Exceptional bookstore with a well curated selection. Many used bookstores are drowning in unwanted books and constantly out of stock of quality titles. This shop is the opposite. They have many exceptional titles and are short on all the filler and fluffy you have to scavenge through at other shops to find what you want. I dock a star for pricing because their used prices are pretty close to discounted new prices online. I prefer to pay half price or less on used books and thats not the pricing strategy here. But if youre willing to pay a premium for used books, youll find what youre looking for here.

What an amazing place! Gently used books of many genres, great prices, and Jack is a real superstar! Too bad I live in PA, or Id visit much more often. Ill be shopping here online though.

This place has such a great book store vibe. The employees were super friendly and eager to make recommendations. Things were well organized and they’ve got a catalog of their warehouse for even more options. It’s a small space but it doesn’t feel like it, there’s just such a big collection. Prices were average for used books. Happy we found this place, it’s a great community space for book lovers.

The selection is different than what you’d find at your generic Barnes and Nobles but the prices are the same as new books - and even some are more. They charged me thirty dollars for a ten page children’s book and I didnt catch it until I got home (due to said child having a tantrum). Apparently its part of a set, even though its just one book, I paid for the set. So buyer beware.

What a magical space! The shop has friendly, helpful owners with an incredible variety of new, used, and lesser-known titles for great prices. I snagged some older books (notably, Charles Dickens ghost stories. How cool!) and new releases for a fair price and was able to drop off my gently-read books from home that I no longer had a use for in exchange for points. Highly recommend spending time perusing the shelves here!

Came here because we like exploring book stores when we are visiting new towns. This was a nice shop a good selection for a used book store. Found it a little more expensive than it should be for a used book. But we like buying second hand and supporting small businesses so the few extra dollars were worth it.

Fun little shop with super friendly staff

Stopped in on my way back up to Montana. Outstanding experience.The one person working was so helpful and kind to every customer. They immediately pointed me in the right direction and seemed so warm and genuine.An above average selection of business books, for a top business book I’ve never found in other used bookstores. I also grabbed a staff selection novel for five bucks and a Ben Franklin bio on clearance for five as well.If you’re passing through Salt Lake, definitely check this store out.

We stopped in the Central Book Exchange on our way back to Missoula from Capitol Reef.We are suckers for a good used bookstore, and Central Book Exchange didnt disappoint.The inventory was well organized without being overwhelming, and the employee was incredibly friendly and helpful. The shop itself is located in a trendy neighborhood with other locally owned business (and many national chains too).If youre looking for a specific title, they can easily search their system. If youre the type that likes to meander until you find a book you didnt know you needed, you can do that too.We will definitely stop in again when we are back in Salt Lake City.

Great used book store with knowledgeable staff and large selection.

Not only is Central Book Exchange a pleasure simply because it exists...there is an employee there that elevated my day when he answered the phone. Daniel Bird is obviously knowledgeable, intelligent, and charming,...and he has a whip smart sense of humor. His customer service is supreme. Pam, take good care of this fellow. He is a treasure! ~Jeannine G.

Love this bookstore! Everyone is so friendly and helpful here. Great variety and prices, too. Thanks!

Central Book Exchange will always be the best used book store ive been to. The displays are always on point and they have unique selections. The used book store sale in the summer is one of my favorite. Go check out the local art there specifically Emily Bagleys prints and a portion goes to the store!

I walked in the door and there were already 3 books that I knew I wanted just from books they had displayed! Excellent service and a fantastic range of used books to choose from. Such a great way to spend a bit of an afternoon browsing around (oh and purchasing a lot of books!)

Absolutely charming little shop. The shop attendant immediately found me the stack of books I was looking for, including searching up an anthology that was in another section. The selection was wonderful and the pricing was reasonable.

Cool store in Sugar House. Lots of books!

If you want to find a place to fall in love with a fictional character and then grieve their death horrible, then this is the place for you! The staff was amazing and Merlot answered all our questions and helped us with such kindness! Very well organized as well!

Loved this little bookstore and the owner/staff were also really cool!

Central Book Exchange and I have been close for 30 years. I love this place. Pam is the best and I am always treated like a long lost friend. Browsing is always wonderful and I end up with amazing books. I totally recommend this store to anyone who loves books.

