This guide covers the Ontario side of the capital, the amalgamated City of Ottawa from Stittsville and Kanata out west to Orléans in the east; Gatineau, Hull and Aylmer across the river get a French-language page of their own. The walkable core is compact. Book Bazaar holds a stretch of Bank Street in Centretown, the Friends' Bookshop sits inside the Main Library on Metcalfe, and a stroll east through the ByWard Market reaches Patrick McGahern's rare-book room on Murray Street before Sandy Hill, where Barely Bruised Books and the May Court Bargain Box stand a couple of blocks apart. The rest takes a bus or a car: Black Squirrel three kilometres down Bank in Old Ottawa South, the Friends' branch shops in Nepean, South Keys, Kanata and Orléans, The Once More Bookstore on St. Joseph Boulevard, and the two Re-Read stores in Stittsville and Riverside South. All prices quoted are in Canadian dollars.
Donations drive this market far more than buying counters do. The Friends of the Ottawa Public Library Association, FOPLA for short, stocks its shops with donated and weeded library books, and the Ottawa Citizen counted 31 points of sale and roughly half a million dollars a year for it in January 2026, with typical prices between $1 and $3. Re-Read fills its shelves from public donations as well, paying donors in a discount rather than cash. If you want credit or money for a box, Black Squirrel takes trade-ins on any day within its 10-to-4 buying window, the Orléans secondhand shop Once More gives credit but never cash, and McGahern buys antiquarian material in the fields it specializes in.
Older lists go stale here in three ways. The Book Market, a chain Dianne Savoy had run across 17 locations over the decades according to CBC, shut its Merivale Road store at the start of November 2025, leaving a single shop under that name in Kemptville, well outside this page, although the crew from its Orléans branch reopened under a new name, The Once More Bookstore, after losing their mall premises; Benjamin Books had already closed in March 2024, per the Citizen. Downtown, the Main Library was due to move into Ādisōke at LeBreton Flats in 2026, yet a CTV News story dated September 8, 2026 has the Metcalfe building staying in use through 2027. And a handful of names that crowd Ottawa bookstore roundups — Perfect Books on Elgin, Octopus Books and Evermore Books in the Glebe, The Spaniel's Tale in Hintonburg — sell new books, so they are left off this list.
Used bookstoresBook Bazaar
417 Bank St, Ottawa, ON K2P 1Y6
Two storeys on Bank Street in Centretown given over to used, scarce and out-of-print books, a kilometre south of the downtown core, under a name its Facebook page dates to 1974. The shop has changed hands: the AbeBooks page of J. Wyatt Books, read in September 2026, describes the Wyatts as previous owners of Book Bazaar who are no longer affiliated. On January 21, 2026 the shop's Instagram announced another shelf and moved the hardcover and trade-paperback science fiction and fantasy upstairs, and on July 25, 2026 it pointed to about 100 eBay listings, many of them rare, signed or scarce, with pickup at the counter. Hours are unsettled, since an older Bank Street BIA listing shows 10 to 6 from Monday through Saturday plus Sunday afternoons, a listings site has Tuesday to Saturday 10 to 5 and the January post just said 10 to 5, so ring 613-233-4380 first; the web address on that BIA listing led, when checked in September 2026, to an unrelated bookseller in India.
Bookstore caféBlack Squirrel Books & Espresso Bar
1073 Bank St, Ottawa, ON K1S 3W9
An espresso bar with bookshelves at 1073 Bank Street in Old Ottawa South, three kilometres south of downtown, whose catalogue site leads with used and new books, coffee and tea. Its trade-in page says each book is judged on its own for store credit set at a percentage of the shop's resale price, credit that never expires and also pays for drinks, with cash offered selectively at a lower rate. Bring up to three boxes during the buying window on any day, phone ahead for anything larger, and note that the Instagram bio seen in September 2026 put that window at 10 to 4 inside a 9-to-5 week. Ottawa Tourism's bookstore guide, first published in January 2025, points to its live music nights as part of the draw.
Hours: Daily 9am–5pmWebsite Used bookstoresRe-Read Used Books (Stittsville)
1626 Stittsville Main St, Ottawa, ON K2S 1P3
Out in Stittsville, about 26 km southwest of downtown, a donation-stocked store that Dean McIntosh founded in 2015 and Ray and Trish Tropiano bought in October 2023, as Capital Current recounted on April 8, 2026. The Ottawa Citizen reported on January 17, 2026 that most books here sell for $5 to $15, that mysteries and thrillers move fastest, that donors earn a discount on a later purchase, and that the entire inventory is searchable online. A rule on the home page, read in September 2026, keeps each newly shelved used book at the store that received it for 14 days before any transfer, with collectibles over $50 exempt. DVDs, Blu-rays, board games and puzzles share the floor with a children's corner and a seating area.
