J’s Book shelf

Excluding used bookstores in larger cities, college towns, and areas of cultural significance, I generally have a preconceived perspective of the inventory and the atmosphere of quaint used bookstores: boringly and disappointingly middlebrow, catering only to genre interests such as romance, westerns, and cooking. With the recent closing of Ukazoo Books in Toledo and along with the city’s past years of area booksellers going out of business like Thackeray’s, the area seems deprived of literari culture.
J’s Book Shelf was quite a surprise. In addition to carrying genre interests, there is a very well curated and voluminous literature section, including a section reserved for many classic titles. The books are in excellent condition, many almost like new, and the pricing system is ½ of the publisher’s price, ¼ if the patron has store credit. My only disappointment was the lacking/​almost absence of non-​fiction. I would rather see a significant reduction in the genre fiction section and have inventory in psychology, art, and the humanities.
The proprietor is highly interactive and community-​minded, and she will initiate conversation with every customer about interests and recommendations. The only negative is that the buy-​backs seem purely subjective thus resulting in pronounced selectivity.
Very satisfying experience if one is willing to look.