Where to buy used books in Denton

Updated 10/22/2026

Denton is the seat of Denton County, and this guide follows the county roughly 18 miles out from the Courthouse Square: Sanger, Krum, Ponder, Argyle and Justin to the north and west, Aubrey and Little Elm to the east, then Flower Mound, Lewisville and The Colony down toward the Dallas line, plus Frisco, whose library sits just across the Collin County line. Decatur and the rest of Wise County are covered on a separate Decatur page, Grapevine and Southlake fall outside this guide's radius, and Carrollton and Plano go with Dallas. Four of the nine stops are in the city of Denton, every one of them less than two miles from the Square, one is in Krum to the west, and the rest are strung along the south of the county, from the Flower Mound library to the Friends' shop inside the Frisco library.

For anyone with boxes to move, two counters on this page pay. Recycled Books buys at its counter all seven days, paying cash, or by check once a payout gets large, and the Half Price Books in Lewisville runs the chain's buy desk. Books & More on University Drive swaps books for credit at 25% of cover, with a matching minimum share paid in cash on every book trade, and buys or swaps discs and games outright, while three of the four library Friends groups, in Lewisville, Flower Mound and Frisco, say in so many words that their stock is donated.

The library groups run on calendars they publish themselves. The Denton Friends keep a shop open three days a week at the North Branch and stage their Big Book Sales in its meeting room on Saturdays, with a members' preview on the Friday and a rule that resellers carrying scanners wait until the afternoon. The Lewisville Friends say they hold a big used sale twice a year, and the Flower Mound Friends list theirs as quarterly, with a full year of weekends posted ahead on the town website.

Spot map

The best spots

Used bookstores

Recycled Books, Records & CDs

200 N Locust St, Denton, TX 76201

On October 22, 2026, the store's home page said its fiction and literature mezzanine was temporarily closed for renovation.

Three floors of the Wright Opera House on the Courthouse Square, where the store moved in 1990 after opening in 1983 in a 450-square-foot room off University Drive; its history page calls it the largest independent used bookstore in Texas, and its front page counts half a million books. Its buying-policy page sets the counter at 10am to 8pm daily, while the home page says it works through regular store hours; it pays in cash, switching to a check for big payouts; sellers show ID, and anyone hauling in more than 100 items or five boxes should phone first. Textbooks, encyclopedias, book-club printings, library discards, Time Life sets, Harlequins and Reader's Digest editions all sit on the list of things it refuses, and single comic issues are bought by appointment only. An 8am start on Record Store Day, Saturday, April 18, 2026, made the Denton Record-Chronicle's roundup, and in October 2026 the store's own calendar ran a string of local-author Halloween signings plus Libba Bray's October 4 launch of Radio Free Texas, held in Modern Hall at FUMC Denton.

Hours: Daily 9am–9pmWebsite

Friends of the Library bookstore

Friends of the Denton Public Libraries Bookstore

North Branch Library, 3020 N Locust St, Denton, TX 76209

A volunteer used bookstore inside the North Branch Library, 1.9 miles due north of the Square up Locust Street, where most books cost $1 to $2 and movies share the shelves. The Friends' page on the city library website opens it three times a week, Monday and Saturday mornings into the early afternoon and Sunday from 1pm, and takes cash, Visa, MasterCard, Google Pay, Apple Wallet and local checks. That page also carries the group's 2026 board meetings, the latest on October 8, and a membership ladder running from $15 for one reader to $100 and up for a tier it names Bibliophage. The Friends say the money they raise buys materials and equipment for the city's libraries.

Hours: Mon 9am–3pm, Sat 9am–3pm, Sun 1pm–4pmWebsite

Library book sales

Friends of the Denton Public Libraries Big Book Sale

North Branch Library meeting room, 3020 N Locust St, Denton, TX 76209

The last of the Friends' 2026 Big Book Sales takes over the North Branch meeting room on Saturday, November 14, 2026, following an August 8 round in the same space; the public pays $1 at the door, while members and children under 12 get in free. Per the group's Facebook event, most hardcovers will be $2 and most paperbacks $1, and a $20 Friends tote filled for free at this sale can come back to later sales for a $10 refill. Resellers need to read the small print: vendors carrying scanners are let in only from 2pm, membership or not, and book carts stay parked in the lobby. Members also get a Friday preview from 3pm to 5pm on November 13 and a half-hour start on the Saturday crowd.

Hours: Next sale: Sat Nov 14, 2026, 10am–4pm (members from 9:30am; members-only preview Fri Nov 13, 3pm–5pm)Website

All spots by type

Used bookstores

Used paperbacks and vinyl

Books & More / Record Hound

1626 W University Dr, Denton, TX 76201

A strip-center shop at Malone Street and University Drive (US 380), 1.4 miles northwest of the Square beside a Dollar General, which its website sizes at nearly 3,000 square feet and fills with used paperbacks by the tens of thousands, priced at half of cover, mystery, romance, westerns, horror and science fiction to the fore. It doubles as the storefront of record dealer Cliff West, the Record Hound, whose vinyl is all marked 50% off, and the Denton Record-Chronicle guide of April 16, 2026 had the shop opening at 10am that Record Store Day Saturday with RSD releases and a half-price vinyl sale. Books earn trade credit worth 25% of cover toward other books, never cash, and each book trade still needs at least 25% of cover settled in money; DVDs, CDs and video games are bought or traded outright. Per its website, the shop keeps noon-to-6pm weekdays, Wednesday an hour longer, Saturday 11am to 6pm and no Sunday opening, while the Texas Music Map listing runs Saturday to 7pm, so do not count on the last hour.

