Wonder Book & Video

First a warning: don’t go to the Wonder Book in Gaithersburg MD. It used to be the old Book Alcove and is a shadow of this Frederick store. This is one of the best used book stores in the region. Selection is very good and there are vintage and collectible books for true book aficionados. You can spend hours just browsing, for those into that sort of thing. Go during a sale or look for coupons that they occasionally issue and save some money.

The workers are friendly and they have a lot of good books and cds and dvds. They even have some older original xbox and wii games and psp and ps1 games to buy. They also have some newer video games that you can rent. I saw outside some cds and dvds less for then a dollar. Inside some of the cds were 5 bucks but if you bought so many you got one free. They have records also, so all you vinyl lovers check it out. I saw the smaller records also. They are located by the toys r us. they remind me of 2^nd and charles a little bit.

It’s a lot of fun to wander in here. I don’t feel you get a lot for your trades, but I really enjoy shopping here. Lots of books and organized well enough to help you find what you are looking for or just explore and find something new.

Their buying prices are cheap as to be expected, but their selling prices pass at least some of the savings on to the customer. If you’re buying any CD or DVD in a case, check the case because they don’t. Didn’t realize until the next day I bought an empty case, yuck.

Um, why have I not been in Wonderbooks 500 times already?! People kept telling me how great it was but apparently I’m an idiot and didn’t get the message.
Had my first experience a few days ago and MAN that place is overwhelming. Totally in a good way though. You could spend hours in there and not see everything, I think. It would probably be far more productive if you were looking for something specific as they do have a computer to search for stuff yourself or super nice employees to help you out. Wandering the aisles is cool, too.
While I haven’t tried it personally, you can of course sell/​trade-​in your own books and such. My husband has done it a few times and apparently feels like it is a fair deal. Also, you can rent movies from them! Like entire series for insanely low prices. They have new stuff, old stuff, blu-​ray and even VHS if you for some reason still own a VCR.
Winter would have been so much more bearable had I embraced the wonder that is Wonderbooks.

I absolutely love this store.
Love to wander around, admiring old books? You’ll love this place? Looking for a deal? Check their ongoing sidewalk sale. Need perfect order like you’d find at Barnes and Noble? …well, this isn’t your place. This is where book nerds come — to find rare stuff that looks pretty on the bookshelf and is enjoyable to read. There’s so much to see and this place oozes with character and history. You’re either into these sort of stores or you’re not. Personally, I wish there were more around. Chain bookstores aren’t inviting to me and they’re overpriced too.
They have a great selection overall of old and new — but I’d envision book collector types frequenting this store. Their ridiculously priced books are typically the antique ones in superior shape.
Good selection of used music/​videos too. Bought a stack of CDs for a few bucks. They also give you coupons occasionally, so just ask when they’re having the next promotion.
I do agree that their prices are high, generally speaking. Other than that, I have no gripes and will continue to shop here, when I want to splurge.

Not for the weak-​hearted ‘reader’ just looking for the latest bestseller, but for the real book nerds who want to get lost for hours and leave with a stack of books they likely didn’t even come looking for. This place is more of an adventure than a store. For that, I love Wonder Book! Their hours are great too, why not get lost in books every night?

I’m a book hoarder, I admit it. I still have stacks on unread books that I bought when Borders was going out of business. So obviously, I adore Wonder Book!
The store is aisle after aisle of books from floor to ceiling. Because of the amount of books to browse through, make sure you come with time on your hands. It’s easy to say you’ll pop in for a quick look and next thing you know, you’ve been inside for an hour!
Like other reviewers, I compare everything (not just books) with the Amazon price before buying and I’ve found some good deals, most notably an out of print Hemingway biography for $ 5 that was selling on Amazon for almost $ 50. I haven’t bought any DVDs myself but the bf got a used Blu-​Ray of This Is the End when it was a new release for $ 6 – 7 and it worked just fine. I think they also offer a BOGO on DVDs when you check in on Unilocal.
They also sell books through their website and eBay. Definitely come here if you love books!

While there are lots of books the store itself is a total cluster. I like non-​fiction and those books are not categorized alphabetically by author but instead by subject. Autobiography is not one of the subjects so I can never find anything in that genre. If you have all day then go ahead and start digging. But some of the prices are crazy and it’s just not worth it to me.

They advertise that they buy CDs in the paper and their website. I brought in nearly 300 CDs to be purchased and was told that they could either give $ 4 cash or $ 6 store credit. Insulting and ridiculous.

Wonder is a gem in the rough but as usual you have to know what you’re looking for. The store is stacked full of books EVERYWHERE. Watch where you walk, as there are books frequently stacked on the floors! Walkways are narrow between the bookshelves that are well organized by subject. The books I tend to look for varied in terms of stock, many Graphic Novels and Naval books were in stock but Manga selection was hit or miss. Prices also varied, but I found deals. The rather large selection of old and rare books are kept behind glass in the middle of the store.
What surprised me was the large Blu-​ray and DVD rental selection. Yes, I said rental. They also have various new Blu-​ray and DVD’s for sale. The used Blu-​ray and DVD’s had a decent stock but was extremely variable in terms of selection (I found nothing that would add to my collection.) Mixing of the new and rental sections did make Blu-​ray/​DVD searching a little confusing compared to other stores I’ve seen.
Overall, Wonder is far from perfect but I’ll be stopping back again. If you enjoy searching there are potential opportunities.

