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Barter Books
by durham_girl
Barter Books is one of the largest second hand bookshops in the UK. It is located in the old railway station in the centre of Alnwick, Northumberland.
The idea behind Barter Books is that you take in your old books, they value them and give you a credit. This credit can then be spent within the bookshop. If you have a rare or ... sought after book cash may be offered instead.
The bookshop has been going since the early 1990s and is still run by the original owners. At 32,000 square feet there is plenty to see and thousands of books to peruse. There are 3 main rooms with 23 different sections to choose from
- Paperback biography & fiction
- Music Corner
- History
- Philisophy, Womens studies, Reportage, True Crime etc
- Videos
- Cybercookie
- Gift Books, 1st Editions, Classics, Poetry, Plays, North East
- Arts & Crafts
- Transport, Maritime
- Biography, Photgraphy, Film
- Travel
- Hardback Novels
- Computer Books, Business, Economics, Haynes Manuals
- Reserve
- Science, Social Science, Law
- Reference
- Religion
- Gardening, Natural History, Foreign Language
- Humour, Needlework, Beauty, Keep Fit, Diet,Health
- Sports
- Cookery
- Antiquarian & Rare books
- Childrens
At the front of the shop there is a room which is where the non fiction books are located. They are sorted by author which is great if you're looking for something in particular. There is also a small seating area with a roaring fire which is the perfect place to sit and enjoy a good book. There are cookies and hot drinks available to buy at a reasonable price. I really like this room, it feels peaceful and welcoming and it's nice to relax with a cuppa and a cookie.
The central room is where the childrens section is housed along with the History, True Crime and Philosophy sections. Also here are DVDs and CDs and 2 computers which can be used to access the internet in 30 minute slots. This room is nice and airy and in a nod to the old railway station there is a model train which goes round the room on the top of the bookcases. The childrens section has books or all ages of children and teens and there are a small number of toys to keep younger visitors entertained.
The vast majority of the books are kept in the largest room at the back of the building. This room is dark, cold and has really high ceilings. Lovely in the summer, but I can imagine that it would get very cold in the winter. This part of the building always seems very austere and I always whisper as it feels wrong to speak out loud!
The toilets are located in the largest room next to the old waiting room. It was clean but of the older style, but this was in keeping with the rest of the building so it wasn't too bad.
Overall I like Barter Books, but I only visit when I'm in the area, I wouldn't make a special visit. I read a lot so I always have a stash of books in my cupboard to take up. For my books I got about £1 each in credit, these are for run of the mill chick lit books. Considering none of them were recent books plus I only pay 20-50p each as I get them second hand to start with, I thought this price was pretty reasonable!
On the other side of the coin, I would never spend 'real' money there. The prices they ask for the books are on the high side. Maybe it's due to me being able to source books very cheaply, but I wouldn't pay £3.20 for a second hand book that only cost £6.99 in the first place! There must be lots of people that think differently to me though, because the shop is always busy!
They also have a line of touristy gifts that they sell. These include a war time 'Keep Calm and Carry On' poster with a matching mug, tote bag and various other bits and pieces.
Free parking is fairly limited outside the shop, but I must be lucky as I've always managed to get a space. As the shop is in the middle of Alnwick there is most likely alternative parking fairly close, but I can't give a clue where.
Open every day except Christmas Day, from April to September the opening hours are 9.00 - 7.00, October to March they are reduced to 9.00 - 5.00 with late opening to 7.00 on a Thursday.
I've marked Barter books as 3 star dues to the high prices, everything else I love!
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Video Games in Chester
by ChesterBear
Chester is a great place for video game shops, there are so many to choose from and they are all spaced out through the town so you are never far away from one.
The Market - Chester Market has a store right at the back ( hard to find unless you walk to the back off the market and it's right in the corner, they usually sell ... games at really good prices but they don't offer much for trade in's but you can swap a game for another game without any additional cost, the man who works there is always helpful when am looking for a certain video games and some times he also has some rare games in you can't find anywhere, there is also another store in Chester market a little easier to find because it is located nearer to the entrance but unlike the earlier store i mentioned games can be expensive and there are less to choose from.
Rating 4/5
Location: Princess Street, Chester, Cheshire CH1 2HH
Gamezone - this is a pretty decent place to get retro games from, they have a great stock of nintendo 64, sega, dreamcast, and gameboy games as well as a good stock off retro systems, they were selling the old atari there when i was last in, if your looking for newer games though i would avoid going in here because prices can be high.
Rating 3/5
Location: 29 Frodsham Street, Chester CH1 3JJ
Gamestation - I have done a review on gamestation and like i said in that review, there is no where better for cheap pre owned games you can get some great bargains here and like gamezone they have a mass stock of retro systems. the trade in cash price is better then what you get anywhere else, they have a sales on a lot of new games so usually anywhere else you could pay up to £40 for them at gamestation you can get them for as cheap as £25
Rating 5/5
Location: 39 Foregate Street, Chester, Cheshire CH1 1HD
Game - Never really been a big fan of Game, the prices on pre owned and brand new games are far to high at times, you can get the odd bargain here mainly on PC games, they have a good range of PC games so if your a PC gamer think your best option is game but for console games it would be best to look elsewhere, Game is also a good place to come after christmas the boxing day sales here are great i'll give them that.
Rating 3/5
Location: 46 Foregate Street, Chester CH1 1HA
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Book People, the
by dreamer87
I first came across 'The Book People' when they used to come round to my place of work each week and drop off a different batch of books. They used to leave a sample of each book and a price list and order form that you could then fill in and have your book brought within a couple of weeks to your work place. I used to love having a look ... at the latest delivery as they were all brilliant value and had a range for both adults and children. Occasionally they had items other than books such as cookwear, childrens toys etc.
I then left the company and found myself missing the great value of The Book People and certainly missed it when it came to birthdays as I'd usually keep an eye out for presents for upcoming birthdays. At Christmas they also have some brilliant deals. I googled The Book People on the internet and was very happy to find that they had a website offering a bigger range but still with the great value that the representatives offered door to door.
Since then I have placed a few orders via the website and I've always been really pleased with the service. Also on the website you can collect points the more you shop online which can then build up until you have enough to order yourself a free book, this is a nice little bonus.
Once you order online they will then send you a monthly flyer through the post with the latest offers. They often have offers where you can buy a set of books, sometimes for the RRP (recommended retail price) cost of one of the series in a highstreet bookshop. The Book People claim that all books will be sold with a minimum of 50% off the RRP price which is fantastic as the highstreet usually go by this RRP. A couple of examples are Stephen Fry's 'Last Chance to See' for £5 instead of the RRP of £20, and Michael Palin's 'New Europe' at £3 instead of £20. As you can see there are huge savings to be made and it's nice to see a book company not sticking to the RRP's as these tend to be very expensive.
Delivery is reasonable at £1.95 per book or £3.95 for more than one book or free for orders over £25.00 which is also a nice touch. There are often codes on voucher websites to get free delivery delivery on smaller orders.
I would recommend The Book People 100% and I will continue to order from them myself, both for books for me and for birthday and Christmas presents.
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