Abraxus Books

This place is pretty cool. They have a great selection of books with fair prices. I was able to find some titles that I have been looking for for months. It’s walking distance from the Seattle Center.

For me, it was a sad day when this book store left Ballard. It was a place I could over stay my lunch hour. There was a courtyard out back, books displayed that would steer me away from wher eI wanted to go, but wound up finding something new. They amount of books on all different subjects is amazing. The staff is helpful and friendly, yet they enjoy keeping their nose in a book if they are not assisting customers. I have purchased many books in the store, some gifts, some to collect and the others I will get around to reading when my child graduates I’m sure.
I have only been to the QA store once, but need to go back. I miss them in Ballard though, wish they could have stayed.

I went in to Abraxus recently to sell some books, and ended up selling 12 books for $ 13. Dear people: if you haven’t realized yet, books are not investments. :)
As a customer, Abraxus is kind of… brown and musty. Not very exciting or welcoming, but they do have a heck of a lot of books in there.

The books i found were all marked up and in poor shape, and thus found them to cost too much for its condition. The furniture is under sheets, which is kinda gross, and the few words I exchanged with who I assume is the owner left me feeling like I was bothering him. There is obscure books, but feels more like an exaggerated garage sale.

Update: Abraxus has moved. This makes me sad. First, because I loved the old space, and second, because it probably makes room for yet another soulless condominium complex with a tanning salon and a Kinko’s. Yay, progress!

I also really want to give Mercer Street Books a 5 star as Debbie (owner of MSB) has been doing a great job turning the store around since it was Twice Sold Tales. So I am a little conflicted about giving Tony (owner Abraxus) 5 stars. But, he has the space for a great selection of a variety of subjects and reasonable prices. The hours are great and the store is very inviting to sit down and study/​read books. From Literature, to History to Philosophy to sailing and cooking he has it all.

Stacks & stacks of books, a slightly creaky floor, some seating, an older gentleman at the counter, and a slight ‘old book’ smell in the air… Abraxus is exactly what I imagine (and hope) a used bookstore to be like!
*Abraxus Books recently moved and address has been updated on this listing. They are now in Queen Anne!*
I browsed for a while and did not end up finding any books I wished to purchase, but I enjoyed my experience… even though I spent several moments being slightly sad about how it feels like such shops are becoming a thing of the past. (I felt a bit better when a couple of other customers came in.)
I think next time I’m thinking about purchasing a book that’s been out for a while, I’ll have to look for it at a used book store before I head to
.

the week before I’m moving out of Ballard, I finally stop in this place – I had been expecting the usual used bookstore experience, so never made it a priority but this day I was on foot, which lends itself to exploration far more easily.
Well! I was all kinds of wrong. As everyone has said, it’s like a quiet, bookish oasis – sun coming through the windows, back doors open to a little garden place, with the sound of trickling water. Everywhere I looked there were more and more places to sit – chairs, couches, all comfy-​looking. The books aren’t tightly and neatly arranged, but kind of spread over every surface, inviting exploration. I grabbed a thick biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay and made myself comfortable in a deep-​cushioned couch; I could have spent all afternoon there. That’ll teach me to judge a book by its cover – I wish I had gone in there months ago.

Yesterday I came here on a quest for a specific book, which, after only a few minutes wandering about in mild confusion, I was able to determine they didn’t have.
The slightly haphazard organization didn’t bother me. I’m sort of a judge-​a-​book-​by-​its-​cover sort of girl, so left to my own devices I could easily lose an entire afternoon here just plucking books off the shelves and reading a few pages here and there. That certainly seemed like acceptable behavior here. In the ten minutes I was inside, I didn’t see any employees and only set eyes on one other individual who was sprawled lazily on a leather chair. Come to think of it, maybe he was the employee, but he still didn’t make himself known as such.
Other random observations:
*Prices seemed average-​to-​high for used books. Some books weren’t marked with a price; not sure if they have some generic pricing system that I wasn’t aware of.
*In the vestibule between the two banks of doors at the entrance, there appears to be a nature walk. Trees, soil, fallen leaves. Some litter. Not sure what’s going on there.
I’ll certainly be back, preferably on a day that a) isn’t gloriously sunny and b) I have at least four hours that I won’t mind losing forever.

