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Looking for suggestions nearby where we can sell used DVDs/CDs/Books for store credit (or cash).
We are new to the PNW and just moved to Renton.
We already are familiar with Half Price Books. (We shopped at many Dallas -suburb locations when we lived in Texas a few years ago.)
We are wondering if there are other local multi-media stores like HPB that long -time residents can recommend or advise to avoid.
We are looking for clean, not grubby media stores nearby with a wide range and variety of used and new material like international, foreign -language films/CDs /books/magazines,etc.
Thank you in advance!
Have you tried Elliott Bay Books? You may have to do an internet search, and simply call used bookstores. And sometimes the used bookstore staff can tip you off as to small businesses that buy and sell other media.
Thank you for the reply, Ruth4Truth!
I quess I should have known that there would be few choices for used DVD/CD/ book stores that buy for store credit or cash in Amazon's backyard, LOL!
After all, Amazon has singlehandedly put more Mom and Pop as well as big chain stores out of business than anyone else.
Once we are finally unpacked and actually have some time to drive around, we'll check out Elliot Bay Books as well as HPB stores and any others we may find on our own .
And of course, if all else fails there's always donation or recyclable bins!
Thank you for the reply, Ruth4Truth!
I quess I should have known that there would be few choices for used DVD/CD/ book stores that buy for store credit or cash in Amazon's backyard, LOL!
After all, Amazon has singlehandedly put more Mom and Pop as well as big chain stores out of business than anyone else.
Once we are finally unpacked and actually have some time to drive around, we'll check out Elliot Bay Books as well as HPB stores and any others we may find on our own .
And of course, if all else fails there's always donation or recyclable bins!
Well, some used bookstores have adapted to the "market" (i.e. Amazon) by selling online through Amazon. That's one way for them to survive. But good indie bookstores and used bookstores do exist, though Covid really did a number on them. They'd succeeded in hanging on until then, but Covid forced some to close. However, if you do an internet search, you should be able to come up with a few, and some do take DVD's. IDK about music CD's.
But...seek and ye shall find! When I moved to the Denver area last year, it took me awhile to find a good match; there were used bookstores all around, but some were corporate (= pay next to nothing for your books), others had their own narrow specialized focus. I finally found one that was the right niche for my taste in books; they bought almost everything, and in addition, bought some of my DVD's after checking them for condition. So, persistence can pay off.
Well, some used bookstores have adapted to the "market" (i.e. Amazon) by selling online through Amazon. That's one way for them to survive. But good indie bookstores and used bookstores do exist, though Covid really did a number on them. They'd succeeded in hanging on until then, but Covid forced some to close. However, if you do an internet search, you should be able to come up with a few, and some do take DVD's. IDK about music CD's.
But...seek and ye shall find! When I moved to the Denver area last year, it took me awhile to find a good match; there were used bookstores all around, but some were corporate (= pay next to nothing for your books), others had their own narrow specialized focus. I finally found one that was the right niche for my taste in books; they bought almost everything, and in addition, bought some of my DVD's after checking them for condition. So, persistence can pay off.
Ruth4Truth,
How ironic you ended up in the very area we chose to leave!
When we lived in the Denver area, we found that 2nd & Charles (the ones in Aurora and Littleton are best) offered the most store credit. A few months ago, we had around $78 available and I found the Criterion Ingmar Bergman Blu-ray Collection, still wrapped for $80 - We only paid $2 dollars out of pocket! That was a phenomenal deal but if you saved up your store credit and you were lucky, you could sometimes score a real find.
I wouldn't recommend Angelo's or Twist & Shout (located on Colfax next to the Sie Center (the late lamented indie film complex which once boasted fantastic international film festivals year-round and is now just an overpriced regular boring movie theatre.)
When we first arrived in Colorado from Virginia (where we'd lived for three years), Angelo's offered some great bargain opera Cd sets (still shrink-wrapped) and International DVD films at really great prices. Twist & Shout was a fun place to look around between movies at the Sie Center and you could occasionally find a bargain deal on a barely used set. One store we loved, Tradesmart , closed in 2016. They offered a great selection of gently used/ new DVDs, Blu-rays, books and CDs and paid really high prices for trade-in items.
Even though I loathe the traffic here, I love the mild, predictable weather because as a native Jersey girl, I need to be at a semi-humid sea-level location with cloud cover and rain. (I hated sunny, semi- tropical Virginia.) We had a good 8 years in the hot but vibrant Dallas area, so I have a lot of pleasant memories of living there.
I hope you have adjusted to the more than Mile-High Denver altitude and the brutally dry barrenness of Colorado, where temps can fluctuate more than 50 degrees in one day.
I am so glad to be away from Colorado- I don't miss that awful weather at all!
Amazon has singlehandedly put more Mom and Pop as well as big chain stores out of business than anyone else.
I don't think Amazon did it single-handedly. From what I've seen in Seattle, it is redevelopment and high rents that closed most stores.
My favorite bookstores were torn down, and new construction with rents as high as $3000/month replaced them. You have to sell a lot of books to cover that rent.
Ruth4Truth,
How ironic you ended up in the very area we chose to leave!
When we lived in the Denver area, we found that 2nd & Charles (the ones in Aurora and Littleton are best) offered the most store credit. A few months ago, we had around $78 available and I found the Criterion Ingmar Bergman Blu-ray Collection, still wrapped for $80 - We only paid $2 dollars out of pocket! That was a phenomenal deal but if you saved up your store credit and you were lucky, you could sometimes score a real find.
