Greatest little book store going! Helpful staff and will order what you need if not in stock.read more

I stopped in today during my lunch break because I had a gift certificate given to me by one of my…read morestudents. It's a great little shop with a wonderful variety. The store is well organized, clean, bright and inviting. Many of the shelves display books by cover, not by binding which makes them more appealing and intriguing to the potential buyer. As an art teacher, I naturally gravitated to the adult coloring books and fresh sets of colored pencils. I purchased a small book, but now I wish I bought the colored pencils to go with it. I also got a baby book for my son, it was totally adorable. The nice older lady working there greeted me when I entered and was also super kind during check out. I ended up having money left over on the gift certificate to come back and spend at another time. Next time, maybe I'll focus towards the greeting cards, thank you notes, or better yet...those colored pencils.

A lovely and AMAZING bookshop! This is the gem of Madison. If you cannot find parking...this shop…read moreis where everyone is! I don't have the words to describe my experience here!!! Don't miss this shop - see for yourself! Delicious cafe too!!! Even very comfortable to eat alone!!!

I don't often, never, go into book stores. Had lunch at RJ Cafe & Bistro and popped in to find my…read moresisters newborn a Christmas gift of a book. I was very pleased with the service from the lady who worked upstairs. She was very helpful and knowledgeable with children books and even gave a lady and her newborn a quick story tell. She also gave me some insight on how to sell my mazes as they had a kids and an adult section for puzzles. Again, very pleased with this store and would recommend stopping in.

Very cute little bookstore. Books are free - just donate something. It is not closed contrary to…read morewhat Yelp says.

Open mic Saturdays. Music improv last Monday of the month. Great intimate book store. Uncanny and…read morecommunal space. Kind creative people.

A very small bookshop in rural Woodbury, CT. Couldn't pass by w/o taking a look, but the Sci-Fi…read moreFantasy section was so minuscule, it only took a minute to see that there was nothing there that interested me. Honestly, I've found selections of used books in church basements. That's my report, "Hidden Gem" it is not.

I had a fantastic experience when I visited this store on a Saturday. The two people working there…read morewere incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful. The prices are very reasonable, and the selection is surprisingly extensive for a small secondhand bookstore. I highly recommend stopping by the Book Cellar in Woodbury, CT--you never know what treasures you'll find!

Good used bookstore. Reasonably priced. Very friendly staff. Good selection and a searchable…read moreinventory

I visited Books & Company recently for the first time & completely fell in love with it…read more Apparently, this store used to be in Hamden, but the owner retired & sold the building & the company. This is the new location & new ownership. I had never been to the prior store. I spent a whopping two hours in this little shop. It is set up & well curated like a fancy bookstore, on par with my experience at shops like Athena Books in Greenwich, CT, and Martin House Books (formerly Savoy) in Westerly, RI. It's on the smaller/boutique-style size, so don't expect a massive range of genres, like one would find at the Book Barn in Niantic, CT. There's no coffee shop, but there is a Keurig & water available, and a handful of chairs to sit in. The used fiction books were in good or very good condition, easy to locate in their sections, and priced around $8 for hardcovers if the book retailed $24+. I got two recent NYTimes bestsellers that had been on my wishlist. The children's & young adults books were also well selected, and I bought a handful, ranging in $2-$3/each for paperback & hardcover. The price stickers easily peeled off all of my books without leaving any residue, which I very much appreciated. The gift selection was perfect for stocking stuffers or small mailed gifts, including for nerds, gamers, and musicians. There were bowls full of stickers, $0.25 each, and postcards, $1 each. Funny magnets, like Mincing Mockingbird, were a full $3 cheaper than at other gift shops (e.g. Bowerbird in Old Lyme, CT). There were also some handmade gifts from locals. There's a shelf near checkout with wrapped mystery books. I thought this was the common "buy a date with a random book" thing. It wasn't -- You picked one for free with the purchase of any book in the store. The wrapping is a hint related to the title or theme, and a lot of the wrapping was sustainable, e.g. reusing a helium balloon body or old calendars, etc. I was surprised that the mystery book wasn't tied to a minimum purchase amount (and I wonder if it will be sustainable for the shop's bottom line, I have to admit). I was further amazed that all of the wrapped books were advertised as being at least 3.5+ stars on GoodReads. My mystery book ended up being a pristine paperback copy of "The Time Traveler's Wife." There's a selection of greeting cards as well, but I found those to be the only spot the store was lacking; they were expensive at $6+, and I've seen a lot better selections, e.g. at The Bowerbird, with a larger range of independent artists, at more affordable price points $3-$5. I normally buy a lot of greeting cards when I come across ones that aren't the big box brands (Hallmark has a massive monopoly, omg), but I didn't buy any cards here. There was a free section near the front door, and there was a fill-a-bag sale rack near the front. I asked the cashier/owner a lot of questions, and she was very knowledgeable and helpful. I heard her speaking with others who came in & from my understanding, when you trade in books, you get half their selling value in store credit. All in all, this is one of my favorite used bookstores I've visited, and I will definitely travel to the area again before the holidays to visit it. I would highly recommend it! If you like to shop used/vintage/antiques, there's also a little store next door in the same plaza, but it doesn't have A/C. This book shop does have A/C. =)

