Surrey here means the south bank of the Fraser River in British Columbia: the City of Surrey itself, the City of White Rock, Delta with North Delta, Ladner and Tsawwassen, and both the City and the Township of Langley. Burnaby, New Westminster and the Tri-Cities across the river get a guide of their own, Richmond is folded into Vancouver, Abbotsford and Mission are treated separately, and Blaine, just over the US border, is left out. Any $ figure below means Canadian money.
The Creative Bookworm in the City of Langley is a bookstore that stocks used titles next to new releases. The rest of the circuit is run by charities and their volunteers: a Mennonite Central Committee shop about 600 m from City Hall, the thrift shops of two hospital auxiliaries, two hospice stores, and a third shop that the Surrey Hospice Society shares with the city's firefighters, all of which say in writing that they take or sell books. The charity sales come in three seasons: the White Rock museum's autumn fair in its gallery, the Rotary sale that moved into a South Surrey high school gym for its 2026 summer edition, and a spring sale that the Langley branch of the youth-mentoring charity Big Brothers Big Sisters puts on.
New and used bookstoreThe Creative Bookworm
20438 Douglas Crescent, Langley, BC V3A 4B4
In the City of Langley, on Douglas Crescent about 17 km southeast of Surrey City Hall, a shop that bills itself as Langley's only new and used independent bookstore and traces its start to 1994. Its About page says new owners took over on June 1, 2026, and promises thousands of secondhand titles at up to 80 percent below the new price, shelved by category and alphabetized, alongside new and used vinyl. Thursday is the late night, with the door open until 9pm.
Hours: Tue–Wed 10am–6pm, Thu 10am–9pm, Fri–Sat 10am–6pm; closed Sun–MonWebsite Rotary charity book saleWhite Rock Rotary Book Sale
Elgin Park Secondary School, 13484 24 Ave, Surrey, BC
White Rock's Rotary club took over the Elgin Park Secondary gym in South Surrey for five days, Friday, August 28 through Tuesday, September 1, 2026, a year after The Progress called the twice-annual fundraiser a 42-year tradition and placed its 2025 summer run in the Peace Arch Curling Club building at Centennial Park in White Rock. Its event listing cut prices as the days went by: $3 a book at the start, $2 in the middle, then a flat $10 per filled bag to finish. A club story from September 2026 counted $70,841 in gross sales and called the school a promising venue for future sales, and the book sale page names April 2027 as the month of the next edition, with no day given. Books, puzzles and audiobooks are collected all year in the blue bin on the Rotary Fieldhouse's north side at 2197 148 Street, and volunteers help unload larger loads at the warehouse on Monday mornings.
Hours: Last documented: Fri Aug 28 – Sat Aug 29, 2026, 10am–6pm; Sun Aug 30 – Tue Sep 1, 2026, 10am–4pmWebsite Museum book fairWhite Rock Museum & Archives Book Fair
14970 Marine Drive, White Rock, BC V4B 1C4
Down on Marine Drive, inside the City of White Rock and roughly 19 km from Surrey City Hall, the museum says it has held a book sale in its gallery for more than 25 years, with jigsaw puzzles on the tables too. The City of White Rock's events calendar lists the 2026 fair from Wednesday, October 7 to Sunday, November 8, Tuesdays through Sundays, with books at $2 each or a trio for $5. That listing opens at 10:30am but gives two closing times, 3:30pm in its text and 4:30pm in its header, the second matching the museum's posted Tuesday-to-Sunday hours, so come before mid-afternoon. Lightly used books and puzzles are accepted all year for the next fair, by arrangement with the museum's events contact.
Hospital auxiliary thrift shopSuperfluity Thrift Shop
15163 Prospect Ave, White Rock, BC V4B 2B8
In the City of White Rock, on Prospect Avenue 18.8 km south of Surrey City Hall, the Peace Arch Hospital Auxiliary's shop dates its trading back to 1950. Its Facebook page boasted on September 23, 2026 of "a great selection of books (all genres and age ranges)" next to puzzles, board games and DVDs, while the auxiliary's donation sheet rejects Reader's Digest and other condensed books, encyclopedias, textbooks and computer or business titles. The auxiliary's website still shows a longer weekday grid labelled as lasting until August 31, but its posts through September and October 2026 give Tuesday-to-Saturday opening from 10am until 4pm, with 15 percent off for seniors on Tuesdays and for students on Saturdays.
Hours: Tue–Sat 10am–4pm; closed Sun–MonWebsite MCC thrift shopMCC Surrey Thrift Shop
10653 King George Boulevard, Surrey, BC V3T 2X6
Some 600 metres north-northeast of Surrey City Hall, the Mennonite Central Committee keeps a thrift shop on King George Boulevard, and the blurb heading its Facebook page lists quality used clothing, books and housewares as the stock. That page posted a Thanksgiving notice on October 8, 2026 shutting the store on Monday, October 12, and on Friday, October 16 announced that its Christmas stock was out on the floor. According to the MCC Thrift location page, donations are only taken Tuesday through Friday, and the Facebook intro says proceeds go to meeting basic human needs and to peace work, locally and overseas.
Hours: Mon–Sat 9:30am–4:45pm; closed SunWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Surrey?
Hold out for the closing day of White Rock Rotary's sale: during the 2026 edition a full bag went for $10 on the closing Tuesday, after $3 and then $2 a book. Between sales, the hospital auxiliary shops in White Rock and Ladner, the two hospice stores and MCC near City Hall all have written proof that books are part of their stock, and Superfluity runs weekly discount days for seniors and for students. For a curated shelf, The Creative Bookworm in Langley says its used books run up to 80 percent below new prices.
Where do I sell used books in Surrey?
The Creative Bookworm is the one shop on this page set up to take books from sellers: its website footer carries links named Books For Credit and Books For Selling, so ask at the till how either works before hauling boxes over. For everything else, list on eBay.ca or AbeBooks, or sell locally on Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace, with Amazon.ca as another channel, and books not worth listing can go into the White Rock Rotary bin at the Rotary Fieldhouse. One BiblioScan photo of the spread, spines up, is enough: the app tags each title it identifies with an estimated resale value, and the strong sellers get split off from the donation pile on the spot.
Which day is best for book hunting in Surrey?
Tuesday through Saturday, all seven shops on this page unlock their doors, from Ladner to Walnut Grove, and Saturday is the only weekend day that manages it. Every shop closes on Sunday, so until November 8, 2026 the White Rock museum's fair, open Tuesday to Sunday, is the one Sunday address here. Monday is patchy: The Creative Bookworm and Superfluity both stay shut, and the Ladner auxiliary only opens in the afternoon. On Thursday the Langley bookstore keeps going until 9pm, long after the thrift stores have closed.
When is the big book sale in Surrey?
Through the autumn of 2026, up to and including November 8, it is the White Rock Museum & Archives fair in the museum gallery on Marine Drive, where a toonie buys a book. The Rotary sale reported $70,841 in gross takings for its 2026 summer edition, held at Elgin Park Secondary in South Surrey between August 28 and September 1, and the club has announced its next sale for April 2027, without dates yet, which will go out through its book sale newsletter. In spring, keep an eye on the Langley mentoring charity whose two-day sale took over an Events Centre building in mid-April 2026.