I went hunting for used books in SLO County. Here’s what I got on a $25 budget
Off a busy stretch of West Grand Avenue in Grover Beach, you can find a quaint bookstore where losing track of the time is expected and sifting through beat-up books brings peace.
Before you enter the store, you are met with a sign on the front door: “Bookstore cats inside.”
Like customers, cats call this bookstore their sanctuary.
I recently went searching for used books for On a Budget, a series where Tribune reporters try cheap eats and affordable activities in San Luis Obispo County.
I decided to head to southern San Luis Obispo County, since I’m less familiar with that area.
The bookstores I visited in Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande did not disappoint. I was able to find secondhand books I’ve been meaning to knock off my reading list, with prices that felt like a steal.
Here’s how I spent my $25 budget:
What is Nan’s Books and Crystals in Grover Beach?
I visited Nan’s Books and Crystals, 1328 West Grand Ave. in Grover Beach, on a recent weekday morning.
The sight of thousands of books caught my eye as I entered the store, which seemed jarring at first, but the environment and staff was inviting.
Walking through the aisles of the bookstore, I realized I had a sly, fluffy shadow. His name was Jay Catsby, and he was an orange cat seeking any and all attention.
Nan’s opened in 1987 in a small house in a strawberry field in Grover Beach, current owner and Grover Beach Mayor Kassi Dee said.
Dee’s grandmother, Nan Fowler, moved her bookstore to its current location on West Grand Avenue in 2001.
In 2020, Fowler retired and Dee took over, maintaining its close relationship with the community.
Dee expanded Nan’s offerings beyond books in 2023 after the Halcyon Post Office shut its doors. Dee bought the shop’s collection of rocks and crystals and starting to sell them at her bookstore.
How does SLO County bookstore operate?
Nan’s Books and Crystals has more than 75,000 used books for sale. The store can order new books at the request of customers.
The bookstore mainly gets its inventory from people trading in their books.
“We go through their books. We take what we need for the store and then whatever we don’t take we actually donate to the Grover Beach library,” Dee said.
She added that she sees roughly 30 people a day looking to trade in their books.
Nan’s buys books for about 20% of their cover price and sells them for half of the cover price.
All books from Nan’s have signature stamps inside. Some of them have traveled across the world, according to Dee.
“We actually have a pen pal from Holland who had found one of our books,” she said.
I started by searching through the classic novels and politics sections, finding Ernest Hemingway novels I had not heard of and nonfiction books about American history.
Of course, Jay was there for every bookshelf browse, jumping into my lap multiple times.
Cats have always been a part of Nan’s.
Jay and his brother, Scout Finch, currently live in the store. Dee adopted the cats five years ago and said the cats treated Nan’s like home almost immediately.
Scout’s name comes from a character in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and Dee named Jay after the title character from “The Great Gatsby.”
How I spent my $25 budget at Nan’s Books and Crystals
I purchased “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow for $8.15 and received a free bookmark.
Coincidentally, “The Last Lecture” is Dee’s favorite book.
Jay was lying near Scout when I was leaving. I waved goodbye, sad to leave him behind.
Nan’s Books and Crystals is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m Monday through Saturday. On Sunday, it is open from 1 to 5 p.m.
Where is A to Z Books in Arroyo Grande?
I also stopped by A to Z Books, 909 East Grand Ave. in Arroyo Grande.
The bookstore shares a single-story building with two other businesses off Highway 101 on the corner of East Grand Avenue and South Halcyon Road.
Walking into A to Z Books felt more like entering someone’s home that had been overtaken by a book monster than visiting a business.
Books spilled out of shelves onto the ground, stacked so jaggedly they could potentially fall over with a gentle tap.
Papers, books and miscellaneous items were spread chaotically across a desk in the middle of the front room.
The shop owner, Laura Mullen, sat behind it, welcoming me with a smile and jumping out of her chair to turn on the lights in the backrooms.
Mullen and her mother started the used bookstore in 1988, originally opening in Grover Beach.
In 2008, they moved A to Z Books to Arroyo Grande and expanded their collection by adding CDs and DVDs.
What’s for sale at Grand Avenue business?
A to Z Books has more than 40,000 books in stock Most came from customers trading in their collections.
“I am kind of a book addict, so I’ll go out hunting too,” Mullen told me.
The majority of the books cost half their cover prices.
If you buy a book, Mullen can stamp it. That way, if “you bring them back, you’ll get 20% of the full cover (price),” she explained.
A to Z Books also has a cart with $1 books.
Mullen said the books in her shop are categorized by genre and then alphabetically.
One bookshelf in the store is labeled “Don’t know what to do with it,” Mullen said with a laugh.
These books that do not fit with the other categories in the store, she explained, so they end up on the shelf until she can find a proper home for them.
What I got at A to Z Books
Currently, the most expensive item in A to Z Books’ inventory is a collection of 12 books written by Edgar Cayce, which costs $1,000.
As I only had $16.85 left of my budget, I didn’t bring the Cayce books home with me.
Instead, I picked up “Notes from the Underground” by Fyodor Dostoevsky for $9.99.
A to Z Books is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and is closed on Sundays.
Are SLO County bookstores affordable?
In total, I spent $18.14 after tax on two books, putting me safely under budget.
Both Nan’s Books and Crystals and A to Z Books are definitely affordable options for shoppers. Books are mainly half price and in above-average condition.
In fact, most of them seemed like new or only slightly used.
Even if your budget is extra-tight, head to A to Z for $1 books or stop by Nan’s to play with the cats.
Where should I go next?
Have any ideas on where I should visit next in SLO County on a budget?
Send me recommendations at alexiah.olsen@thetribunenews.com or by filling out the form below.
