FAQ

There's a bookstore in Jarvis Square? 

Yes! The storefront is at 1522 W. Jarvis, next to Lakeside Treasures. We're open Tuesday-Sunday, 11-6.

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Who are you, and why did you decide to open a bookstore?

Kate, the owner, was a small press editor and feminist author before she got into bookselling in 2021. Michael, the manager and head buyer, has been a bookseller (among other things) on both coasts and at multiple locations in the Chicagoland area. They both live in the neighborhood and had a sense that Jarvis Square would respond well to a used bookstore with cool stuff and good prices. So far, so good!

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Yay! How can I support you? 

First, thank you to all of you who have asked this question! Besides coming in and buying books, here are a few suggestions:

• Order new books from our Bookshop storefront. 

• Order audiobooks from our Libro.fm storefront. 

• Buy a gift card! 

• Bring us books! If you have old books to donate or trade for store credit, please fill out the contact form below to make an appointment. 

 

Will you pay me for my old books? 

Kind of? We offer store credit for the kind of books we’re looking for (see below). Credit never expires and can be used to purchase new and used books in-store. 

 

What kind of books do you want? 

First, we’d like books in readable condition–no underlining, extensive dog-earing, highlighting, pages falling out, broken spines, etc. We’d also prefer no ex-library copies, though we might make an exception for something incredibly cool. In terms of genre, we’ll consider anything, as long as you understand that our tiny footprint forces us to be extremely picky. If we reject your offerings, we swear it’s not personal!

 

Genres that interest us most:

• Poetry

• Essays

• Literary Fiction

• Sci-fi & Fantasy

• Mystery & Suspense

• Sociology

• Anthropology

• Philosophy

• Science

• World Religions

• Feminist, Queer & Anti-Racist Cultural Criticism

• Music

• Art

• Film studies

• Drama

• Political science

• Chicago History & Interest

 

Genres we will rarely have room for: 

• Cookbooks

• Business

• Sports

• Recent bestsellers (counterintuitively, these don’t always sell well on the used market)

• Pseudoscientific self-help

• Gift books

• Textbooks

• Magazines (including literary magazines)

• Reference or travel books

 

Books that don’t fall into any of those categories could go either way.

 

You didn’t mention children’s books.

You noticed that, huh? Here’s the deal: We think kids are cool and would love to say hi to you and yours! We will usually have a small selection of children’s books on hand, priced at $2 each, and we’d be happy to order children’s books for you to pick up. But between our lack of space and relative ignorance of the genre (neither of us working here have kids or read widely in children’s literature), we just can’t do books for young people as well as nearby stores like Armadillo’s Pillow, Booked, Women & Children First, or Bookends & Beginnings. We’d rather send you to our colleagues than half-ass it. 

 

Would you like to buy this rare and precious book that’s been in my family for generations? 

Thank you for offering, but no. Our focus is affordable books that are meant to be read, not collected. Uncharted Books and Amaranth Books are great options for selling rare and antiquarian books.

 

Will you carry my zine or independently published book? 

Unfortunately, we're unable to carry self-published work, even by local authors. It’s a matter of space, not taste (we cut our teeth on zines in the ’90s) and we’re sorry we can’t offer that service to the community. Uncharted Books and Quimby’s are two great local stores that have room for DIY titles. 

 

I still have questions. 

I mean, so do we. It’s a work in progress. But you can always use the contact form below to ask.