Santa Barbara, California does not keep its secondhand books in a single district; it strings them along roughly nineteen miles of coast between Goleta and Carpinteria. Two of these seven stops are inside the city limits: The Book Den, steps from State Street on East Anapamu, and the Mesa Bookstore, a small storefront up on Cliff Drive less than two miles southwest of City Hall. Earl Warren Showgrounds, home of the Planned Parenthood book sale, lies just past the city line on county land off Calle Real. Then the map splits. Westward along Hollister Avenue, Goleta has Paperback Alley and the Friends of the Goleta Valley Library shelves, about 1.6 miles from each other and seven to nine miles out; eastward, Lost Horizon waits in Montecito's Upper Village under five miles out, and Carpinteria's library Friends run their shop a little over ten miles away.
Two kinds of shopping happen here and they reward different habits. The permanent shops keep regular weekly hours: The Book Den splits its floor between new releases and a deep backlist of secondhand and long-unavailable titles, Lost Horizon leans toward art, architecture and local history, and the library Friends in Goleta and Carpinteria sell donated stock cheaply to fund their branches. The other kind is a single event. Planned Parenthood California Central Coast puts on the sale it bills as its Annual Book Sale at Earl Warren, filling the round Exhibition Hall with donated books, records and puzzles, and the organizers openly allow electronic scanners on the sales floor, a rule worth knowing before you pack your phone.
Older guides to this town can mislead in three ways. Lost Horizon no longer trades downtown: Noozhawk reported on December 19, 2018 that it was leaving its corner of Anacapa and Ortega for Montecito, and quoted The Book Den's Eric Kelley predicting he would be the last bookstore standing downtown. The Goleta Valley Library building on North Fairview closed on April 1, 2025 for a renovation that broke ground on February 12, 2026 and that the library's project page says is on track to finish by June 30, 2027, so until then the Friends sale makes do with a few bookcases in a temporary suite. And the city library's own Friends group, for all its fundraising, runs no shop, only one-off sales.
Used bookstoresThe Book Den
15 E Anapamu St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Half a block off State Street, The Book Den descends from an Oakland shop founded in 1902 and opened on East Anapamu in February 1933, according to the history owner Eric Kelley publishes on the store's website, where he dates his own purchase of the business to April 1979. Stock that the store counts in the tens of thousands runs from fresh hardcovers to long out-of-print copies, and the site kept announcing arrivals into 2026, with a post dated February 10, 2026 about a new Arturo Pérez-Reverte novel. In the Santa Barbara Independent's All Booked newsletter of December 18, 2025, columnist Tessa Reeg counted it, with Chaucer's, among her favorite places in town to shop for gifts.
Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–6pm, Sun 11am–5pmWebsite Charity book saleMary Jane McCord Planned Parenthood Annual Book Sale
Exhibition Hall, Earl Warren Showgrounds, 3400 Calle Real, Santa Barbara, CA 93105
Just outside the city limits, on unincorporated county land, the round Exhibition Hall at Earl Warren Showgrounds hosted the 52nd edition of this sale from September 10 to 20, 2026, with a $30 opening night and free admission after that, according to Planned Parenthood California Central Coast. Its FAQ counts more than 150,000 donated items in over 50 book categories, prices most paperbacks at $1 to $3 and hardcovers at $2 to $4, halves everything on the final day, and permits electronic scanners provided each book is scanned in place, one at a time. Tessa Reeg's All Booked column in the Santa Barbara Independent on September 16, 2026 pointed out that tables are restocked as books sell, and the newsletter reported on October 2 that the edition grossed more than $700,000, citing the organizers' Instagram.
Hours: Last documented: September 10–20, 2026Website Used bookstoresMesa Bookstore
1838 Cliff Dr, Ste A, Santa Barbara, CA 93109
Up on the Mesa, 1.8 miles southwest of City Hall, a tiny storefront in the Cliff Drive shopping strip stocks gently used volumes "of recent and forgotten lore", from kids' books to Santa Barbara history, as its homepage puts it. When the Santa Barbara Independent previewed Bloomsday on June 5, 2026, its reporter walked over with co-owner Palladino, who runs the shop with his wife Diane Arnold, asked for Ulysses and watched him fetch five editions from the back room. The year before, a post the shop dated June 25, 2025 invited readers to what it called the annual book sale on Sunday, July 6, with music and author readings from noon until six. The door is open seven days, from 11:30 on Sunday, and the number to call is 805-966-3725.
