Comments (0) Best Used-Book Store - 2006
Archives Book Café
Like many of the shops inside the Gateway Plaza, Archives Book Café has the sort of quaint affability that's increasingly rare in a world of Wal-Marts and Starbucks. Its organic, old-library feel is decades removed from the impersonality of the big book sellers. But enough of that... what's for sale? Well, aside from café items like lattes ($3), bagels ($2.50 with cream cheese), and cookies ($1), Archives' book collection runs the literary gamut, from presidential biographies to true crime (there is a difference), as well as all subgenres of fiction, history, politics, and religion. An impressive percentage of the store's inventory is like new, which means you're more likely to find psychiatric books about Prozac than, say, trepanation. And because of that newness, Archives is more sinus-friendly than a lot of the other dust dens that pass as used-book stores. Prices vary depending on the title, though the average fiction novel runs $5.95, pocket-sized paperbacks cost $1, and many of the normal-sized paperbacks end up in the $2.83 section. Archives may not be the biggest bookstore in town, but its cozy atmosphere goes a long way. And, for that matter, so will a dollar.