I wouldn't recommend Angelo's or Twist & Shout (located on Colfax next to the Sie Center (the late lamented indie film complex which once boasted fantastic international film festivals year-round and is now just an overpriced regular boring movie theatre.)
When we first arrived in Colorado from Virginia (where we'd lived for three years), Angelo's offered some great bargain opera Cd sets (still shrink-wrapped) and International DVD films at really great prices. Twist & Shout was a fun place to look around between movies at the Sie Center and you could occasionally find a bargain deal on a barely used set. One store we loved, Tradesmart , closed in 2016. They offered a great selection of gently used/ new DVDs, Blu-rays, books and CDs and paid really high prices for trade-in items.
Even though I loathe the traffic here, I love the mild, predictable weather because as a native Jersey girl, I need to be at a semi-humid sea-level location with cloud cover and rain. (I hated sunny, semi- tropical Virginia.) We had a good 8 years in the hot but vibrant Dallas area, so I have a lot of pleasant memories of living there.
I hope you have adjusted to the more than Mile-High Denver altitude and the brutally dry barrenness of Colorado, where temps can fluctuate more than 50 degrees in one day.
I am so glad to be away from Colorado- I don't miss that awful weather at all!
Believe it or not, I came DOWN a half mile in altitude, moving to Denver!! True story! I moved from Santa Fe. I find I"m sleeping better here, at a lower elevation. But the Denver area is much hotter than Santa Fe, and gets far less moisture. (The monsoons are dead in CO.). I"m hoping to move back to the West Coast somewhere. This Denver location is just temporary. I'm LOVING all the Russian bakeries and delis in Aurora, though!
The bookstore I found that takes DVD's as well, was Black and Read books in Arvada. It's a long drive from east Aurora, but it was exciting to find a store that asked me to bring more books, if they were of the same quality and topic breadth as the first batch I took them. I needed cash, so I wasn't interested in store credit They weren't paying cash they said by phone, but when they saw my books, they were happy to pay me! SCORE!
I've made a couple of trips to Boulder. It's far from dry and barren there. I found an amazingly good Tibetan/himalayan restaurant there. Had fun shopping in the pearl district.
Back to you: people are still buying DVD's, you just have to find the right venue. Maybe some people are buying music CD's too (I am). A used bookstore in Santa Fe tipped me off to a guy who pays cash for VINYL records! He even makes house calls! We had a great time sifting through my old vinyl collection an chatting about music. You never know who's out there buying stuff. When you call bookstores that buy used books, ask them if they know anyone who's buying CD's (or offering store credit).
I see there are. at least a dozen used bookstores in Seattle still alive and kicking. You can call them and ask if they're taking the type of subject matter you have.
2nd & Charles was a rip-off, since I wanted cash. They pay next to nothing for used books. The good news for people who just want to re-home their books to people who will appreciate them is, that they take almost anything. But for those who want cash, it's better to look around a bit.
(Checked bags fly free on SWA!) 2x 50# each
+ Bolt Bus has some really cheap fares.
Train is not as cheap, but only $47 or so.
Nice trip for a rainy weekend.
BTW: I came to PNW from Colorado about the time St Helens blew. (I grew up in Masonville and Estes Park in the 1950's and 1960's. A tad different Colorado in those days. Elitch Gardens was a fun break from the ranch duties (old location), but we spent everyday of NW Stock Show in Denver. That was enough to last a yr.) We still go back to NoCO many times / yr. Better to visit, than to live there, except for biking... tough to beat CO for that.
TX hill country is my winter escape from PNW, when I can't go to NZ.
Last edited by StealthRabbit; 09-12-2022 at 11:57 PM..
Golden Oldies on NE 45th in Wallingford area. He mostly does old vinyl, some cassettes, CD. His thing is music so I don't know about books or DVDs, I don't remember detail as I have not been there for a bit. I only went there to buy vinyl, I think he only does store credit, but you can lose yourself in there.
Thank you all for a very lively discussion!
We put the books/DVDs/Blu-rays /CDs resale/store credit on hold for the time being because we simply have to unpack and only then explore the area. My husband's very demanding job and limited earned time off (i.e., no 10 days off as at the previous jobs during the holidays means he has to save a day or two for around Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve if he doesn't want to work then) coupled with an exhausting second move equals less hours to find our away around the vicinity with the frequent gridlock traffic.
@Ruth4Truth, I'm shocked you ended up in Colorado after living at an even higher NM altitude! I'm not surprised you plan to leave there though - Colorado has an absolutely brutally dry sun-laden bi-polar (hot and cold) climate and is totally bereft of moisture, unless you are a fanatical mountain -loving millionaire-skier, LOL!
The weather in Washington is lovely, cool and semi-cloudy, just the way I like it! And so far, PNW people are a lot friendlier and approachable then the smug, self-centered, outdoor only oriented Colorado peeps I met over twelve years of having to live there.
As for that Arvada bookstore, I think we went there once, but Second & Charles suited our purpose better because as you wrote, they took most anything, and we would use the store credit to save a lot of money on Criterion and other Arthouse BLURAYs/DVDs/Opera CDs , books, etc.
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True story! I moved from Santa Fe. I find I"m sleeping better here, at a lower elevation. But the Denver area is much hotter than Santa Fe, and gets far less moisture. (The monsoons are dead in CO.). I"m hoping to move back to the West Coast somewhere. This Denver location is just temporary. I'm LOVING all the Russian bakeries and delis in Aurora, though! 
