Michigan's city of Rochester, in Oakland County, is hemmed in by Rochester Hills on every side but the north, where Oakland Township begins, and it is not the Rochester in New York or Minnesota. Its main used-book address is on Olde Towne Road, three blocks or so from City Hall, where the library's volunteer Friends group runs a Library Store with daily hours and publishes its used book sale dates more than a year out. Everything else on the list means a short drive out of town.
Most of that drive heads east into Macomb County along Van Dyke Avenue and Hall Road. Shelby Township has a used-book, record and comic shop plus a Friends bookstore at its library, Utica has a 2nd & Charles buyback counter, Sterling Heights has a Friends shop in its city center library and a Grace Centers of Hope book annex, Clinton Township has a paperback store at Hayes and 18 Mile, and the Bruce Township side of the village of Romeo holds the Friends store with the vintage stock. South along Rochester Road and Woodward, the library Friends in Troy, Clawson and Birmingham fill out the list with shops of their own or a November sale.
October 2026 is a good month to come. The Rochester Hills Friends run their fall sale from October 14 to 18, Bibles, Books & Fine Things in Sterling Heights has been clearing books at ten cents apiece, and the Sterling Heights Friends cut every craft, home and garden title in half for the month. Then the calendar moves to Saturday, November 14, when Birmingham and Clawson both open their fall sales, and to the Rochester Hills Quality Sale from December 3. One change before you load donations for Romeo: the Friends there stopped taking them at their Graubner store in Washington Township, which they said in January 2026 would shut for a while during renovations, and point donors to the Kezar branch instead.
Friends Library Store and dated salesFriends of the Rochester Hills Public Library
500 Olde Towne Rd, Rochester, MI 48307
Inside the city of Rochester, roughly 600 yards east of City Hall, the Friends of the Rochester Hills Public Library staff a Library Store that opens all seven days, and the group's section of the library website sets out sale dates all the way to December 2027. The Fall Book Sale runs from Wednesday, October 14 to Sunday, October 18, 2026: members preview it on the Wednesday evening (memberships are sold at the door), the public shops Thursday through Saturday, and the Sunday session is a $5 bag day. Next comes the Quality Sale on December 3 to 5, then five rounds in 2027 opening with a winter sale from January 27 to 31. Members also take 10% off in the store, and the Friends sell year-round through their own Amazon storefront.
Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–4pm, Sun 1–4pmWebsite Friends bookstoreUsed, But Sterling Bookstore
40255 Dodge Park Rd, Sterling Heights, MI 48313
Nearly nine miles southeast in Sterling Heights, inside the public library at the Richard J. Notte City Center, the Friends run a shop with a pun for a name that stocks bestsellers and older favorites in paperback, hardcover and large print, plus audiobooks, DVDs, music CDs, board games and puzzles. The city's bookstore page ran an October 2026 offer of 50% off all craft, home and garden books for the whole month. The shop sets its own schedule, narrower than the library's, with late evenings on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and no Friday or Sunday opening. According to the city's donations page, it takes new or gently used books, audiobooks, CDs, DVDs, vinyl records, sheet music and games.
Hours: Mon–Tue 10am–7pm, Wed 10am–4pm, Thu 10am–7pm, Sat 10am–4pm; closed Fri and SunWebsite Used books, media and buyback2nd & Charles Utica
45290 Utica Park Blvd, Utica, MI 48315
In the city of Utica, a little over seven miles east-southeast, the Utica outpost of 2nd & Charles sells used books alongside music, movies, games and collectibles, and the chain's store directory carried it at this address with its current hours as archived in December 2025. Selling is done by the tote: pack the chain's signature bags, three at most, leave them with the buyback manager, and get one total offer rather than a price per item, settled in dollars or in-store credit valued as much as 150% above the cash figure. The chain declines textbooks, VHS tapes, PC games and prepublication review copies, and the Utica store page says buying stops sixty minutes before the store itself closes.
Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–8pm, Sun 11am–7pmWebsite Used books, records and comicsBYOB – Bring Your Old Books
48551 Van Dyke Ave, Shelby Township, MI 48317
Out in Shelby Township, 5.5 miles east on Van Dyke, BYOB describes itself on its YouTube channel as a home for used books and records along with new and used comics, and the latest of its comic release videos is dated October 14, 2026. On Facebook on September 23, 2026, the shop said it puts out hundreds of new and old books, comics and music daily, and an August 18 post showed a fresh delivery of Stephen King hardcovers and paperbacks. It has also run Free Book Friday giveaways, calling August 28, 2026 the last of the year, and it says it can ship orders worldwide.
Friends used book storeKezar Used Book Store (Friends of the Romeo District Library)
107 Church St, Romeo, MI 48065
Up in the village of Romeo, on its Bruce Township side 10.5 miles to the northeast, the Kezar branch library houses the Friends store that holds most of their vintage books, priced from $1 to $5 across classics, poetry, children's books and history. The Friends' price list puts most items at $5 a bag, hardcovers at $3, trade paperbacks at $2 and small paperbacks at four for $1, and their about page adds that everything at Kezar is half off on Saturdays. The Friends announced that, effective January 2026, their Graubner Library store in Washington Township would close temporarily that spring for renovations, with donations redirected here. Circulation staff handle the sales, so the store keeps the branch's hours.
Hours: Library hours: Mon–Thu 11am–7pm, Fri 10am–6pm, Sat 10am–2pm; closed SunWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Rochester?
The Grace Centers annex on Van Dyke set the floor with its dime sale in October 2026, and the Kezar store in Romeo knocks half off on Saturdays, when its pocket paperbacks already go four to a dollar. Closer to home, the Rochester Hills Friends close their fall sale with a $5 bag session on Sunday, October 18, and Baldwin in Birmingham does the same on November 15. Baldwin's Friends also suggest just $1 for any paperback in their bookshop, and the Sterling Heights Friends halved their craft, home and garden shelves for October.
Where do I sell used books in Rochester?
2nd & Charles in Utica buys books: up to three totes get one combined price, and store credit pays up to 150% more than cash; get there with an hour to spare before the doors close. The Friends shops around Rochester take donations instead of buying, and each has its own rules on what it refuses. Do the triage at home with BiblioScan: shoot the whole shelf once and it flags every spine in frame with the price that title fetches secondhand, so the valuable ones go on eBay or Amazon and whatever is left goes to Utica or a donation bin.
When is the Friends of the Library sale in Rochester?
The Rochester Hills Friends are in the middle of their fall sale as of October 16, 2026, and it closes on Sunday the 18th; their Quality Sale fills the Thursday-to-Saturday stretch that starts December 3. Their 2027 dates are already posted: January 27 to 31, April 28 to May 2, July 28 to August 1, October 20 to 24, then the year-end Quality Sale on December 2 to 4. Nearby, Baldwin in Birmingham sells on November 14 and 15, 2026, and Clawson on November 14 and 16.
Which day is best for book hunting in Rochester?
Saturday opens every shop that publishes hours: the Rochester Hills Library Store, 2nd & Charles, Paperback Outlet, the Sterling Heights bookstore until 4pm, the Kezar store until 2pm at half price, Troy's Bookshop until 1pm, and the Shelby and Baldwin libraries with their Friends shops. Sunday is thinner, with the Rochester Hills store from 1pm, 2nd & Charles from 11am, Troy's Bookshop from 1pm and Baldwin's library from noon, while Sterling Heights, Paperback Outlet, Kezar and Shelby stay shut. On weekdays Troy's Bookshop is closed and Sterling Heights skips Friday, and check the BYOB and Grace Centers annex Facebook pages before driving over.