This is my favorite bookstore. Theres so much that I lobe about it. The book selection is extensive, because they have whats in the shop plus a warehouse stuffed with more books. Theyre all in the computer, so they can check to see if they have what you want. You can also call, or shop online. I love looking through the shelves for hidden treasures. The service is personal and excellent. I always stop to chat with whoever is working. I dont mind waiting if they have to go grab books from the warehouse or help someone on the phone, because they give the same personal attention to everyone. Thats the joy of visiting a small, independent bookstore. In fact I end up with more book recommendations from hearing other conversations. Ive been going there for years and it was high time to write a review.

Loved this bookstore and the whole experience. The owner was so kind and helpful when we were trying to find books. They can even order the books for you that they dont have which is great! I ended up buying books that I had not expected to get, and at amazing prices too! Definitely recommend!!

Make sure you understand how the trade-in system works. Small and cozy and in a great walking area. Spend a Saturday morning in here and you wont regret it!

They have a wide range of books. Atmosphere was relaxing categories were clearly marked.

Cozy little shop with both used and new books

Great little bookstore. Very good selection

I was very pleased with Central Book Exchanges handling of my order. The price was great, the condition of the used book I ordered was excellent, although I had expected some of the signs one usually encounters with a used book. The delivery was within the time estimated. Thank you CBE. I will definitely order again.

Adorable hole-in-the-wall bookstore. Books floor to ceiling, but the staff knew where everything was. You can bring in old books to get discounts on the already reduced price. So cozy and cute

Amazing little book store that I love going to!! I read mostly history/non-fiction, so my review is catered more to that genre. They have a good selection of nonfiction and biographies/memoirs, and the prices are pretty good. They also have an online search database, which is convenient if youre looking for a specific title.Their customer service is some of the best Ive seen. One time I went there to find a specific self-help memoir that said was in stock online. So I went into the store and tried to find it for about 10 minutes with no success. I let them know and one of the staff dropped what she was doing in the back and spent a while trying to find the book on the shelves. She finally found it, noticing that it didnt have its dust cover so it was harder to find. I dont think many stores these days would be helpful at that level, and it really impressed me.Even if youre not looking for a specific book, its a charming, cozy little atmosphere and its great to just browse for 20 to 30 minutes and find hidden gems that you werent initially looking for. Highly recommend!

I stopped in today and was really impressed. I found books for several series that Im reading. The lady who rang me up (The owner? ) was as nice as could be. Just when I think customer service no longer exists I meet this lady and I realized I was wrong. I cant recommend this store enough.

If I could leave 0 stars I would.I have been going to The Central Book Exchange for years since I was a child because of my father. I have now brought my child there to enjoy local shops vs chain stores.I called in to ask about two book series to see if they had the following book to one and the first two to the other.Daniel decided to start trying to push me off the phone after the first book request and stated he had customers to help. I had only one book left to ask for and reminded him I am a customer just as much as anyone else there.I heard a customer on the other end tell him to get off the phone and he said that I already asked for the Owners name and so he would have to stay on and then he kept getting sassy just making it more worse then it needed to be. He then told me after looking up the second book that I would wait for him to get the owners number since he had to look it up instead of asking me to hold. I said yes I would anyway and then was on hold for Over 10 minutes. He came back on and gave me the number and then said that I needed remember to tell his boss he had customers in the store. I assured him I would definitely tell Pam the owner all that happened.I called and left a voicemail for Pam and now here we are.Yeah thats a real gem working for them. As a mother calling in for her child about two favorite book series and thats what its like now vs when I was a kid.This is sad. Hopefully the service with this company can be addressed.Myself, parents and child will not be back and I will let my friends know how bad this location has become.

A good place for trade-inning ur old books

Very friendly helpful guidance. They take books in exchange, you only pay small piece of the book you want.

Cutest book shop ever. I will come here several times a month just because I like the atmosphere here. ❤️

A quaint and charming little bookstore. A wide variety of genres and older books.

Great variety, they only sell used. They will always have something youre looking for. Customer service is top notch.

Great used book store. Large selection of classic literature, science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction. Pretty much my go-to shop when I run out of books to read.

Enjoyable shop! Lots of vintage reads! Very helpful staff !!!

Very nice store, we very happy to see that they followed covid safety measures. A wide variety of books for a fair price. I definitely recommend looking here if you need any books for school before going out to buy them new. On top of that the place has a very nice vibe and the staff is amazing.

My bank statements can attest that Im here A LOT. One of my favorite bookstores in the entire state. Always a great selection and love being able to drop off used books.

The people at this shop usually have great recommendations and you can tell they are passionate about reading. The books are reasonably priced (usually about $10) and well worth the time and money. I always check here first when looking for a book. Between the coffee shop around the corner and this book shop, my interest in reading has been revived :)

Great local bookstore! They have their inventory online so you can see if they have the book youre looking for. Super friendly people, great vibe. Highly recommended!

