The Bookworm in Richland, Washington: Book Store Review

As a mail-order online bookseller I enjoy visiting what are called "walk in" or "brick and mortar" book stores. I've lived in Richland, Washington all my life and was probably one of the first hundred customers to visit the original Bookworm book store over 30 years ago. Oh, it's recently changed locations and is on, I believe, it's third owner, but it has continued to provide an excellent level of service and access to books down through the decades.

The Bookworm is what is sometimes called a "paperback exchange" in that it focuses primarily on offering used mass market paperbacks at half the cover price. Instead of paying cash for books that people bring in, if they feel they can use the books, they will offer a quarter of the cover price in credit. This credit can be used to pay for all of a used book's price or up to half of a new book's price. All used books are stamped with their special price stamp on the front endpaper. They always buy back (or "credit" back) any books that have their stamp.

Because of their emphasis on used mass market paperbacks, the Bookworm is an excellent source for inexpensive copies of popular genres: science fiction and fantasy, romance, mystery, general fiction. They also have a small, but growing, used Christian fiction section, as well as decent size used children's and young adult inventory. I am not as familiar with their non-fiction offerings, but I would expect that they have some cookbooks, self-help, and classical literature available. The book store's emphasis is clearly more on fiction, than non-fiction, and on the more recently published, than older material.

Though there emphasis is on used books, they do stock more popular new book authors both in hardback and paperback. They have a very attractive collection of new books for both children's and young adults, if you are looking for that special book for a young friend. And if you are looking for that new science fiction or fantasy release, you can almost bet that they'll have it on their shelves within days of the official release date.

Because fiction hardbacks almost always drop dramatically in value once the paperback edition has been released, they set up a special sale table of recent fiction hardbacks for $5. Though the books themselves will usually be in like new condition, the Bookworm has chosen to mark the front endpapers and the page edges with a bright red "Bookworm - Do Not Return" stamp. Though this is unfortunate for the collector looking for an inexpensives fine copy, most readers won't care and will be delighted to get a nice hardback copy for so little.

The Bookworm also offers a book ordering service where a customer can request a new copy of a book not currently on the store shelves. There is not extra charge for this service beyong the normal cover price of the book. In the past, I know, they also offered an e-mail notification service for your favorite authors; when a book by that author was published, they would let you know and offer to order a copy for you.

Another plus about shopping at the Richland Bookworm is that you actually have access to the Kennewick Bookworm as well. This is another book store, in a different town, owned by the same owner. You can request that the store clerks at the Richland Bookworm contact the Kennewick Bookworm to see if the other store has a particular title, and vice versa. You can also pay for a book in the Kennewick store with store credit recorded in the Richland store, and vice versa.

Lastly I'd just like to say that the physical aspects of both stores are very pleasant: cheerful, well lit, with adequate space between rows, one or two comfortable chairs if you need a rest, and staffed by very knowledge and courteous staff people. The Bookworm is designed and run like a book store should be. They've been open for decades, and I would hope that they would continue to prosper and provide books to the Tri-Cities area for decades to come.

You can find the Richland Bookworm at 701A The Parkway, Richland, Washington. The Kennewick Bookworm is located at 201 N. Edison Suite 248, Kennewick, Washington. Both are open Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 10-4. Drop on by and say "Gail sent me."

Blessings!