Florida's capital packs almost every secondhand book it has into an arc running east and north of the Capitol building itself, and two of its stores sit some 760 yards apart along one street. Fat Cat Books took over 292 North Magnolia Drive in late summer 2026; My Favorite Books had already crossed Park Avenue into number 111 on the south arm of that same road, reopening there in February. Downtown, a Friends of the Library shop sits just inside the LeRoy Collins Main Library, and the garage on the Bronough Street side of that same block is where they run their sidewalk sale. Everything past that means a car: north along Monroe Street to the City Walk mission floor, then out Thomasville Road and Mahan Drive to the two Goodwill sites that stock nothing but reading, puzzles and games.
Sort out how each place handles incoming stock before loading the trunk, because a single one of them will actually deal with you. My Favorite Books publishes a trade program: any day but Saturday, twenty volumes a week at most, credit set at a third of whatever the shelf eventually fetches, and half a year to spend it unless another trade resets the clock. Fat Cat takes no trades whatsoever, every copy on its shelves having been given, and the porch is a legitimate drop point after hours. The Friendshop and the Title Wave sale live off material left at any county branch, while the mission on North Monroe asks for daytime drop-offs and sends a truck for the heavy stuff.
An older Tallahassee list goes wrong in three places. Two of the shops below changed address within twelve months and the web did not keep pace, since My Favorite Books still prints 1410 Market Street on every page of its own site. The Main Library unveiled its rebuilt second floor at the end of September 2025, and Leon County still sends visitors around to the Call Street parking lot because the Park Avenue door stays sealed while the work carries on. And two chains that turn up in every Florida book roundup are absent here: the Half Price Books finder counts 116 shops across 19 states, Florida not among them, while 2nd & Charles posts three Florida addresses, at Gainesville, Jacksonville and Miramar Beach.
Nonprofit bookstore and cat adoption centerFat Cat Books
292 N Magnolia Dr, Tallahassee, FL 32301
Shelves of donated reading with adoptable adult cats loose among them, run by Feline Advocates of Leon County, a 501(c)(3) whose tax identification number sits in the footer of every page it publishes. The move to 292 North Magnolia Drive went up on the shop's Facebook page on August 28, 2026, with local artists and live music promised for a grand re-opening set for September 4; the home page dates the operation itself to October 2020. Since nothing is bought in, the price list is flat and printed on the About page: $5 for a paperback, $7 for a hardback, $2 for a children's title or three of them for $5, and 50 cents apiece for magazines and comics. Hand donations over in opening hours, or leave a box on the front porch when the door is locked, and check the Thursday before making a special trip: the site carries a Thursday-through-Sunday week while the shop's Instagram post that same day gave the opening week at the new address as Friday to Sunday.
Hours : Thu–Sun 11am–6pm; closed Mon–WedWebsite Used bookstoresMy Favorite Books
111 S Magnolia Dr Ste 13, Tallahassee, FL 32301
The Tallahassee Democrat covered the move on January 31, 2026: out of Market Street and into a suite at 111 South Magnolia Drive shared with Courtyard Cafe & Games, a walk of some 760 yards down from Fat Cat, with a grand opening weekend billed for February 6 and 7. Its Trades page is the only published buying policy on this list: copies accepted every day except Saturday, a ceiling of twenty a week, store credit pitched at 33 percent of whatever the book later sells for, and a six-month expiry that resets each time you trade again. A $25 Patron membership stacks on a $15 gift certificate, one free used book of $5 or less a month, a birthday book worth up to $8, and credit that stops expiring altogether. Clear up one detail before the trip: the shop's own site, which calls it the oldest independent used bookstore in the city, still gives the old 1410 Market Street address and lists no hours whatsoever, so try the number printed there first.
