Irvine, in Orange County, California, began taking its three public library branches over from the county in 2025, and every one of them houses a used-book shop run by its Friends of the Library group. The Daily Pilot reported that the City Council voted unanimously to leave the county system, that Heritage Park and University Park shut that May and reopened as city branches on August 3, 2025, and that the third, Katie Wheeler, was due back in early 2026. The same Daily Pilot piece noted that the University Park and Katie Wheeler buildings belong to the county and must be handed back by 2030, so two of those three shops may have to move within a few years.
Everything else here lies outside the city line, to the west and southeast. Costa Mesa contributes the Book-Off counter on Harbor Boulevard, a Friends shop in its Park Avenue library and the weekend swap meet on the Orange Coast College campus; Newport Beach adds its Central Library's Friends room; Lake Forest has a Friends shop beside the El Toro branch and, a few minutes away, a comic store that says it has drawn customers for over forty years. Measured from Irvine City Hall, the nearest of those stops is five miles out and the farthest just under nine.
Expect the volunteer rooms to set the prices and the chain counter to set the buying. Book-Off's store page spells out what it will buy from you; the Friends groups take donations, price them low and pour the money back into their branches. The two comic shops are worth the detour for their back-issue bins, and Alakazam for the dollar comics it puts out on sale days.
Friends of the Library bookstoreHeritage Park Library Bookstore
14361 Yale Ave, Irvine, CA 92604
The Friends of the Heritage Park Library staff this shop on the library premises off Yale Avenue, and announced on their Facebook page on August 8, 2025 that they would reopen it on Monday, August 18, once the branch was back under city management. Children's and teen titles share the room with adult hardcovers and paperbacks, textbooks, books on CD, DVDs, CDs, puzzles and games. The volunteers' Facebook post of August 11, 2026 announced a sale in the branch's community room for Saturday, August 29, at five children's books for $1, three paperbacks for $1 and two hardcovers for $1, cash only and bags supplied by you. Its website says the volunteers try to stage two such sales a year, depending on what gets donated, and asks that no books be dropped off while the shop is closed.
Hours: Mon–Thu 11am–5pm, Fri–Sat 10am–4pm; closed SunWebsite Friends of the Library bookstoreUniversity Park Friends of the Library Bookstore
4512 Sandburg Way, Irvine, CA 92612
Founded in 1975, the Friends of the University Park Public Library say their store carries comics, rare finds and big runs of foreign-language books beside bestsellers and children's titles, almost all of it donated by neighbors. On June 5, 2026 the Irvine Public Library's Instagram announced a clearance sale by the group in front of the branch the next morning, June 6, from 9:30am to 3pm, with a full bag going for 50 cents. Two schedules are in circulation and they do not match: the Friends' own site gives Monday and Wednesday 10am to 7:30pm plus Friday and Saturday 9:30am to 3pm, while the city's Friends page lists Monday and Wednesday 10am to 6pm and Saturday 9:30am to 3pm, with no Friday at all, so call 949-724-0167 before a Friday visit. Donations stop at two bags or small boxes, handed to a volunteer while the store is open.
Friends of the Library bookstoreFriends Bookstore, Newport Beach Central Library
1000 Avocado Ave, Newport Beach, CA 92660
Six miles south-southwest in Newport Beach, the Friends of the Library group founded there in 1957 sells from a first-floor room of the Central Library; the library's Instagram pitched it on December 12, 2025 as a holiday stop for vintage titles, bestsellers, cookbooks, children's books and vinyl. Cards are taken for purchases of $5 and up, and donors may unload as many as six boxes in one trip. Bigger clear-outs happen in the Friends Meeting Room: the City of Newport Beach calendar listed one for Saturday, June 6, 2026, 9am to 2pm, at $3 a bag all day, and members get the first day of what the Friends call their triannual sale.
Hours: Mon–Sat 10:30am–3pmWebsite Used bookstoresBOOKOFF Costa Mesa
2955 Harbor Blvd, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
The secondhand chain's Harbor Boulevard store, 5.4 miles west of City Hall, buys and resells books, music on CD, vinyl and cassette, films on DVD and Blu-ray, consoles with the games that run on them, and collectibles, while trading card games only go out the door, never in. Its store page prints a single seven-day schedule and gives 714-556-1521 as the phone number. The company's Instagram showed a new corner of Tokyo Disney merchandise at this address on September 9, 2026, after a December 19, 2025 post featuring the anime figures on its shelves.
Hours: Daily 10am–8pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Irvine?
The Friends sales are where the floor drops: University Park's June clearance let you fill a bag for less than a dollar, and Heritage Park's late-summer sale kept every paperback and hardcover well under a dollar a copy. Between sales, the three city branch stores and the Donald Dungan shop in Costa Mesa sell donated stock at Friends prices whenever they are open, and the Costa Mesa group's fall sale added grab bags. For comics, watch Alakazam's Facebook page for its dollar-comic days.
Where do I sell used books in Irvine?
Book-Off on Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa takes books in over its counter, along with CDs, vinyl, films, games and collectibles; its Ani-Lab sister store in Irvine says it is not buying at that location. The Friends groups accept donations within their box limits but pay nothing for them. The books worth real money belong in your own online listings, and the hard part is spotting them in a box of fifty. Turn the stack so its spines face you, then photograph that row once in BiblioScan: every spine comes back tagged with an estimated resale price, so the counter only gets the ones not worth listing yourself.
Which day is best for book hunting in Irvine?
Saturday. All three city branch stores, the El Toro Friends store, the Newport Beach Friends room, the Donald Dungan shop, Book-Off and Comic Quest have Saturday hours, and the college swap meet opens that morning at 8am. Sunday thins things out: none of the three city branch stores, El Toro or Newport Beach lists Sunday hours, which leaves the Costa Mesa library shop, Book-Off, Comic Quest and the swap meet. Avoid Tuesday and Thursday for University Park, which both of its published schedules leave closed.
When is the Friends of the Library sale in Irvine?
Each branch group sets its own. Heritage Park's volunteers schedule theirs around how much stock comes in, and the most recent one they announced came in late August 2026; University Park cleared stock with a bag sale in early June 2026. Nearby, the Costa Mesa Friends held one in October 2026 and the Newport Beach Friends one in June 2026. For the next round, follow those groups on Facebook and Instagram, and, for Newport Beach, the city's online calendar.