The five stops below fit inside a 12 km stretch from Redcliff in the west-northwest to Dunmore Road in the southeast. Downtown, the public library on 1 Street SE and the YMCA's Y Treasure on Third Street are roughly 230 metres apart; Unlimited Characters, the dedicated used bookshop, trades from a Dunmore Road plaza on the southeast side, and Rubble Rousers trades from 16 Street SW. The fifth entry lies in Redcliff, the neighbouring town to the west-northwest. Read each $ amount as Canadian currency.
Two of the five are dated events rather than shops, so plan around the calendar. The Friends of the Medicine Hat Public Library held a spring sale in the library building in March 2026 and have booked a fall one for November, and the Redcliff Public Library has put on its own each June from 2024 to 2026; between those weekends, the shelves you can walk into any day of the week are Unlimited Characters and Y Treasure. If you are culling rather than buying, none of the five publishes an offer to buy books: the bookshop rewards a drop-off with a same-day discount, and the library sales live on donations.
New-book retail is a separate circuit. Indigo on Dunmore Road and River Bee Books, the independent on South Railway Street whose Instagram post of February 5, 2026 announced its closure and expected the doors to stay open through late March depending on inventory, deal in new stock and are left off the list.
Used bookstoresUnlimited Characters
#103-1899 Dunmore Rd SE, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 1Z8
In a plaza at 1899 Dunmore Road, about 3.3 km southeast of downtown, a used bookshop that its website says opened in October 2019 and keeps more than 70,000 books on hand for readers of every age. The shop's Facebook page announces stock as it lands, from a run of thrillers on September 16, 2026 to a batch of Franklin titles for the children's section on September 2, 2026, while on August 4, 2026 it offered to hold any of a batch of new arrivals for 24 hours. Donations are accepted during opening hours, yet the website is explicit that there is no trade: a drop-off earns 15% off whatever you buy that day.
Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–7pm, Sun 11am–5pmWebsite YMCA thrift storeY Treasure Thrift Store
450 3 St SE, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 0H1
The downtown thrift store that the YMCA of Southeastern Alberta opened in June 2024 and bills as Canada's first YMCA thrift store, occupying the Third Street space where the Canadian Mental Health Association's Post Thrift Store traded until it closed in November 2023, as CHAT News reported at the time. The YMCA's page names books alongside clothing and furniture, and a Medicine Hat News column on February 5, 2025 walked through its book section, where a title cost $1, with a nod to the spy and military novels. On Instagram the store promoted buy-one-get-one-free book days on November 26 and December 17, 2025, then a half-price sale on everything in store from July 15 to 18, 2026.
Hours: Mon–Fri 9am–7pm, Sat 9am–5pm, Sun 10am–4pmWebsite Library book salesFriends of the Medicine Hat Public Library Fall Book Sale
Medicine Hat Public Library, 414 1 St SE, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 0A8
The library's September–October 2026 programme guide sets the next Friends sale for Friday, November 20, 2026, running on into the Saturday, with donated fiction and non-fiction suitable for every age group alongside DVDs, CDs, magazines and board games. At the spring edition, held March 20 and 21, 2026, the library's Instagram post on the Saturday put a $2 tag on most books, with children's titles and paperbacks at four for $1, cash only. Medicine Hat News reported on March 4, 2026 that the sale raises roughly $5,000 for the library each year and that buyers often queue before the doors open. Donations for the November round are taken from October 26 to November 14, with textbooks, encyclopedias and items more than 15 years old refused.
Where can I find cheap used books in Medicine Hat?
The library sales are the floor. At the Friends' March 2026 sale most books went for $2 and paperbacks for four to the dollar, and Redcliff's June 2025 sale took donations rather than set prices. Among the everyday options, the Medicine Hat News found $1 books at Y Treasure in February 2025, and that store has held two-for-one book promotions, including on December 17, 2025 and, three weeks before that, on November 26.
Where do I sell used books in Medicine Hat?
None of the five stops here publishes an offer to buy. Unlimited Characters accepts donated books and gives 15% off your purchase that day, and the library's Friends group gathers stock in the weeks before its November 2026 sale. To turn books into money, sell locally through Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace, or reach a wider audience on AbeBooks and Amazon.ca. Triage comes first, and a Medicine Hat seller can do it from the couch with BiblioScan, which takes a photo of a shelf, recognizes each title by its spine and attaches a resale value to it, separating the few books worth an online listing from the box of giveaways.
Which day is best for book hunting in Medicine Hat?
Any weekday evening works for the two everyday stops, since Unlimited Characters and Y Treasure both close at 7pm from Monday to Friday. On Saturday Y Treasure shuts at 5pm while the bookshop stays open to 7pm, and on Sunday both open, Y Treasure from 10am and Unlimited Characters from 11am. The exceptions are the sale days, the library's November 2026 weekend downtown and a June Saturday in Redcliff.
When is the big library book sale in Medicine Hat?
The library Friends' next sale is set for November 20–21, 2026, according to the library's September–October 2026 What's On guide, which gives no venue or opening times yet. The spring edition filled the library building at 414 1 Street SE on March 20 and 21, 2026. Across the town line, the Redcliff Public Library held its sale on June 20, 2026.