Second Hand Prose Bookstore
Second Hand Prose is our volunteer-run used bookstore, located in the Entry Garden of the Downtown Library. All of our books and magazines are donated by the generous folks of Eugene and the surrounding area. Click here to find out how to donate books and magazines. Interested in working as a volunteer in the store? Check out the Book Store Volunteer job description and duties here. Then stop by the store on a Tuesday or Wednesday between 10 AM and 11:30 AM and ask Ken Ehler, volunteer manager, about additional details.
Did our annual sale in April slip past this year? Or maybe it's more convenient to browse later in the afternoon? Our book store is open every First Friday 4:30 – 7:30 and the entire store is BOGO.
We are also open Wednesdays until 6:00. Recently we introduced Happy Reading Hour on Wednesdays with all paperbacks BOGO 4:00-6:00.
Store Hours
Monday, Tuesday, Saturday 10:00 - 4:00
Sunday 1:00 - 4:00
Wednesday 10:00 - 6:00
Thursday closed
Friday 4:30 - 7:30 (First Friday only)***
***Everything in the store is Buy One Get One Free (Equal or lesser value)
This month Ken, our store manager, takes us on a tour of Second Hand Prose.
"Let’s start right at our front door; to your left (East wall) here is our magazine rack with current issues of many different titles. Continuing along the East wall, first comes our children’s section, followed by cookbooks, beverage books and, gardening. The first end of shelf wooden book case (made by one of our generous store volunteers) contains children’s books and magazines. In the next section you will find biographies/memoirs, history and other nonfiction categories including STEM which is also featured in the end of shelf bookcase for this section. Let’s continue into the next section to find health & fitness, self-help, craft books/magazines, foreign language, reference, arts, music and sports; whew. After that, our fiction section begins with mysteries; fiction books are always shelved in our store by the author’s last name. Continue toward the back of the store and you will find additional mysteries, sci-fi/fantasy and assorted magazines, which usually include The New Yorker and Rolling Stone. Regular fiction, romance, story collections and large print books are the first categories you will find as we move to the West wall. Next comes religion/spirituality and what we call Literature – think Bronte, Dickens, Shakespeare, Capote, Faulkner, etc.; this section ends with inspiration, poetry and a small CD collection. I use singing to move my mood into “happy” territory; so I especially enjoy our CD collection and books from our section featuring musicians. On the customer service counter you will always find a collection of greeting cards and bookmarks made by a longtime volunteer just for our store. The last bookcase in the store contains books by Pacific Northwest authors and illustrators; many are signed. These signed books are identified (throughout the store) by a small colored dot at the spine’s top.
Hope you enjoyed our tour and that you gained some insights into just where you might find just the right book or other item. Wintertime can be difficult for some of us, or exciting, as we prepare for the various winter celebrations. Our December gift to all of you is making the entire store BOGO (Buy one get one free – equal or lesser value.) In addition to our books, CDs and handmade cards/bookmarks, we also offer our gift certificates ,which might be just the right gift for someone on your list. I join with all the other bookstore volunteers in extending season's greetings to all of you. Thank you for shopping year ‘round at Second Hand Prose; your purchases #helpushelpEPL."