Tin Can Mailman

Great bookstore! Lots os rare reads. Friendly staff. Moderately priced. They will also buy back your text books!

The ultimate independent used bookstore, two stories of books upon books upon books…
Not a huge place, but once inside — all the little alcoves and bookcases and reading nooks come alive and are brimming with all kinds of reading material, literally from the floor to the ceiling — books upon books. Travel up the staircase, and they just continue on with more books…
TCM has been on the Arcata landscape for decades and is a fixture within the community here, providing a source for used books and reading material that will not usually break your bank.
Customer service is good, no data base but the staff pretty much knows where everything is surprisingly, and they offer a buy and sell program on use books so that you can trade in and get credit on your old reading material for things you have not read.
Its old, dusty and crammed full — two stories to wander through and peruse — one of the largest selections of environmental and college text books around. As well, volumes and volumes of great art books — I always find one or two to add to my own library every time I visit.
3 ½ Stars — rounded up for local support.
169

We’ve been coming up to Arcata for over 40 years and always make a stop at the TCM. The store has declined in quality over the years. Good for picking up paperbacks, but the selection is mostly run-​of-​the-​mill. There used to be a small room you could go into where they had rare editions, but the last time I was there they claimed they’d had too much theft and had closed the room.
Hardbacks are a rip-​off, especially the texts. I saw a copy of a used text — in so-​so condition — on coding theory where they’d marked the price at $ 45, yet I’ve seen this book for sale by Springer for less than that price.
Recommendation: come here for the paperbacks, although the selection has gotten rather so-​so over the years. But buy your texts online.

Good enough place to by books just for fun reading, but textbooks are another story. I bought one used textbook from them for about what they were selling for online ($ 60), but the other book I needed they wanted $ 30 for but was completely highlighted and written all over which was selling online for $ 45. I brought in textbooks to sell because I wanted to support a local place, but they only offered me a total of $ 30 for two books that were selling for $ 70 and $ 50 used online. I understand that they want to make a profit, but that just seemed ridiculous.
Overall, not a bad place, especially if you are just looking for your next casual read.

Freakin awesome. Some many texts. As a visitor, I am stoked to find a used store in a college town. Gaurantees of treasured finds lure me in and their realization bring me back. Especially extensive ethnic and women studies and environmental studies.

Two floors of Tall overflowing book cases, it’s heaven. They have one of the largest selections of art, nature, environment, and text books. I would love it if their were more seating areas but I can see that could be dangerous in arcata, fortunately it super lax so you can find a place in the floor.
They buy or give credit for books and their fairly speedy with this process.
Customer service is great, since they don’t have a database it’s hard to find books but the crew know their stuff and can help you find what you’re looking for.
What thing that I found interesting is I was away for about 10yrs and I swear some of the same books were sitting in the same spot! I think a little purge would do tin can mailman good.

I’ve been coming here for years. I’ve found everything from textbooks, cookbooks, comics; they have everything. It would take you a while to go through the entire place. It doesn’t look like it from the outside, but between those two floors, it’s huge.

Helpful staff and is more likely to have the book you need than the new book stores across the street. Now I always come here first.

I love to cruise through here when I have time to spare. There are LOTS of books. There exchange/​buy prices are decent but there is so much they already have so they often do not want what you have to trade. Being located in a college town there are tons of books on research and politics, all the sciences and arts.

I love this book store. Such an amazing selection! Such a quaint store! Nice people to!

I spent my first year in Arcata spending most of my time here. I came from an area where Barnes and Noble was THE bookstore. This place offers titles for cheap and has a large selection. I like that the books are gently used and belonged to someone else. This place is awesome to wander around on a weekend and spend hours searching for new reads.

I miss and love the olé Tin Can. I remember picking up my third copy of Don Quixote here (I hope to get through that book before I die). I remember coming here for used text books back in the olden days (when I was a college student). But I think what I like most about this awesome used book store are the other treasures. Sure, sure I’ve found some really good books ranging from fly fishing books to romance novels (I kid… or do I).
The bookstore isn’t super huge, but with all the nooks and crannies over it’s two floors of booked shelves, one can get lost in here for days… years.
There’s something about used books. I really like finding the ragged ones – especially the ones with little notes in the margins or love notes at their beginnings. I digress.
If you’re in Arcata, a stop at the Tin Can is a requirement. They have great selection, super good prices, and give you good deals when you sell them books.

This is a great little used bookstore. It’s in a great location in downtown Arcata next to everything. The shelves are filled with all kinds of used books and are labeled in easy ways to find. Expect to find very tall shelves filled to the brim with all kinds of good used quality books.
I came here searching for two books and only found one that I wanted. But for the price I paid, it was a great deal! The staff was warm, welcoming, and promptly found me the book I wanted. I’ll definitely come back to browse and make a couple more purchases.

This is a great little used bookstore in downtown Arcata which, like all the best used bookstores, is a maze of tall, overflowing shelves and cozy nooks. There is minimal organization (books are grouped by topic/​genre, but not entered into a database. So if you want, say, a particular book on land art, no one can tell you if it’s in the store — you have to search through the entire art section trying to find it…
Bonuses: textbook buyback, a large wall of windows, a satisfyingly clunky wooden staircase, and bike racks right outside.

It’s a great bookstore with that Arcata vibe. The store is full of past required reads from Humboldt State students. They do take a good number of books in however don’t expect to get a high price for them. If you plan on buying hardbacks… be prepared to pay more than what you would at other Humboldt County used bookstores.
Even with 3 stars… I still go her a lot for books.

My favoritist bookstore in the whole wide world.
I’m seriously thinking of leaving my review at that. I love the way the place smells and it’s quiet stillness. Enter Tin Can Mail Man and you can get lost in the quirky nooks and crannies. You’re likely to find any book you’re looking for. I often took advantage of selling and trading books at Tin Can.

Ever go to a used bookstore and see a ton of books you want to buy?
Usually, no. But here, I did.
I was really impressed the quality and selection here. I think the castoffs of a college community product a good selection. Nice looking place too.

Large, rambling, and not without charm. Scarcer books are segregated into a room by the cashier for sale on the internet; however they’re physically completely unorganized, so good luck browsing. The staff were helpful. Better for picking up a quick read than for finding interesting or rare books; I was hoping for a bit more from the only used bookstore in a university town.

Great collection of books and helpful, friendly staff. The aisles are pretty narrow and every conceivable area is crowded with books old & new, cheap & collectable.
Great place to go in with an extra ten bucks on a rainy day and leave with a good new book.

As a primarially and strictly comic book buyer I must say that this bookstore, while knowledgeable and diverse, sells their archival comic books really badly. There is no maintence whatsoever and all the titles are tattered and in «Good» condition at best.
There is a friendly staff, but the attempt to portray a .309 cent comic book off as a high-​priced rarity is totally evident.