San Antonio keeps its secondhand books on two streets and scatters the rest across Bexar County. Broadway holds Cheever Books opposite Brackenridge Park and, further north, There And Back Again behind an office building where Broadway meets Loop 410; Fredericksburg Road holds Bluebonnet just above downtown and Nine Lives out at the Medical Center. The one central address is underground — the Friends of the San Antonio Public Library run their shop in the Central Library basement on Soledad Street, a few blocks off Alamo Plaza. After that you drive: two entries stand in municipalities of their own, Schertz and Universal City on the northeastern edge, and each of those opens by saying so, while the three branch-library sales here all sit in the northern half of the city, from Evans Road and Stone Oak down to Heimer Road.
Four counters on this map hand over money for secondhand stock, and the three businesses behind them settle up on three different sets of terms. The Half Price Books counters are the walk-in option: the published policy asks for a government-issued photo ID, refuses to quote from photographs or lists, holds you on the premises while staff evaluate what you brought, then settles for the whole lot in cash. Nine Lives buys as well, but its own site is careful about it — credit toward in-store purchases, selected items only, and only when supply and demand happen to favor you. Cheever Books wants a telephone call first and takes books in on Wednesdays and Fridays alone. The five library operations, from the Soledad Street basement to the Universal City shelf, live on donations and never pay a seller anything.
Two Broadway addresses that still show up in local round-ups are now a construction site. The Express-News reported on April 15, 2026 that demolition had begun on 3127 Broadway, home of the Antiquarian Book Mart, and MySA had established on June 15, 2025 that the shop and the Half Price Books beside it at 3207 Broadway — an HPB address since 1978 — both closed in May 2024 after the landlord sold to a developer, with a company spokesperson ruling out a return. Four more names on the usual lists carry no secondhand stock whatsoever: Nowhere Bookshop, The Twig at the Pearl, Pages For Ages on Bandera Road, and Book Nerd in Castle Hills, whose own Bookshop.org profile describes its shelves as new books and bookish treasures. Dead Tree Books is the sad one — the South Side room still posts opening times on its website, but its Instagram announced the closing of its doors on November 5, 2022 and nothing dated has followed.
Friends of the Library bookstoreThe Book Cellar
Central Library basement, 600 Soledad St, San Antonio, TX 78205
One flight below the Central Library lobby, the Friends of the San Antonio Public Library sell what the whole system culls, and their page posts eleven until four on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. MySA took a camera down there for a reel published on August 14, 2026 and came back with the line that matters to a reseller: rare finds are priced accordingly, and the rest is cheap enough to fill shelves with. Those same volunteers keep a storefront at amazon.com/shops/SABookCellar, so assume the money titles have been lifted before the aisles see them. Donations go by appointment — the Friends ask you to telephone first — and the garage validates three free hours, $5 past that.
Hours : Thu–Sat 11am–4pmWebsite Used bookstoresNine Lives Books
7959 Fredericksburg Rd, Ste 119, San Antonio, TX 78229
In the Oak Hills Shopping Center where Fredericksburg Road crosses Medical Drive, next door to Dragon's Lair Comics & Fantasy, sits the widest secondhand floor in this guide: books, records, DVDs, videotapes, music CDs, audiotapes, magazines, comics and a rack of healing stones. The trading terms are on the shop's own front page and they are narrow — an offer in store credit, on certain items only, weighed against whatever the shelves are short of that week. Its Facebook page was live on August 11, 2026, resharing a customer's walkthrough of the Medical Center room and thanking her for supporting a local indie used bookstore. Double-check the street number before setting out, because the old 4907 NW Loop 410 room is shut for good and the site says so.
Hours : Mon–Sat 10am–9pm, Sun noon–6pmWebsite Rare and out-of-printCheever Books
3613 Broadway St, San Antonio, TX 78209
Across Broadway from Brackenridge Park and the zoo sits the room that has handled first editions and long out-of-print titles since 1986, under a website footed with a 2026 copyright. Selling here is by arrangement rather than at a counter: the contact page tells you to ring 210-824-2665 or email before turning up, and states plainly that book buys happen on Wednesday or Friday. Trading runs Wednesday through Saturday from ten to six, plus a short Sunday that shuts at four, with major holidays off. Its Yelp profile, written by the business, credits founder CeCe Cheever — who took the idea from her own years working at Half Price Books — and warns that the manager will not buy just anything.
Hours : Wed–Sat 10am–6pm, Sun 10am–4pmWebsite Used bookstoresBluebonnet Books & Homegrown Goods
700 Fredericksburg Rd, San Antonio, TX 78201
KENS 5 reported on February 22, 2026 that a used, vintage and rare bookshop would hold its soft opening at the corner of Fredericksburg Road and West Ashby on March 7, and the station's Instagram confirmed on March 11, 2026 that the doors were open. The shop's own site lists hand-labeled sections — cookbook, travel, poetry, leadership and business, health, DIY, family and parenting, writing, romance — alongside soaps, teas and other homegrown goods, and mirrors the full inventory on a Square online store. Opening is ten until six from Monday to Thursday and ten until seven from Friday through Sunday, which makes this the rare address here you can browse on a Sunday evening.
