North Bay, Ontario, sits on the shore of Lake Nipissing, and this page reaches out to the towns and townships around it as well: Callander, East Ferris, Bonfield, Chisholm, Powassan and West Nipissing, home to Sturgeon Falls. Be warned that the second-hand book trade across that whole area is thin. Its core is a family bookshop on Main Street East and the public library's book sales, both close to City Hall, with a donation-funded reuse store on the east side and a volunteer-run church basement down in Powassan. All dollar figures here are Canadian.
Allison the Bookman carries most of the weight. Beyond its own shelves, it's the bookseller the North Bay Public Library named for the Eden Robinson afternoon it is hosting on Saturday, November 7, 2026.
If you're clearing shelves, Allison's pays for trade-ins in store credit, while Rebuilt Resources and the Powassan church work from donations, so anything worth real money is better sold online.
Used bookstoresAllison the Bookman
342 Main St E, North Bay, ON P1B 1B4
About 230 m south of City Hall on Main Street East, the shop Gord Allison started in 1973 has passed to a third generation of Allisons, going by the family's own history of the store, and its policies page puts the stock at more than 200,000 books, with new titles sold at 10 per cent off the Canadian suggested retail price. Trade-ins earn credit notes that never expire, usually pegged at 20 per cent of the original Canadian price on pocket paperbacks and between $1 and $5 on trade paperbacks or hardcovers, but the store's 50/50 system lets credit pay for half of a used-book total at most and bars it from new stock. Bring more than two grocery bags or one banker's box and you'll need an appointment at 705-476-1450, a rule the home page spells out because incoming stock has outgrown the space. Its Facebook page announced on October 11, 2026 that author Rod Carley would be in the store on Saturday, October 17, and customers on its want list get a call when a wanted title comes in, then two weeks to collect it.
Hours: Mon–Fri 10am–5pm, Sat 9am–5pm, Sun 11am–4pmWebsite Library book saleNorth Bay Public Library Book Sale
271 Worthington St E, North Bay, ON P1B 1H1
Barely 70 m from City Hall on Worthington Street East, the library mentions on its volunteering page the semi-annual Book Sale its volunteers help to run. The spring 2026 edition, held in the library auditorium according to the library's Facebook event, opened on Saturday, May 9 and came back from Monday to Wednesday, May 11–13, with cash, debit and Visa all taken. Literacy Nipissing had announced a fall edition for Saturday, October 18, 2025, in a September 2025 post, while the library's pages showed no fall 2026 sale on October 16, 2026, which makes its Facebook feed the thing to watch.
Hours: Last documented: May 9, 2026, 10am–3pm; May 11–13, 10am–8:30pmWebsite Church bookshopThe Basement Book Shop
Powassan United Church, 462 Main St, Powassan, ON P0H 1Z0
In Powassan, 26 km south-southeast of downtown North Bay, volunteers from the congregation and the wider community run this bookshop in the basement of Powassan United Church, reached by the side door on the south wall, either up the sidewalk from Main Street or from the parking lot behind. The church's page, as archived on April 11, 2026, counts more than 16,000 books, fiction and non-fiction for kids, teens and grown-ups, plus puzzles, games, CDs and DVDs, at 50 cents for a small paperback, $1 for a hardcover or large paperback, or $10 for a bag. All the money goes to the church, books that don't sell are given to prisons, schools, community centres and nursing homes, and donations are accepted while the shop is open.
Hours: Tue, Sat 9am–1pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in North Bay?
Head south to the Basement Book Shop in Powassan, where small paperbacks go for 50 cents and $10 fills a bag. In the city, Allison the Bookman is the place for range, and its trade-in credit is capped at half of whatever used books you take to the till.
Where do I sell used books in North Bay?
Of the four stops here, Allison the Bookman alone takes books in exchange for something, and it settles in credit notes. Before hauling a box over to Main Street, aim BiblioScan at your own shelf while it's still at home; each spine it matches comes back priced for resale, so the strong titles go online through Amazon.ca, AbeBooks, Kijiji, eBay.ca or Facebook Marketplace while the remainder heads to Allison's trade desk.
Which day is best for book hunting in North Bay?
Tuesday or Saturday, the two days the bookshop, the reuse centre and the Powassan basement are all open. The Powassan basement keeps only those two mornings, Allison's opens an hour early on Saturdays, and Sunday leaves Allison's as the lone shop trading, since Rebuilt Resources keeps its doors closed Sunday and Monday.
When is the big library book sale in North Bay?
The North Bay Public Library runs it itself. A fall edition was announced for Saturday, October 18, 2025, and the spring 2026 one ran May 9–13 in the library auditorium. The library hadn't announced a fall 2026 date as of October 16, 2026; its Facebook events are where the spring sale was posted.