Friends of the Library bookstoreThe Friendshop
LeRoy Collins Leon County Main Library, 200 W Park Ave, Tallahassee, FL 32301
Volunteers drawn from the Friends of the county library system staff this room immediately past the Main Library entrance, and its own Facebook page lists the stock as used books of every genre plus CDs, DVDs, books on tape and records. Giving $10 monthly or $100 a year brings a T-shirt or tote bag, while members take 10 percent off anything here and get through the door first at Title Wave; the Friends say smaller outposts run at every branch in the county. Read the parking note before you set off, because the rebuilt second floor opened on September 26, 2025 and Leon County keeps the Park Avenue door shut while the rest of the job runs, leaving the Call Street lot as the way in. Donated books, CDs, records, DVDs, audiobooks, magazines, games and puzzles are taken at any library location in the county, with this counter named as the contact for anything bulky.
Hours : Mon–Fri 10am–4:30pm, Sat 10am–4pm; closed SunWebsite Goodwill book storeGoodwill Tallahassee Bookstore
1943 Thomasville Rd, Tallahassee, FL 32303
Goodwill Industries - Big Bend tallies 26 retail locations in the annual report it put out in March 2026, and precisely two of those are book stores; this is the nearer one, sitting two miles and change to the northeast on Thomasville Road, sharing a lot and a phone line with the Betton Road donation center. Hidden reading nooks and a full puzzles and games section are what the chain advertises on the page it keeps for the pair, and a video it posted itself on July 29, 2026 walks this floor, calling out media, magazines, puzzles, a corner for children and shelves alphabetized by author. Its store finder gives the same 10am to 7pm stretch Monday through Saturday and trims Sunday back to a five-hour afternoon, the one day the two Goodwill book sites keep different clocks.
Hours : Mon–Sat 10am–7pm, Sun noon–5pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Tallahassee?
Start with the two charity-run book stores Goodwill Industries - Big Bend keeps here, one on Thomasville Road and one out east along Mahan Drive; the parent charity counts them among its five specialty sites in a March 2026 report that pledges 90 percent of revenue to its mission. The Friendshop, a few steps inside the Main Library entrance off the Call Street lot, sells donated books, CDs, DVDs, tapes and records, and takes a further tenth off for anyone who has joined the Friends. Fat Cat Books on North Magnolia Drive charges by binding rather than by book, which puts most paperbacks at $5 and children's books at three for $5. Cheaper still is Title Wave, the sidewalk sale the Friends hold in the Main Library garage each spring and fall and describe as their lowest prices of the year.
Where do I sell used books in Tallahassee?
One address takes stock over the counter, and it pays in credit. My Favorite Books, sharing a suite with Courtyard Cafe & Games at 111 South Magnolia Drive, accepts up to twenty volumes a week on every day but Saturday, hands back 33 percent of the price the copy later sells for, and holds that balance for six months unless another trade extends it. The remaining addresses take gifts rather than purchases: Fat Cat Books, the Friendshop and its branch outposts, and the City Walk mission store accept donations, and none of them pay. Before any of it, run the shelves past your phone: BiblioScan turns a single photograph into a per-spine resale value, which is how you separate in one pass the copies worth an eBay or Amazon listing from the ones destined for a trade box.
When is the Friends of the Library sale in Tallahassee?
Twice a year, on the loading dock of the LeRoy Collins Leon County Main Library at 200 West Park Avenue, in the garage entered from Bronough Street. The Friends of the Leon County Public Library call the event Title Wave, and their site sets the rhythm at one edition each fall and one each spring; the spring 2026 edition opened at 10am on Friday, April 10 and again on Saturday the 11th, closing at four each day, with paying members getting in a full hour before the public on the first morning, and it drew a preview from Fox 49 on April 6 and coverage from WCTV two days later. As of September 2026 that page still carried the April dates and no fall replacement, so call the group before planning a weekend around it. Between editions, the Friendshop carries that same stock year-round on its own weekday and Saturday schedule.
Which day is best for book hunting in Tallahassee?
Thursday, Friday or Saturday, because those are the three days when everything with a published timetable is open at once. Fat Cat Books stays closed from Monday through Wednesday, which knocks the front half of the week out; the Friendshop works weekdays from 10am until 4:30pm, Saturdays until four, and stays dark on Sunday; the City Walk store keeps Monday to Saturday. A Sunday leaves you Fat Cat plus the Goodwill book stores, and the Mahan Drive one starts two hours before the Thomasville Road one that day. My Favorite Books is the wildcard, since its own website lists no hours at all, so call ahead whichever day you settle on.