Being a bibliophile is an expensive and recurrent vice. No matter how many times you promise yourself that you won’t fall for it again, that you’ll pass by the bookstore under your house, that you’ll never be able to find the bookstore that you’re looking for second-hand or that other independent that just opened: you’ll always walk through their doors and walk away with a new copy. As neither your bookshelves nor your pocket can resist much longer, we propose 10 bookstores where you can sell your used books to give a sustainable and economical outlet to your literary addiction.
1. Cuesta de Moyano
La cuesta de Moyano is one of the first stops in Madrid when it comes to books, although not all the stands have second-hand books. In fact, few of them buy books: Ragtime and Prestel are among the only ones to do so.
Its location, near the Retiro, and the appetizing walk through the area, means that on weekends and in the evenings it is very likely to be crowded with curious onlookers and tourists, so it is advisable to go in the mornings.
Claudio Moyano Street (Downtown)
2. Calle de los Libreros (Casa de la Troya Bookstore, La Merced and Madrid Bookstore)
Calle de los Libreros was the place to go when you needed textbooks in the 80’s, when it lived its great splendor. The street began to fill with bookstores as early as the 1920s, thanks to the pioneer Doña Pepita.
Despite being in the vicinity of Gran Vía and boasting name and fame, the bookstores have been closing and only three remain: Casa de la Troya, Librería Madrid and La Merced. All of them have second-hand books, but only Casa de la Troya and Librería Madrid buy books. If you want to get rid of your college or high school books, this is probably one of the few places that still accepts them. In fact, Rubén from Casa de la Troya makes it clear: “we are not like the typical bookstores that pay 0.20 € per book or by weight”.
Calle de los Libreros (Malasaña)
3. Alcaná Books
This bookstore of Tetuan specializes in buying and selling books. Although they clarify that first you have to see them to value them and be able to appraise them (depending on the state, edition and title), since they do not have a fixed purchase price. They mainly acquire novels, literature, essays, politics and art. While they do not accept books in other languages, textbooks, medical books, law books, encyclopedias, children’s books or juvenile books.
Calle del Marqués de Viana, 52 (Tetuán)
4. Melior Books
Their premise is “solidarity books for a better world” and they sell used or donated books to “give them a new solidarity life”. Part of the profits go to finance their campaign to collect and deliver school books for families who cannot afford to buy them first hand.
Avenida de Filipinas, 4 (Chamberí)
5. Books & Co
This bookstore, right in the heart of Delicias, is the best stop on the way to El Retiro (if you come from Arganzuela). As in other bookstores in Madrid, here the price is fixed at 20 cents per book, and they do not accept encyclopedias or books in poor condition.
Calle Murcia, 16 (Delicias); and Calle Victoria, (Alcalá de Henares).
6. Pérez Galdós Bookstore
One of the best known bookstores in the center of Madrid, the Pérez Galdós, is still run by the writer’s descendants and is one of the meeting points for bibliophiles in the capital. Here you come to buy books that are impossible to find, out of print, special editions. For this reason, each book has a price that they value according to their criteria, although they make it clear that they have a high volume of copies and that they acquire very few books.
Calle de Hortaleza, 5 (Chueca)
7. La casa del libro
La Casa del Libro, the Spanish bestseller giant, also has a place to sell your already read books, although only online. There are two types of sellers to register, those who are going to sell more than twenty a month, who understand that you are a professional, or those who are going to do it on an ad hoc basis, which would be individuals. Although they have the advantage of being able to do it from home, it must be taken into account that they have a 15% sales commission, in addition to product processing costs.
Various locations
8. Book attic
El Desván del libro is a store of the salamanca neighborhood dedicated to the buying and selling of second-hand books, or as they prefer to call it: “already read books”. The criteria they follow to buy the book depends on the author, state, type of binding, year and edition, among others, but they warn that they are not interested in encyclopedias, books in a language other than Spanish, textbooks, uncommercial or outdated.
Fernán González Street, 20 (Salamanca neighborhood)
9. Re-read
Re-read is a chain of low cost bookstores that already has five locations in Madrid city, one in Getafe and another in Alcobendas. Here you can sell books in good condition, of all genres and in several languages. Although they prefer those published from the 1990s-2000s onwards, they also acquire those from previous years (as long as they are classics, history, essay and philosophy books). They do not accept encyclopedias, textbooks, old books or books in poor condition. They pay 0,20 € for all books.
Various locations
10. Reading corner
Although it may seem difficult, in the Dos de Mayo square there is space for more than just bars and restaurants with terrace the Rincón de lectura bookstore survives in one of its corners. They have a careful selection and, in fact, here you can find rare copies of classic novels, so they will value the book before buying what you offer them.
Plaza del Dos de Mayo, 5 (Malasaña)