Website

Half Price Books

Half Price Books Lewisville

420 E FM 3040, Suite 660, Lewisville, TX 75067

Out in Lewisville on FM 3040, which doubles as Round Grove Road, about 17 miles southeast of the Square and the single Half Price Books branch listed in this guide. Its store page posts one unchanging 10am-to-8pm day across the whole week and a children's story time every Saturday at 2pm. For Halloween it scheduled a kids' reading with mini-pumpkin decorating on Saturday, October 31, 2026, from 2 to 3pm, with a 10% in-store coupon for children who show up in costume. Selling goes through the chain's usual buy counter, so this branch is the cash alternative to Recycled for sellers in the southern half of the county, 3.6 miles from the Lewisville library sale.

Hours: Daily 10am–8pmWebsite

Library book sales

Friends of the Krum Public Library Big Book Sale

Krum Public Library, 815 E McCart St, Krum, TX 76249

Out west in Krum, 6.4 miles from the Square, the Friends of the Krum Public Library fill their library on East McCart Street with what its event page calls a massive collection of gently used books on Saturday, November 14, 2026, free to attend, the proceeds all earmarked for the Friends. The evening before, a $10 VIP Book Fair gives first dibs on that same sale stock, with vendors, local authors and refreshments laid on, and its proceeds also benefit the library. Both events are posted on the Krum Public Library website, and the Saturday sale closes in the early afternoon, so it suits a morning start.

Hours: Next sale: Sat Nov 14, 2026, 10am–2pm (VIP preview Fri Nov 13, 5pm–7pm, $10)Website

Library book sales

Friends of the Lewisville Public Library Book Sale & Book Nook

Lewisville Public Library, 1197 W Main St, Lewisville, TX 75067

In Lewisville, the Friends run a pair of operations at the public library on West Main Street: a first-floor Book Nook beside the staircase, with used books shelved by genre at nominal prices and magazines at 10 cents, and a large used sale twice a year in the Glenmore Savage Community Room. The city event calendar sets the fall edition's $5 pre-sale for Friday, November 13, 2026, from 4pm to 7pm, free to teachers and city employees showing ID and entered through the Municipal Annex lobby, then a free general sale on Saturday, November 14, from 9am to 4pm, entered through the Children's Wing. Books, audiobooks, CDs and DVDs run from 25 cents to $5, the same spread as the summer sale of June 5 and 6, 2026, and cash, checks and cards all work. Across from the Book Nook, an honor-system Paperback Exchange lets you swap up to five paperbacks at a time.

Hours: Next sale: Fri Nov 13, 2026, 4pm–7pm (pre-sale, $5); Sat Nov 14, 2026, 9am–4pmWebsite

Library book sales

Friends of the Flower Mound Public Library Book Sales

Flower Mound Public Library, 3030 Broadmoor Ln, Flower Mound, TX 75022

In Flower Mound, the Friends list their sales as quarterly and have already posted the 2027 calendar on the town website: January 15 to 17, April 9 to 11, August 6 to 8 and October 1 to 3, each weekend opening with a Friday pre-sale from 4pm to 7pm. Entry to that 2027 pre-sale is $10, children under 10 free, up from the $5 Friday evening of the October 2 to 4, 2026 sale that the town announced on September 25, 2026; the Saturday and Sunday sessions cost nothing. That same town notice added that the Friends had started taking credit cards on top of cash and checks. The group was chartered in 1984 to give Flower Mound its first library, and the Broadmoor Lane building it backs opened in February 2000 and grew to 40,000 square feet in 2020.

Hours: Next sale: Fri Jan 15, 2027, 4pm–7pm (pre-sale, $10); Sat Jan 16, 11am–5pm; Sun Jan 17, 1pm–4pmWebsite

Friends of the Library bookstore

Friends' Bookshop at the Frisco Public Library

Frisco Public Library, 8000 Dallas Pkwy, Frisco, TX 75034

In Frisco, at the eastern edge of this guide and 17.9 miles from the Square, the public library on Dallas Parkway has a used bookshop on its first floor run by the Friends, stocked with patrons' donations and taking cards at its own storefront. Its week, unchanged on the Friends' page since the version archived in June 2026, closes at 6pm from Monday through Thursday and an hour earlier on Friday and Saturday, with a Sunday afternoon session. Gifts are accepted during shop hours alone: books for all ages, magazines under a year old, DVDs, Blu-rays and complete board games and puzzles are welcome, while encyclopedias, CDs, audiobooks, VHS tapes and textbooks over six years old are turned away. National Geographic has joined the refusals since June 2026, when the archived list still took copies of any age.