Hours : Mon–Thu 10am–6pm, Fri–Sun 10am–7pmWebsite Used bookstoresThere And Back Again Books
8418 Broadway St, Ste 124, San Antonio, TX 78209
78209 Magazine profiled owner Veronica Rouse in January 2026 and printed the numbers a buyer wants: 1,700 square feet, most titles at no more than $8, and a rare end running from $300 to $500, with Spanish novels, Russian encyclopedias and a late-1800s three-volume Shakespeare among the odder shelves. Rouse took over the collection from the previous owner in June 2025, and Rare Book HQ, writing up the KENS 5 segment on the shop, noted it was approaching its first anniversary. Getting in is the hard part: enter from Crownhill at the corner of Broadway and Loop 410 and head for the unit beside the Crownhill Office Building. No opening times appear below because the sources disagree — the magazine gave Fridays 11am to 3pm and Saturdays 11am to 4pm or by private appointment, while the shop's own Instagram bio runs Saturday to five and adds a Sunday from noon — so telephone ahead.
Used bookstoresHalf Price Books North Central
125 NW Loop 410, Ste 103, San Antonio, TX 78216
Four HPB branches fall inside the boundaries of this map — this one, Huebner Road, Bandera Road and Stone Ridge Market up on Highway 281 — so rather than print four near-identical entries, this page keeps the North Central floor near the airport plus one other, since all four run an identical ten-to-eight day across the whole week. Selling here needs no appointment at any hour of trading and follows the published rules to the letter: photo identification, nothing quoted off photographs or lists, and a single cash figure for the carton once staff have been through it. The store page carried a chain-wide discount reaching 20% over the long Labor Day weekend in September 2026, dated there as the 5th through the 7th, on the shelves and through the website. Teachers can also register for the annually renewable Educator Discount Card, worth 10% off in store all year.
Hours : Daily 10am–8pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in San Antonio?
Volunteers, not shops, set the bottom of this market. Branch chapters of the Friends of the San Antonio Public Library price their tables by format — Brook Hollow laid hundreds of titles out on August 15, 2026 beside teaching materials and vintage collectibles, and the Universal City Friends ran a clearance in April 2026 at $3 to fill a bag handed to you at the door. The Book Cellar under the Central Library is the standing cheap option, open Thursday to Saturday from eleven to four, and MySA described it on August 14, 2026 as somewhere to stock a shelf on a budget, with rare items priced separately. Of the shops that open week in and week out, There And Back Again keeps most of its stock at $8 or under, while the chain's two branches here run promotions like the 20% Labor Day event that covered September 5 to 7, 2026.
Where do I sell used books in San Antonio?
Four counters, run between three businesses, and only the chain pays in cash. Half Price Books at 125 NW Loop 410 and 11654 Bandera Rd takes walk-ins through the whole trading day, asks for government-issued photo identification, refuses to quote from a list or a photograph, keeps you in the store while a buyer sorts the box, and settles the lot in one sum. Nine Lives on Fredericksburg Road buys selected items for store credit only, depending on what it is short of. Cheever Books handles rare and out-of-print material by arrangement, buying only on Wednesdays and Fridays and only after a call to 210-824-2665. Triage the box first, since an offer priced by category swallows the good copy along with the rest. Point a camera at the loaded shelf and BiblioScan works spine by spine, so every book comes back carrying what it resells for today — enough to lift out the two you ought to sell yourself and leave the remainder for Loop 410.
Which day is best for book hunting in San Antonio?
Saturday, comfortably. It is the one day on which the Book Cellar, the Universal City shelf, the Schertz shop and every branch sale on this page can be open at once, while both Half Price Books shops hold their usual ten-to-eight around them. Friday is the near-miss, losing only the branch sales. Monday is for listing rather than driving: Cheever, Crazy Lady, the Universal City store and the Book Cellar all keep their doors locked, and no library table runs. If all you have is an evening, aim at the Medical Center, because Nine Lives keeps its doors open until nine from Monday through Saturday.
When is the Friends of the Library sale in San Antonio?
San Antonio has no one citywide blowout: each branch chapter runs its own, and the dates land on Saturdays. The Friends of the San Antonio Public Library calendar of events put Brook Hollow's back-to-school sale on August 15, 2026, ten in the morning to four in the afternoon, Collins Garden on that same Saturday from ten to three, and Pan American a week after that on the 22nd, 10:30 to 2:30. The Encino chapter dated its own to March 28, 2026, ten until three. Up in Stone Oak, the Parman group took both days of September 27 and 28 in 2025, ten until four, accepting payment online only on the final afternoon. None of these chapters publishes far ahead, so follow the individual branch pages instead of waiting for a citywide announcement.
Are there any used book fairs in San Antonio?
No dealer fair turned up anywhere in the sourcing for this guide — what the city has instead is a run of library sales and one permanent basement. The Friends of the San Antonio Public Library staged a Book Cellar sale in the Central Library lobby on Sunday, March 15, 2026, from noon to four, separate from the shop downstairs, and the branch chapters at Brook Hollow, Collins Garden, Pan American, Encino and Parman each hold their own tables. Out in Universal City, the Friends describe two sales a year on the city's website and ran a Books and Treasures Sale on April 11, 2026. For an antiquarian show with dealers behind the tables you are looking at a drive out of town.