Fair's Fair Books

This is a colossal used book store which I understand is 1 of 5 in the city. The establishment has been around for 20 years and it shows, the store is clean, bright and oh so well organised. When entering other used book stores, it can be hit or miss but here, you can be assured you will get what you want because it is so well categorized; I bet you can even find it by yourself.

The two gentlemen working at the counter were both very pleasant and the store itself feels inviting and homey, there are stepping stools all around and there are reading tables and chairs, so you really feel you can dig your teeth into these books but be careful you may get a paper cut.

There are even large animated paintings throughout the store and I found out later these were orchestrated by a very successful book illustrator who is from Calgary. It gives the store a somewhat gallery/library feel.

I go in often to review used DVDs that are for sale because usually they always carry some nice independent and art films, I can buy 3 for $25 and I usually walk away with some classics and personal favourites. Hitchcock, Woody Allen, Sundance award winners, and many international films.

My only complaint is that I find the paperbacks on the more expensive side of the scale of 4 to 5 dollars, the one I was asking about was fairly yellow in age and had dog ears but they were not negotiable on the price. For selection you are safe to shop here but if you can find it at Grounds for Reading or Words Worth Books then I guarantee that it will be priced less there.

What is quite apparent though is the pride and the knowledge the sales staff have. They are 100% committed on giving the best selection and service for your time and money.

Fair's Fair has a library-type feel to it with a massive selection of used books from every genre piled in rows over your head. It's good and the selection is astounding.

The have large sections of history, war, western, science fiction, food etc, etc. The prices are alright and if you want to find a good used book, stop here first. Chances are they'll have it.

They are not "fair ", when buying books. I went to three locations and all three ask you to leave your books and go look around. Don't!
They give you .25 per book! And then sell for 1000% mark up!
Go inside and look around first, price out the books that are similar! Then you make them a counter offer! Otherwise! Just trade your books with friends! As you basicly end up giving them for free! They are theves!

Fair's Fair in Mount Royal has a well stocked store, friendly staff and cheap books. They are fair with what books they accept if you are bringing in books for trade, and the selection there is vast enough that I can usually find what I am looking for.

I seem to be looking for hte same books everyone else is looking for. I am not usually lookign for something rare. It is usually whatever the hottest trend is in fiction or non-fiction. It is a rare occassion that I don't walk into this location and find it waiting for me at the front of the store.

Their trade practise there is fair. They give a dollar value for any books that they accept, and then they allow you to use store credit (up to 80% of the book value) to buy a book. Therefore, if you have $20 in store credit and you purchase a book for $10, you can use $8 in store credit, and you pay $2 cash. It makes sense to me. They have to keep the staff paid and the lights on.

I use all the Fair's Fair locations in the city, and this location one is one of my favorites.

The only reason I docked a star, is because of the parking. There is paid parking in the back, and it is a treck and a half to get to the front door, if you have a dolly full of boxes of books. It would be nice to have access to a back door from the parking lot.

30/30

Fair's Fair is an impressive used book store at the corner of 17th Ave and 14th St SW that boasts a selection of nearly 100,000 used books. Going in there, I was hard pressed to identify any of the books on the shelves as being used. That says alot about the standards of their operation. I didn't see any yellowed or dogeared books on display. They only thing that tipped me off were the prices, which were considerably lower than a new book would set you back.
I was greeted upon entering by a friendly dude at the counter, who immediately offered to assist me. Unfortunately for me, they were out of Hunter S. Thompson books - ah well, such is life.
Nevertheless, the fantastic selection and cool little reading nooks I saw, plus the friendly staff, make it very likely that I'll return.

The only reason this place (Inglewood location) does not get a 5 is because they do not have the friendliest of staff.

As everyone else has mentioned this place has a great selection, and the prices are fair. The books are always in good condition unlike some other used book places, which I appreciate. They are also very organized so whatever you are looking for is easy to find within the store.


You can sell your old books to them at a low rate, but you also have the option to trade your books in for store credit, which is a great option if you are an avid reader.

Great selection for slightly used books with a surprisingly large selection. They have a buy back program which I noticed was continuously being used as a steady stream of sellers came in with books yet the influx was well managed by the staff as the books were quickly shuffled away so the remaining store was uncluttered making browsing easy.

My husband looooves books! We browse many-a-bookstore, but this particular location is the one we seem to visit the most. I find the guy behind the counter is very friendly when we walk in (that's good) and he seems eager to help with any inquiries.
I actually own a few books from this store now and am happy to say they will NOT accept, nor try to re-sell, poor-quality books. They only accept the best quality, gently-used books.

I notice this store is well-decorated with large paintings of fantasy scenarios (unicorns, dragons, medieval warriors & princesses).
However, my one complaint is: those very paintings, though nice to look at, appear to be leaning forward, supported only by thin wires. I have a feeling that it's just a matter of time before one of them falls on someone's head!

Otherwise, as long as you watch where you're walking, we'd say this is a good bookstore, esp. for collectors ;)

This store is well stocked and relatively clearly organized. I think some of the prices are a little high (like $4.50 for a super old yellowed edition of a book - which I will say that I still bought) and newer books are probably around 50% off of retail price. They do accept most books for store credit - except for: hard cover fiction, textbooks, non-perfect children's books, and anything they already have too many copies of. When using your store credit you can only use it to pay for 80% of the cost of the books you wish to buy; they say this is so that they can maintain cash flow and pay their bills. They have a little reading area table in the back and the store is always very quiet so it's also a nice place to sit and do some reading. All in all, this store is fun to spend time in and also a great place to check for any books you would like to own for cheap!

This Fair's Fair is a very convenient location for me, but I'm not sure that I can call it my absolute favourite. A good friend and I tend to have these bro dates (can girls be bros? I think so) on weekends where either brunch is had and coffee at Beano is grabbed, and then we walk on over to Fair's Fair.
I always get really excited for this, but admittedly end up leaving empty handed a good portion of the time. I just find the selection here extremely hit or miss. There are a lot of books, but once I wean out all of the content that I will never acknowledge as literature (that's not Fair's Fair's fault...I'm just a jerk) I find myself really only in the back corner, where the classics and Canadian lit section are. Granted, I have found some of the essentials; a copy of "Ulysses," and some books for book club I was able to pick up for half their cover price. I also took home some of my Thoreau from the philosophy section at Fair's Fair. Maybe the real issue here is, that I need to space out my visits more, so that I don't leave empty handed so often.