Idaho Falls stands on the Snake River in eastern Idaho, and its secondhand book map is short enough to memorize. Four of the six stops below sit within about a mile of each other downtown, at three addresses: The Book Shelf on 3rd Street, which is where the trading happens; St. Vincent de Paul six hundred yards along Holmes Avenue, selling whatever comes through the donation door; and a mile west, beneath the public library on West Broadway, a volunteer room that hosts five sale weekends a year on top of its usual opening. The other two are drives. Iona, just under six miles east-northeast, keeps a standing Friends sale on the lower floor of its City Building, and Shelley, nine miles southwest, keeps one inside its district library.
Settle the question of who takes stock before loading the car, since on this page a single address does. The Book Shelf asks for one or two boxes a visit, sorts them at the counter, then offers cash or in-store credit written onto a trade card; library discards, book club printings and most textbooks come straight back, as does anything mildewed or missing the jacket it shipped with. Every other entry runs one way — donations in, cheap copies out. Set expectations to match: 25 cents to $3 on the volunteers' shelves, $5 to $20 for the bundles they put out on sale weekends.
Three habits of older write-ups will waste an afternoon here. One is chain hunting: Half Price Books returns exactly one Idaho address from its own store finder, HPB Meridian Crossroads on East Fairview Avenue in the Boise suburbs, which a straight-line measurement puts 216 miles due west of downtown. Another is a category slip repeated in roundup after roundup — Winnie & Mo's on A Street bills itself as a seller of new books, stationery, coffee and tea, Deseret Book and Seagull Book both trade new, and My LocalBook Store, listed at a Mojave Street address, turns out to be an online shop for new Yellowstone and regional titles. The third is Watersprings Thrift on East 17th Street, still carried in directories, which told its own followers on July 12, 2025 that the day was its last.
Used bookstoresThe Book Shelf
575 3rd St, Idaho Falls, ID 83401
A downtown storefront on 3rd Street, and the one shop in this guide with a trade counter: the website calls it independent, mostly used with a scattering of new titles, puzzles and gifts, and claims over 13,000 books across a genre list running from Westerns and manga to Western Americana and sheet music. Sellers are asked to keep each visit down to a box or two; staff sort the load in front of you, then offer cash or in-store credit noted on a trade card you take away. The published refusal list is worth a read before the drive, because it rules out library discards, promotional items, condensed Reader's Digest editions, encyclopedia sets, textbooks in the main, book club printings other than recent Book of the Month Club ones, and any copy that is damp, stained, mildewed, broken at the spine or without its dust jacket. The shop blog marked January 6, 2025 with a note reporting more than 2,000 individual customers served during 2024, paperback fiction leading the sales.
Hours : Mon–Fri 10am–5pm, Sat 10am–6pm, Sun noon–4pmWebsite Library Friends shelvesFriends of the Library of Idaho Falls, library basement
Idaho Falls Public Library, 457 W Broadway St, Idaho Falls, ID 83402
One floor down from the West Broadway reading rooms, near the koi pond and the elevator, a volunteer-staffed space that EastIdahoNews.com described on April 15, 2026 as holding thousands of copies priced between 25 cents and $3. President Audra Loftus told the paper that the shelves carry books, audiobooks, children's titles, Blu-rays, DVDs, CDs, vinyl records and magazines, with games and video games surfacing when donations allow. The volunteers posted on May 1, 2026 that the National Geographic run at the back of the room costs nothing at all. Four narrow windows a week is the entire schedule, two of them beginning at 7:30 in the evening, and the library site adds a closing on the Thursday ahead of every sale weekend plus November 24 to 26 and December 22 to 26 across 2026.
Hours : Tue and Thu 7:30pm–9pm, Wed 3:30pm–6pm, Sat 2pm–5pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Idaho Falls?
Go down to the room beneath the Idaho Falls Public Library at 457 West Broadway Street, where library volunteers sell donated books, audiobooks, DVDs, Blu-rays, CDs, vinyl and magazines. An EastIdahoNews.com piece of April 15, 2026 put the range between 25 cents and $3, and on May 1, 2026 the volunteers pointed out that the National Geographic issues stacked at the rear are free. Five weekends a year the same space moves to 10am-to-5pm hours across Friday and Saturday and sells sets and bundles at $5 to $20; the library site names October 16 and 17 as the next, with December 4 and 5 closing out 2026. Six miles or so from downtown, out where Iona sits east-northeast of the river, that town's Friends group keeps a standing sale under its City Building, which the county library district called a continual book sale in January 2025; nine miles southwest, Shelley's district library has run one of its own since announcing it in May 2026.
Where do I sell used books in Idaho Falls?
The Book Shelf at 575 3rd Street is the buying counter in this guide. Bring a box or two rather than a carload, and expect staff to work through it in front of you before quoting either money or store credit on a card. Its policy page names what will not be taken: stamped library stock, textbooks, encyclopedia runs, condensed digests, promotional items, club editions bar recent Book of the Month printings, and anything damp, stained, smelling of mildew, broken-spined or missing a jacket. Sort the boxes on the kitchen table first and one trip covers it. Photograph the run of books as it stands; BiblioScan names what it recognizes and attaches a resale price, which decides for you which volumes are worth your own listing and which are counter fodder.
When is the Friends of the Library sale in Idaho Falls?
Friends of the Library of Idaho Falls hold five two-day sales a year in their room below the library on West Broadway, each spanning a Friday and the Saturday after it, from 10am until 5pm. The library site sets 2026 out as follows: February 6-7, May 1-2, July 31 to August 1, October 16-17, then December 4-5. EastIdahoNews.com explained in April 2026 that any given weekend is set up as a markdown or as a bundle sale, sets going for $5 to $20. Outside those dates the same shelves open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, so there is no need to wait for a sale weekend to buy.
Which day is best for book hunting in Idaho Falls?
Saturday, if the aim is to see everything in one run. The Book Shelf trades 10am to 6pm, its longest day; St. Vincent de Paul stays open until 5:30pm; the Iona branch covers 1pm to 6pm; Shelley closes early, at 2pm; and the library volunteers unlock their room from 2pm to 5pm, the only weekend window they keep. Wednesday suits anyone who can reach downtown late in the afternoon, since those volunteers are in from 3:30pm to 6pm, Iona adds a late-morning slot and Shelley runs to 8pm. Sunday cuts the list to one, The Book Shelf from noon to 4pm, with nothing else in this guide unlocked.