This is a beautiful bookstore in Essex on the Main Street. Service was nice. There are really some…read morespecial books. They have new and used books and antique books. It's very peaceful and quiet inside. Prices seem low for the high quality!

Updated** Came back for my crystals and all things related!…read more I was stuck on a purple kick, something about my stress and needing a calming presence in my life! I was drawn to literally every purple item, dint even look in other directions. It like it spoke to me Variety of things to choose from. Tarot cards, books, loose crystals, geodes, cut rocks, jewelry you name it!! I love all of the variety and you definitely can get lost. We spent almost 1.5 hours here. Two sides of the store depending on what you are looking for

Mondazzi is definitely a hidden gem! I've been traveling here for years. The mineral and specimen…read moreselections are insane. They have a large selection of natural bead strands, jewelry, books, etc. Anything you're looking for, you'll most likely be able to find it there. The employees are so helpful and are very knowledgeable. I will always return to Mondazzi for anything crystal related!

Great selection of books to choose from. The owner Jill was very knowledgable about the books my…read moreson was interested in. We will definitely be back!

Stumbled across this bookstore on our way to dinner. Owner was pleasant to talk to. Plenty of books…read moreto choose from. Only wish I had more time to browse the shelves. I will return to do so!

I loved my time at the book barn! There's an uncountable amount of books all at reasonable prices,…read morestarting from just $1, and the staff were so nice. I ended up with $50 of books (11) and barely scratched the surface of what they had. I will return when in need of more books!

It's an interesting place with gardens and random junk everywhere. Lots of uninteresting books to…read morechoose from. If you're on the hunt for a book and have time to slowly poke through the shelves, this place might be for you. The goats were friendly and cute. Wasn't my cup of tea.

Our bellies were full and we needed to burn off some calories while in downtown New Haven, so my…read morefriends took my wife and I over to Grey Matter Books since we are big readers and don't care to just walk into the Barnes and Noble down the street. From the moment you walk into this place you are slapped in the face with the lovely smell of used books. This shop is filled from front to back with thousands of used books all separated in little sections. This place definitely doesn't have a ton of newer titles, but is definitely the type of place you can spend an hour or so in just digging through everything and finding some weird and quirky reads. Overall, Grey Matter Books is a very solid used book store with a wide array of different types of books. Although I didn't leave with anything (I live in LA so I can only travel with so many new books, which is a shame) this place is definitely somewhere I'll continue to stop at when visiting Connecticut in the future.

I had been to their "main" (original?) store in Massachusetts, and was so excited to see them as I…read moredrove through New Haven. In fact, even though they were not participating in the Dessert Crawl I was there for, they were my first stop. I made such a smart decision. This store has the same type of fantastic inventory you find in Massachusetts, just fewer ducks guarding it. Every space that can reasonably hold a book shelf has one. It's clean, well faced, and has the occasional folding chair to sit and take it all in. The clerk let people browse quietly, which was more appreciated. The prices were written on the inside cover, so it was nice and clear. I'm excited to go back for the next Crawl and include this store as a stop!