titles that deserve their own online ad from trade fodder for Queen Street.
When is the big library book sale in Charlottetown?
The nearest is in Cornwall: the town library's Friends group last held its annual sale over three days ending Saturday, August 29, 2026, with doors open 9am to 5pm at the Mercedes Drive branch. Its 2027 dates had not been announced by early October 2026, and the PEI Public Library Service lists such sales among its Facebook events. In Charlottetown itself, the library foundation's June 2026 book fair centred on local vendors and new releases.