I walked in and my head almost exploded there were so many books. That said, you would think they would lower their prices to deplete some of their inventory. It’s kind of ridiculous. This location has much much much more space to walk around than the Gaithersburg one which was great because I couldn’t get my baby’s stroller into the other store. The kids book section is better organized but again, the books were overpriced unless the copy was completely falling apart. The store employees were nice about helping me find some books and they had everything I was looking for. There was a sidewalk sale and I picked up a (very worn but readable) copy of Under the Dome for under a buck so that was a good deal. New-​ish kids board books were still $ 4 though. I probably won’t go out of my way to return just because it’s too overwhelming a place and a little pricey.

I’ve been here dozens of times. Large book selection, decent used CD selection, and very large DVD selection. Prices are decent. The books can be tough to search through, and the CD’s are equally difficult, but it’s because there are like a million of each and the customer’s undoubtedly move things around. I would deduct a star for the mild disorder, but it would be a Sisyphean task to pay a team of teenagers to literally try to re-​order everything constantly.

This is a great store with a little bit for everyone. New books, used books, videos, DVD’s, vinyl, you name it, they got it. True, sometimes you have to be patient to find something, but it’s that store you will find that rare treasure or obscure item in. I could easily go in and spend a few hours wandering and come out with entertainment for a month. Take the time to check it out.

When I was younger and lived in Frederick, I used to frequent Wonder Book on a regular basis. I mean, I was there every single week, sometimes more than once a week. I wasn’t there for video rentals or used books (most of the time anyway, though i have bought a few books over the years). I used to go for their used records. Back when I used to go frequently, they had a HUGE selection of great vinyl that was changing all the time. Their prices, as someone else said, were all over the map ($ 20 for a trashed Elvis lp? give me a break), so I stuck to the cheaper stuff and usually found something good.
If I had only one thing to say about this store, it would be that I owe this place for introducing me to the music of The Ames Brothers and local Baltimore legend Ronnie Dove through the used 45’s they used to have tons of (but in recent years have had an extremely thin selection of 45’s, choosing to focus on LP’s instead, which I am not very fond of). The Ames Brothers 45 was one i bought there based on the song, You Are My Sunshine, which I loved, causing me to seek out more by the group, and the Ronnie Dove 45 I picked up just because it had a metal adapter in it, which I had never seen before, that record being Hello Pretty Girl, which also caused me to seek out more by him and turned me into a huge fan of his music.
These days if I stop in there, I don’t often leave with anything anymore. It’s almost like the good stuff has been picked over before it had a chance to make it to the shelves. And their selection of 45s is incredibly thin. I remember when they had a huge plastic tub full of them, I never even made it through all of them before they ended up tossing them out. Stupid, stupid. Apparently some guy went dumpster diving and pulled them all out and was selling them at an antique store a week after that…
Anyway, I do still stop in here every time I am staying in the Frederick area, sometimes I come out with some LP’s but not being a big fan of them, I later find myself wondering why I bought them… I think it’s just to bring back childhood memories, but I’m glad the place is still around for me to be able to do that, as so much that I loved about Frederick when I was a child is now long gone.

Great selection, easy to see why this is a town favorite. Didn’t have the book I stopped in for, but I’ll definitely be back to peruse the shelves soon!

What are these people smoking???
I stopped in here because it was across from a Toys R’ Us I was shopping at, and the sound of a video/​book store really intrigued me. Who comes up with the prices for the merchandise here? It’s outrageous! Laughable even. I’ll give you two perfect examples of how far off base these people are on prices for DVD’s;
1) Sealab 2021 Season 1 DVD — Their Price $ 79.99. Amazon’s price $ 6.49.
2) The Brak Show Volume 1 DVD — Their Price $ 59.99. Amazon’s price $ 8.99.
Good grief, if you’re going to try and sell something, at least attempt to be competitive. Talk about a place that has no clue what the value of their merchandise is. How do they possibly stay in business trying to gouge people like this?
I didn’t even bother looking at the books or CD’s after first seeing the prices on these DVD’s, but I will say that what I saw from a distance, everything seems to just be a cluttered mess with no real organization to the whole thing. The DVD’s and Blu-​Rays where honestly no better. There was no rhyme or reason to where everything was.
I can truly understand why the one reviewer said, «I could spend hours here,» because that’s the amount of time you’ll need to invest if you want to find anything you’re looking for.
I guess if you’re in to getting majorly ripped off then this is the place for you.

My favorite store in the whole world. I can easily spend hours here. Tons of old, out-​of-​print books; interesting bric-​à-​brac on the walls and a good DVD/​Video section. It’s also nice to come in and pick up a bag full of trashy romance novels for less than $ 20.00. You can also order books through their website and have it delivered to the store if it’s not in stock at the Frederick location.
Wonder Book also does books by the foot, which is a great way to start a personal library fast.

Cool place to check out if you are in the area, but I couldn’t understand why some of the prices were so high.

Wonderbook is my magical special place. I love it so much. I’m a pretty big sf nerd, and the treasures I’ve found here are incredible: out-​of-​print or rare sf classics, stuff like Fred Pohl’s «The Way the Future Was» or Bradbury’s «I Sing the Body Electric».
Every time I visit MD, I try to make it up here. And every time I make it up here, I end up spending $ 40-​$ 50 and coming out with a tower of old, great books.
I also need to give them mad props for selling me — when I was once in a craze of Trekness — an old VHS of the 1979 Star Trek: The Motion Picture for like $ 2. That movie… so bizarre and so sf. And watching it on a scratchy VHS, like it was my own special, hidden discovery, was just perfect. I can’t recommend this place highly enough.