Fun little store but their books are way overpriced. They had a paperback copy of pet semetary that was listed for more money than the original price on the back of the book. They had mass markets that were falling apart that they were charging 5 bucks for. Hopefully they will rethink some of the pricing one of these days.

Awesome store, great selection. Will go again.

I have been to several thrift bookstores from Ogden to SLC with my daughter in the last month. This by far is the most organized one I have been to. I love how the parking in the back is easy. The staff is very knowledgeable and helpful. She was looking for a certain authors book titles. The guy working at the time found them in the back storage building.

Absolutely wonderful book store! Abundant charm accompanied by a charming staff.

Cool place, good smells; I think it was the ink, the paper from all of the stories in books on the shelves. The cool music playing sounded just right as well. Mostly, it was the fact the front door was open I found intriguing!

Great little bookstore. Perfect for finding used books. Not a lot of used bookstores near where I live. Im glad this is here

Love the books I got and for such low prices. Loved how they also have local artists stickers for sale and that they do a points system for discounts

This place is so cool! We stopped here on a whim and it was so cosy and I could honestly spend all day here. They even have art from local artists to purchase!!!

Well organized with lots of inventory

A nice place with a great selection of used books. Friendly staff and very homey. I couldnt recommend anywhere else.

Since I didnt entirely understand the trade-in policy when I took a ton of books in to trade, let me explain it here for anybody else whos considering taking books here: the books you trade in get converted to points that can be applied to purchase of other books from their inventory. They have a really eclectic selection that includes both new books and some pretty old ones youd be hard pressed to find elsewhere. The down side is, you have to use points plus actual cash money to get books from them. So you could have 300 points to buy books with, but the book you want might cost 24 points plus $10, something like that. The pricing is listed on the back of each book, including what the price of points+money is, but I didnt really understand it until I went back in to try to use some of my points and was only able to afford to get one of the half-dozen books Id found and wanted to spend my points on, because I didnt have enough money. And some books you cant use points on at all. I think. Im still not super clear on it, to be honest, which might tell you how needlessly convoluted a system it is.I dont really have a problem trading in 20 books and only getting enough credit out of that to get one new-to-me book, because thats how these things always work, but I wish Id really understood how their system works and that Id need to pay partially in actual money to use any of my points. I traded my books in here because Im too poor to cough up cash for new books, so its kind of a bummer to have a ton of points I cant actually use for lack of cash. I kind of feel like I donated my books to a store. :D I think this is probably on me for not understanding how their system works, but I do wish itd been explained to me more clearly when I brought my books in, and I definitely wish that this was explained on their website; that would have made deciding what to do with my used books a lot easier.Other than that, its a pretty nice used book store. They have a good mix of used stuff and some really interesting titles I wasnt expecting, as well as stock of the latest book club bestseller you might be looking for. Its really eclectic and a little disorganized because theyve tried to cram a truly incredible amount of books into a relatively small space, but that just gives it that nice used bookstore vibe. :D Parkings pretty easy, for Sugar House, just park in the lot behind the building.

Great selection, friendly staff.

Kinda pricey. Selection was decent.

Wonderful little bookstore. They have am amazing selection and the staff is really friendly and helpful.

Nice and cozy book store. Decent selection. Great prices.

Their trade-in policy is even worse than a college bookstores, and they charge far too much for most of their books. Employee interactions have been a mixed bag; some visits to the store were pleasant, but others were the exact opposite. Still, they do keep an interesting selection of books, if youre willing to pay a little too much for something used.

Nice people, cool store, but not a very fair exchange. You bring in your books and earn points towards other books. Seems fair, BUT, BUT, BUT the points you earn dont apply to best sellers and well-regarded books, EVEN IF the books you bring in are best-sellers or well-regarded. In other words, if I bring in a Murakami, or Tartt, or even a Jane Austen, I cant use any of my points towards buying another book by those same authors. I checked through the stacks and shelves and most of the good books are not available on the points system. So, it makes more sense for me to go sell my books for 10 or 20 cents each, and take the $1-2 I earn to put toward purchasing a good book there. They are literally getting a book from me for FREE that they will sell for a profit. Basically, you are donating, and maybe that is worth it to keep a local business afloat.

One of the most organized used bookstores you can find. They have every book listed on an online inventory so they can look up anything you need. Its well laid out for a less overwhelming experience. All the staff are friendly and helpful!