Hours: Mon–Wed 10am–5pm, Thu–Fri 10am–6pm, Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 10am–4pmWebsite FOPLA Mammoth SaleFOPLA Mammoth Book Sale
James Bartleman Centre, 100 Tallwood Dr, Ottawa, ON K2G 4R7
At the James Bartleman Centre in Nepean, 10 km southwest of downtown, the Friends' distribution centre throws open what FOPLA bills as its monthly Mammoth Sale, with Saturday, October 24, Saturday, November 28 and Saturday, December 19, 2026 on the calendar, cash, debit and credit accepted and parking free. The Ottawa Citizen described one on January 17, 2026: volunteers wheeling out carts, crowds working the rows, a single weekend taking in $5,000 to $6,000 and paperbacks cheaper than a coffee. Between sale days the same building offers one-hour private browsing appointments on what FOPLA counts as more than 18,000 books, booked by phoning the distribution centre.
Hours: Sat October 24, November 28 and December 19, 2026, 10am–2pmWebsite School book fairRockcliffe Park Book Fair
Queen Juliana Hall, 360 Springfield Rd, Ottawa, ON K1M 1C1
In Rockcliffe Park, 3.4 km north of downtown, Queen Juliana Hall — the gym and auditorium added to Rockcliffe Park Public School in 1952, per the neighbourhood's own A-to-Z — fills with donated books across three days, Friday through Sunday, October 2–4, 2026, for what the organizers call the 65th annual RPPS Book Fair. Volunteers sort and sell everything, and the fair's site says the money goes to the school and to other schools in the city. Enter at 360 Springfield Road, keep out of the library and community centre lot and park on the street, or take OC Transpo route 6 to the end of the line on Maple Lane and walk north. The 2025 edition opened on Friday, November 7, according to the fair's Instagram, so the month can shift from one year to the next.
Hours: Fri October 2, 2026 10am–9pm; Sat October 3 10am–6pm; Sun October 4 10am–4pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Ottawa?
Start with the library Friends. the Friends keep most prices at a few dollars, By the Book in the Greenboro branch halves its prices once a month, on the opening Saturday, and the Friends' Mammoth Sale in Nepean is where the Ottawa Citizen watched shoppers leave in January 2026 with bags of paperbacks priced under a coffee; three more are scheduled before the end of 2026. Re-Read in Stittsville and Riverside South mostly charges $5 to $15, per the same Citizen piece, while May Court's Bargain Box in Sandy Hill is a small charity shop where books share space with clothing and housewares.
Where do I sell used books in Ottawa?
For store credit, Black Squirrel on Bank Street looks at trade-ins every day, prices credit as a percentage of what it will charge for the book, and pays cash selectively at a lower rate; more than three boxes needs a call first. The Once More Bookstore in Orléans also trades in credit, never cash, and asks sellers to get in touch by phone or email before turning up. Patrick McGahern buys antiquarian material and whole collections, especially Arctic, Canadiana, travel and military history, but not textbooks, encyclopedias or damaged copies. Re-Read and FOPLA take donations rather than buying, the first in exchange for a discount and the second with tax receipts for eligible items. Before you give anything away, prop your phone up in front of one shelf and let BiblioScan photograph the spines: it matches each book it recognizes to a resale value, which sorts out the few worth listing yourself on Amazon.ca, AbeBooks, eBay.ca, Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace from the ones that can go in the credit box.
When is the big book sale in Ottawa?
Four remain on the fall 2026 calendar. The 65th RPPS Book Fair fills Queen Juliana Hall in Rockcliffe Park for three days starting Friday, October 2, 2026, staying open until 9pm on that first evening. The Antiquarian Ottawa Book Fair brings rare-book dealers to Saint Paul University on October 24 and 25, with $10 admission covering both days. And FOPLA's Mammoth Sale in Nepean has dates on October 24, November 28 and December 19, 2026, running from 10 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon, and the Knights of Columbus sale at St. Bernard's Parish in Blossom Park fills November 5 to 7 with more than 10,000 books and other items. Earlier in 2026 the big ones were the Kanata United Church fair in early May, the Friends of the Farm sale at the end of May and Habitat's ReStore Reads fair in Stittsville in late July.
Which day is best for book hunting in Ottawa?
Saturday. Every shop here with a posted schedule opens that day, McGahern's two-day week included, though Second Editions, May Court and the Bookworm all close by mid-afternoon. On Sunday the choice shrinks to Black Squirrel, Barely Bruised, the two Re-Read stores, Once More in Orléans, the Friends' Bookshop on Metcalfe, the Bookworm and, going by the two listings that give days, Book Bazaar in the afternoon, while Second Editions, By the Book, Bookends and May Court stay closed. Monday thins out again: Second Editions and May Court are closed, McGahern sees people by appointment only, and one of those two Book Bazaar listings has it shut as well.