Federal Way is thin ground for secondhand books, and it pays to know that before you start driving around. Inside the city limits, the dependable source is its library Friends group, which by the library system's account keeps a sale going inside the branch and stages a two-day sale every spring and again every fall. The shops that actually buy and sell used stock sit outside: in historic downtown Kent to the northeast, and on Covington Way SE out east. On the Pierce County side, toward Fife Heights, Fife, Milton and Edgewood, the Milton/Edgewood branch's Friends, whose takings also support the Fife library, hold sales of their own, though none had a fresh date posted in mid-October 2026.
Treat this as a short list for a half-day loop, not a full day of shelves. Downtown Tacoma lies 6.6 miles to the southwest and Seattle about 21 miles north, and each has its own guide on this site with a much longer run of shops; plan on ending a serious sourcing day in one of them.
Used bookstorePage Turner Books
215 1st Ave S, Kent, WA 98032
Out in Kent, 6.8 miles northeast of Federal Way City Hall, on 1st Avenue South in the old downtown: its own About page calls it a local used bookstore with thousands of paperbacks in and out of print, plus a few new titles stocked by popular demand. Sci-fi and fantasy run to thousands of novels by that page's count, with local and indie horror and esoteric titles alongside manga, DVDs, CDs and tarot decks, and the Kent Downtown Partnership listed the shop as the venue of its street-wide Kent Nerd Party 2026 on Saturday, June 6. Selling takes no planning: the Sell Your Books page has the counter buying during all open hours, every day, with no booking required and no ceiling on the number of items, but it turns away textbooks, test prep, Reader's Digest, National Geographic and cookbooks, and the page is silent on whether you leave with money or store credit. Two sets of hours are in circulation: the store's website gives 10:30am to 5:30pm Sunday through Thursday and 10:30am to 6pm on the last two days of the week, while its Instagram posted summer hours on June 30, 2026 that kept the door open until 6pm from Tuesday to Saturday, so call before a late weekday run.
New and used bookstoreWalls of Books
27339 Covington Way SE Ste C-2, Covington, WA 98042
In Covington, 10 miles east-northeast of City Hall, a locally owned store selling used and new books next to toys, games and gifts, which counts more than 60,000 used books in stock between this branch and its Issaquah twin. Trade-ins earn store credit, two bags or boxes at most per trip on whichever day you come in, and the appraisal takes 15 to 20 minutes while you browse; the slip then settles up to half the tag on a secondhand title, but never anything marked New Stock. Donations are refused for lack of space, and the credit never expires. Its events page booked local author Jeff Hendricks for a signing at this counter on Saturday, April 11, 2026, while the shop opens at ten and closes at six daily.
Hours: Daily 10am–6pmWebsite Friends of the Library saleFriends of the Federal Way Libraries Book Sale
Federal Way Library, 34200 1st Way S, Federal Way, WA 98003
In Federal Way itself, 0.7 miles south-southwest of City Hall: the King County Library System's branch page credits the Friends with an ongoing sale inside the library plus a two-day round every spring and another every fall, and lists dues of $5 for an individual or $10 for a family. The fall 2026 round is on the system's calendar for Saturday, October 17, members let in from 10:15am ahead of the general sale at 11am, then for Sunday the 18th from 11am to 4pm. Its event listing asks you to come with your own bags, while the May 9, 2026 sale, held at the Federal Way 320th Library, took cash or checks only. Everything raised pays for literacy and enrichment programs at the city's two branches.
Hours: Library hours: Mon 10am–6pm, Tue–Wed noon–8pm, Thu–Fri 10am–6pm, Sat–Sun 11am–6pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Federal Way?
At the library, mostly. The Federal Way Friends group keeps an ongoing sale inside the branch on 1st Way S and adds a two-day sale in both spring and fall, and several other King County branches nearby, from Algona-Pacific to Des Moines, keep Friends sale shelves of their own. For a real shop, Page Turner Books in downtown Kent is 6.8 miles away and Walls of Books in Covington 10 miles out; beyond that, Tacoma's and Seattle's guides carry the longer lists.
Where do I sell used books in Federal Way?
Head to Kent. Page Turner Books buys every day it is open, without an appointment or a limit on volume, and favors sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, horror and classics; it lists what it refuses but not how it pays. Walls of Books in Covington takes up to two loads per visit, bagged or boxed, for store credit that never expires. Sort before either trip: shelve everything spine-out at home, take a single photo, and BiblioScan picks out each spine and shows what it resells for, so anything that deserves your own eBay or Amazon listing stays home and the rest goes in the trade box.
When is the Friends of the Library sale in Federal Way?
The Friends of the Federal Way Libraries sell in two rounds a year, spring and fall, two days apiece by the KCLS account, on top of a sale that stays up inside the library on 1st Way S. The fall 2026 round is set for October 17 to 18, 2026, following a spring one in May at the 320th branch, so check the KCLS events calendar for the spring 2027 date. Out at Bonney Lake, the Friends there set out a smaller pop-up every third Thursday, next on November 19, 2026.