I was very happy with the helpfulness and selection. Its a used book store, so some randomness is to be expected, and its not always going to be super-tidy if its popular with customers that pick up books and randomly place them back. Parking is pretty good, especially if you go around to the back.

I love this used book store. While you might not find the latest books, it is a good place to go grab some of those books you have been meaning to read. Plus you can pop in and get a paper back for around $5.They do have a buy back system, where you can turn in your old books for points. These points can be spent on some books to reduce the price even more by around 40-50% depending on the book and price. They take any type of book, Ive given them game guides and manga, and they took them all.

Nice store. Kinda hard to find things but the employees are very helpful so its not a problem. Great that they have their inventory online and you can order from there.

Every time I have been to this shop the staff has been standoffish if not downright rude to me, as well as many of my friends. I usually love to support local stores, but I cannot believe the blatant disrespect this store has not only shown me, but their own books. After their annual book sale, I was enjoying a lovely cup of coffee at Sugar House Coffee, and looked over to see books upon books being thrown into the dumpster. When I asked why they didnt just donate them to charity, a staff member barked at me, saying that there were too many books to be donated. I cannot wrap my head around the idea that people who have dedicated their lives to running this bookstore could have such a disgusting attitude towards books that could still be enjoyed by the public.

Very friendly staff, great variety.

Great little used book store in Sugar House! They had a nice variety of books.

Central Book Exchange is everything I want from an independent book store: homey, eclectic, and cluttered with helpful employees ready to help you find whatever youre looking for.

Lots of books great prices

This place is great! Staff always helpful and friendly. I often find deals on science books. I also find a large turnover for books too. So I go in often and find different books.

Great used bookstore.Friendly staff, up to date computer system.

A fun, small used book store where you can get points towards books by exchanging other books. Lots of new and old titles. A bit pricey for used

This is one of my favorite little used book shops! Its in the cutest neighborhood in Sugarhouse and the staff are always so friendly and attentive.

My favorite bookstore! Ive been going since I was in high school and they always have a great selection. Pam, Shawna, and Erika are amazing!

Great selection, very friendly staff. Small but full of treasures.

Friendly staff and good selection at a great price.

Very small but has a way better selection than the other used book stores in SLC. Easily the best used books store in the city.

Every sort of book you could want for half the price and gently used. The front desk clerk was also super friendly!

Cheap & great book selction

Best bookstore in slc by far, their website is incredibly useful for finding inventory.

Nice little bookshop

Needed to update my review. I actually found that the books I wanted, used trade in points and took more than half the price off of my total. Not saying this is the norm, but today was an excellent experience!

Great new and used book store. They have a vast selection filled with unexpected treasures and the staff is really good at helping you find exactly the book you didnt know you needed.

Really helpful and fast to help find things not on shelf. Amazing. Would go there anytime for out of prints.

Great selection of old and rare books!

Cozy place, lots of books. Local and affordable, and right next to a coffee shop. Couldnt ask for more

Fantastic Selection! A little pricey for a used book store, but the staff (new person) was very attentive and helpful.

Friendly staff and every used book Ive bought there has been in great shape!

Great selection, helpful staff, local business done right.

Fantastic book store with a huge selection of every variety.

Think Ken Sanders but smaller, more organized and with newer titles (check out Ken Sanders near the city library if you like old books!!!)Cute little book exchange right next to Sugarhouse Coffee.You can bring in your books and earn money or points (in-store credit) to use to get new books. Theyve got their books in neat little sections and all are, for the most part, alphabetized. Great prices, great selection. My sister just took me there on Saturday for my birthday and I found an old copy of Boy by Roald Dahl that I had been looking EVERYWHERE for. Price? 4 dollars. Heck yes. Highly recommend if youre in the sugarhouse area looking for an intimate book experience.

Great selection of used books at good prices

Really cool book store, very friendly and knowledgeable staff. Wish there was more shops like this in the world today. They even had a book I have been looking for, for months.

Always helpful and well curated.

Trade in your books for points. Use those points for discounted prices on books. Nice atmosphere and knowledgeable staff.

Hooray for a good used book store with knowledgeable staff!

Love that they always have what I want. Online and in person.

Good book store if you like reading books, not good for buying your books back.

Low prices on used books, point system when you bring in books, online search available; in short, a great little book store.

An unexpected treasure hidden in Sugarhouse, Utah.

Great selection of books. Staff recommendations are encouraged and great.

I have found my new favorite store!!!