Hours: Mon–Sat 11am–6pm, Sun 11:30am–6pmWebsite Used bookstoresPaperback Alley
5840 Hollister Ave, Goleta, CA 93117
In Old Town Goleta, 7.4 miles west, an independently owned used bookstore that describes itself as a fixture of the neighborhood for 40 years, squeezing genre fiction, classic and contemporary literature, nonfiction, audiobooks and an extensive children's section behind a narrow entry next door to Altamiranos and its orange arches. The Santa Barbara Independent reported on May 9, 2025 that Paperback Alley and the Lazy Eye boutique had received small-business grant money to keep running their quarterly Old Town walks. Marketable books earn store credit here, never cash, and the grid the shop posted with a January 10, 2023 update keeps it shut on Sundays.
Hours: Mon–Sat 11am–4pm; closed SunWebsite Friends of the Library bookstoreFriends of the Carpinteria Library Bookstore
5103 Carpinteria Ave, Carpinteria, CA 93013
In Carpinteria, 10.5 miles east, the town library's Friends keep a volunteer-run store right next door to the library, primarily a used bookstore with a curated run of contemporary fiction, classics and nonfiction plus inexpensive picture books. The Friends price most paperbacks at $1.50 to $2, DVDs at a dollar and most hardcovers at $2, with special finds near the desk and free magazines on a cart by the front door. Coastal View News announced on July 24, 2026 that the Old Town Carpinteria Fiesta would take place at the used bookstore on Sunday, July 26, with mariachi and flamenco on the bill. Weekday donations are welcome, though not Reader's Digest condensed books, encyclopedias, VHS tapes or textbooks older than five years.
Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–4pm, Sun noon–4pm (summer only)Website Where can I find cheap used books in Santa Barbara?
The library Friends shelves set the floor. In Carpinteria, two dollars covers most paperbacks and hardcovers alike, and Goleta's Friends keep a smaller set of priced shelves inside the temporary library on Hollister Avenue. For volume, nothing on this page matches the Planned Parenthood sale at Earl Warren, where most paperbacks were tagged at three dollars or less in September 2026; the Independent's Jackson Friedman left on the half-price final Sunday with more than a dozen books and a couple of puzzles for about $30.
Where do I sell used books in Santa Barbara?
Start at The Book Den on a weekday, since that is when its buyers work: a handful of books can be looked over while you wait, and larger lots are left for a call-back quote, with store credit worth 20 percent more than cash. Paperback Alley in Goleta gives trade credit only, and Lost Horizon in Montecito buys collectible pieces and whole libraries. Before carrying anything in, photograph the bookcase in BiblioScan: a single frame is enough for it to identify each spine and show what every recognized title tends to fetch secondhand, so you can split the box between a buyer's counter, your own online listing and the donation shed in Goleta.
Which day is best for book hunting in Santa Barbara?
Tuesday through Saturday, when all six permanent stops are open at once. Monday drops the Goleta library shelves and possibly Lost Horizon, whose ILAB listing opens only Tuesday to Saturday, and Sunday is the thinnest day: Paperback Alley and Lost Horizon stay shut, and the Carpinteria store opens on Sundays only during summer. If selling is part of the trip, stick to Monday through Friday, the days The Book Den buys. And keep mid-September free, because that is when the Planned Parenthood sale took over Earl Warren in 2026.
Are there any used book fairs in Santa Barbara?
The big one is the Mary Jane McCord Planned Parenthood Annual Book Sale, whose 52nd edition filled eleven days of September 2026 inside Earl Warren's round hall, with a paid opening night on the Thursday and free entry afterward. The organizers' history page dates the move to Earl Warren to 2003 and notes that since 2012 the volunteers have also sold the more esoteric donations online. Goleta's library Friends also mention a Signed and Rare Books Silent Auction; their homepage, still announcing the April 2025 closure, calls it yearly.