Do you like inexpensive used book hunting? Do you enjoy an old book smell? Do you want to chat with…read morea sweet, funny, knowledgeable employee who has been working at the same book shop for 40+ years? This is your place. A weird and wonderful selection of books both ancient and new, all priced so perilously low that you will have a problem not leaving with a large stack for under $30. Adorable in all aspects, this shop made me long for days I spent in my grandparents' library at their house as I grew up and kept me hunting in the stacks for almost an hour.

Great bookstore!! If you've never visited before: hardcovers are 50% of their original sales price…read moreand paperbacks are marked. The owner is always there working and can help you find any type of book you're looking for. There's an excellent selection in the History Room, especially if you're looking for interesting UVa or Virginia knowledge!

Very kind & helpful staff, plus the place feels like a bookstore! It's not corporate but local &…read morethe architecture inside & out feels warm, cozy & comforting. Grateful in a word, sums it up!!

Rude service -good customer service goes a long way and this book store does not that have that at…read moreall. Uncomfortable seating small kids section.

I've gotten books here for several years. It has a great selection of books and books on CD. I…read morealways leave with a couple of months worth reading. Great store.

I love this place. My son and I have been going there for years. Cozy and a great selection of good…read morereads. I haven't met a person working behind the counter that I didn't like. The staff is friendly and helpful. I'd much rather buy from this place than the Amazon and Borders. Worth supporting a small bricks and mortar store for tangible books. Going there today in fact. :-)

I have lived here for five years, and have been coming to Blue Whale for even longer! The owners…read moreand staff are incredibly kind and helpful, always willing to point you in the direction of what you're looking for. I have two absolute favorite things here. The first is the $1 book shelf, exactly like it sounds. It is stocked with really interesting stuff for only a dollar! I have found cool old children's books, English and German sheet music, and local guidebooks on that shelf over the years. It is always well stocked with something new. I also love all the vintage prints. They have prints of the local area and UVa, but also old nature prints and others. I especially love their avian pints and their vintage Rotunda prints. All are priced fairly and in excellent condition. And they've got popular press books too! I can't even tell you how many Stephen King books in my collection were picked up here. Definitely one of the best used bookstores around.

Very stuffy atmosphere -- both because the books are old and there's carpet, but also because of…read morethe air of pretension amidst the customers and staff. Also, there was a book cover to buy as art work entitled "Negro Songs". Do not recommend.

Be Super aware of the return policy. I purchased 5 items on Sunday. The baby wasn't thrilled by two…read moreof the items. Went to return two items on Monday and the they could not be returned because the box had been opened. One of the items was not even assembled and neither was played with. Tried to shop local ‍

Bottom Line: Great toy brands and tons of variety…read more My husband and I went into Shenanigans because it has such high ratings, was located a 1/2 mile walk from out hotel and its holiday shopping season. I was impressed with the size of this toy store and excited to see that they carry many of my favorite toy brands like Folkmantis, Calico Critters and Ravensberger puzzles. They had a lot of fun sounding games I hadn't heard of as well. Aside from high quality toys and puzzles Shenanigans also had some really nice seasonal stuff like Advent calendars. My husband and I explored for quite awhile and finally landed on a Jellycat branded stuffed animal for a friend. For such a lovely store I would have expected there to be a little bit more in the way of service. For the fifteen minutes we spent in there the only acknowledgement we received was three words when we checked out - twenty-three seventeen. Maybe the employee was just having a hard day.

Came to visit the city, walked the shopping area and stopped to just browse ended up getting some…read morebooks after wards. I enjoyed the ambience of the store it was cozy inside and so many books to look at. The book shelf's went up to the ceiling. The shelves are organized by alphabetical order and then genres. The prices of the books were more than affordable and in good shape. The owner was nice and sweet.

Such a cute and quaint bookstore. And the staff make it so much better…read more My husband and I were in Charlottesville for the weekend. With a rainy weekend on tap, hiking was out of the question so we went to the Downtown Mall and wandered through the stores. I love Charlottesville...I want to live here. But that's a story for another time. Back to the review. We walked in and were immediately greeted by the nicest person I encountered all day. She was taking down Christmas decorations but offered her time to help us find our next read. She also offered some restaurant recommendations and went above and beyond to help us as we shopped. If course we bought books! She was so lovely that I would have bought something even if I didn't want it. We went to Blue Whale later that day and it was like night and day as far as shopping experiences go.

Welcome to the monkey house, loud awful music - that according to the employees can neither be…read moreturned down NOR selected for. Wow, corporate mind control and distraction at a dystopian level. Funny thing is I think I'm the only one who has ever complained? Why, why do you need loud music in a place like a bookstore? Employees - this should be an OSHA issue, workplace health and safety. Having sound such as that piped into your environment is not healthy. Sadly, bookstores are not really plentiful in C'ville, college town and all...

Service was excellent. The staff was very happy to help me find certain volumes. I don't have…read moreanything more to say. I would like to end this review.

Long-time book seller. Hosts annual open house for students from The Rare Book School at UVA.read more

Arrogance at its nastiest. The lady who runs the place is a know it all who could care less about…read morethe the customer's interests.The selection at Gilliam's is stale and prices are closer to Christies catalogues from the 90's than the current market. There are some nice things but for a serious collector there are much better shops in VA.