This is Part 3 of my used book selling experience. See Parts 1 and 2 for the full story — so dramatic don’t you know. It should be noted that Abraxus gets 4 stars for the quality of store it is and service… it really should have 3 stars based on if this is a good place to sell your used books or not. HOWEVER — I have no doubt that if you have rare books to sell… this is definitely the place to go.
I hit up Abraxus Books on my quest to sell off all the remaining memories of college literature and touching literary moments that aren’t so touching anymore (but hopefully will be for someone else).
Firstly, i LOVE that Abraxus is housed in an old library. A beautiful setting with skylights, comfortable couches and chairs and great jazz standards on the stereo.
Secondly: the gentleman was very pleasant and honest… he told me straight up that he most likely would not find too much to buy and would rather give credit than cash due to the current economic standings and the fact that people are apparently not buying books much anymore… this personally struck me as odd as I thought that if anything, used book sales and library memberships would be going up. Just my thoughts though.
The Verdict: he only bought two books for $ 3. He said that the others were good but he already had them and had doubles to boot — so off I went with $ 3 more than before but more importantly knowing that I would definitely be back to buy rather than sell.

My dealing with this bookstore was through their online ordering and could not have been more unpleasant. The short version is that they billed me before the order was shipped and then screwed up the order 3 separate times so that more than six weeks after the order was placed I am still waiting for a subset of the books that I ordered. But what has really bothered me is that they are not responsive to my email inquiries, and I have wasted a lot of time trying to get my order resolved. I will never give this store my business again.

Hi My name is Amanda, and I’m a book addict anonymous, ok I guess not so anonymous. I just moved down the block from this store and was amazed by how similar this place looks to my childhood library. It makes sense that it used to be a library. I went in here with my fiancé and was impressed by the huge amount of books. I decided to check for my book club book and the very helpful book guy was able to find me the one copy and at a little less than half the cover price! I am very excited to explore this store some more.

Being a book junkie, I find myself spending more and more time at Abraxus. It’s a comfortable shop, with non-​intrusive, but quite helpful staff and what seems to be a limitless supply of books to peruse! Every time I visit I discover new finds, and their prices are quite reasonable.
I’ve been surprised how many times I’ve located a current best seller waiting to be purchased at half its original price. And I have had great luck with children’s and young adult books — both finding ones I’m searching for, and paying less than I’d originally expected.
Abraxus is worth the trip into Ballard.

EIGHT! This bookstore is open til 8pm! When I write it it doesn’t seem like much, but once it starts getting dark at 4pm and everything post-​work feels like the middle of the night… 8pm is totally kickass.
If you have ever wanted to have a library all your own to wander and enjoy at your leisure… hushed, yet NPR reaches every corner… Abraxus is your place. It used to be the Ballard library (everyone knows that!) so they’re still using all the old shelving and book trucks (one, labeled «Overstock Fun», sits at the back of the store for intrepid book-​buyers to peruse). Abraxus is overflowing with an amazing selection of used books — so many books from so many genres that they actually have a section dedicated to books about women sailors. How cool is that?!
It’s really cool.
Did I mention the comfy chairs? How about the staff — lets you be when you want to browse, willing to chat when you want to talk books and grieve over the impending loss of your grocery store? The moral of the story is prior to this evening Seattle had yet to provide me with a used bookstore I could love (Magus is nice, but claustrophobic, and I’m just not feelin Half Price). THE GOOD NEWS is Dude Behind the Counter said they have a 2 year lease — which means the lot (hopefully) won’t be levelled for condos until then. Whew.