Hours: Mon–Thu 10am–6pm, Fri–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 1pm–5pmWebsite

Scan before you buy

At every one of these spots, snap the shelf with BiblioScan: the AI identifies each book and shows its real resale price. Walk out with profitable books, not random boxes.

Try BiblioScan for free

Local sourcing tips

Saturday, November 14, 2026 stacks three Friends sales. Lewisville opens first, at 9am; Krum, 6.4 miles west of the Square, wraps up by early afternoon; and the Denton sale holds anyone carrying a scanner back until its final two hours, so a reseller can work Lewisville, drive north to Krum and still reach the North Branch before the scanner window opens. The Friday before splits three ways too: Denton members browse from mid-afternoon, while the paid pre-sales in Lewisville and Krum run into the evening. One line at the bottom of the Denton Facebook event says November 7, but the event header and the library page both give the 14th.
Some names you will hear around the Square are no help to a used-book hunter. Patchouli Joe's Books & Indulgences closed for good on May 30, 2026, after a planned move to 216 West Mulberry Street fell through over unexpected costs, the Denton Record-Chronicle reported on May 18. The Plot Twist on Oak Street sells romance fiction alongside a full bar, profiled by Community Impact on March 12, 2026 for its first anniversary, and nothing in that profile points to used stock. Bohemian Bookshop, a former pop-up, signed for 525 Bryan Street in the strip that holds Sundance Thrift, and its website promises a Denton opening in fall 2026 with a selection drawn from small publishers, cult classics and backlist.
Thrift stores here are a coin toss for books. Goodwill has Denton stores on West University Drive and on South Loop 288, plus two in Lewisville, and the Salvation Army keeps a thrift outlet on the Lewisville stretch of Round Grove; stop at one if it happens to sit on your route, but no trip should hinge on it. Sundance Thrift on Bryan Street lists books on its donation page, which says what comes in, not what is on the floor.
Comics are their own hunt. More Fun Comics and Games has traded on the Square since leaving its first home on Fry Street, and its website dates the shop to 2003, though what that site talks up is new issues, graphic novels and games. Boomerang Comics, also on East Round Grove Road in Lewisville, advertises back issues and hard-to-find variants next to its new comics.
The Colony belongs to this territory too, and its Friends group ran a spring sale inside the library's multipurpose room at 6800 Main Street on Saturday, May 30, 2026, with free entry, DVDs and CDs beside the books and a fill-a-bag hour late in the day, according to the city calendar. Keep an eye on that calendar for the next round. Little Elm's Friends of the Library had no upcoming events on their website in October 2026.
For a single Denton day, start on the Square. Recycled and More Fun are both on the Square, Books & More is a short drive northwest along University Drive, and the North Branch shop sits a couple of miles straight up Locust. The Friends' shop opens only on Monday, Saturday and Sunday, and Books & More is dark on Sunday, so only Monday and Saturday bring all three Denton shops into overlap, and only for a few midday hours on either.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I find cheap used books in Denton?

Go to the North Branch Library on North Locust Street. The Friends of the Denton Public Libraries keep most titles in their shop to a couple of dollars at most on Mondays, Saturdays and Sunday afternoons, and their Big Book Sales go lower still, with a Friends tote bought at the door filled at no extra cost. Down in Lewisville, magazines in the Friends' Book Nook cost pocket change and nothing at the twice-yearly sale there tops $5. Among the stores, Books & More keeps its paperback shelves well under cover price.

Where do I sell used books in Denton?

Recycled Books on the Square is the main buyer: it buys every day and pays on the spot, settles bigger lots by check, and its buying-policy page deserves a look before the trunk gets packed, since textbooks and encyclopedias get turned down. Half Price Books in Lewisville buys as well, through the chain's standard counter. Books & More settles book trades in credit at 25% of cover, and a cash share of at least 25% is due on each of them. Before loading the car, take one picture per shelf in BiblioScan; the app picks out each spine the photo captures and gives every title a resale figure, which separates the keepers for your own online listings from the box headed for the Recycled counter.

When is the Friends of the Library sale in Denton?

The Denton Friends stage their Big Book Sales on Saturdays at the North Branch, opening the doors to members alone on the Friday before, and post the dates on their page of the city library website; between sales, their shop in the same building sells donated stock three days a week. Lewisville's Friends put on a big sale two times a year in the same library that houses their Book Nook, and the Flower Mound Friends sell quarterly, publishing a full year of weekends on the town website, so all three calendars are worth bookmarking together.

Which day is best for book hunting in Denton?

Saturday. Recycled opens at 9am, the North Branch Friends' shop keeps a Saturday session, Books & More opens at 11am, and HPB Lewisville and the Frisco Friends' shop are both open too. Sunday loses Books & More and leaves the Denton and Frisco Friends' rooms with afternoon hours only, while Tuesday to Friday the Denton Friends' shop stays shut.

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