Welcome

A little about ourselves

 We are Westside Stories, Hamilton’s best used bookstore for highly sought after books, vintage books, most desired out of print books, used books, bestselling books, rare books, out of print books and hard to find books. We have old books for sale as well as newer books. In fact, we have 2 floors of books.

We are located in Hamilton, Ontario but are within an hour’s drive from Burlington, Guelph, Oakville, Ancaster and Mississauga. We are different from your major bookstore near you like Chapters Indigo or online book sellers like Amazon Books, Google Books or Bookfinder. We offer friendly, knowledgeable service in a welcoming environment.

If you are looking for second-hand or used books, you’ve found the right place. Do you have a books list? If so, bring it along and we’ll help you locate items on your books list. If you would like new books, you can find them around the corner at King Books. Please note that we are not affiliated with Westside Stories in Buffalo.

Books we're best known for

We have 72 different categories of books to choose from which means there are books to read for nearly everyone. But there are some that we are better known for and have a large selection.  These are:

• Science Fiction (Sci Fi) and Fantasy, especially vintage books
• Philosophy
• History
• Art
• Books by Canadian authors
• Classics (Shakespeare, Bronte sisters)
• Local authors (we sell both used and new books by local authors)
• Local history (Hamilton, Burlington, Greater Toronto area, Southern Ontario)
• Literature including Eurasian and Afro-American

Some of our other book categories

• Popular Fiction
• Children’s (French and English)
• Biography
• Historical Romance
• Graphic Novels
• Self-Help
• Reference
• Travel
• Cookbooks
  

Selling your books to Westside Stories

We are always happy to see your books.  Here is some information about our purchasing process:

1. We will try to buy (on a trade credit basis)  as many books from you as we can. Please know that we choose according to need and inventory and, therefore, may not be able to take all or even some of your books. Please refer to our list of the types of books we purchase which is located below.
   
2. Bulk books (boxes and bags filled with books) can be brought to the store on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. If you can, please bring the books earlier in the day so that we can begin looking through your collection, we are unable to process your books during the last working hour of the day.
3. Books left in the store,  by arrangement,  for evaluation for trade credit that are not purchased by Westside Stories must be picked up within one week after being dropped off. (We will notify you if we have purchased some of your books. A trade credit will be issued to you.) Books that are not picked up after one week will be donated to charity.
   
4. If the book was purchased at Westside Stories, it is an automatic return for credit unless the book has been exposed to water or smoke, is heavily creased or soiled, contains torn pages or has a broken spine.

We only buy books brought into the store so we can assess the condition. We do not buy used books online.

Selling your large estate or personal library

We do purchase large estate and personal libraries. Please contact us if you have one available for sale.

Estate appraisals 

We can appraise your estate library. Please contact us to set up an appointment.

Trade credit policy

We will issue a Trade Credit slip which can be used on any book in the store with the exception of new books on consignment from local authors.
Your Trade Credit can be used in the following way: 75% of your purchase can be credit, 25% has to be cash. We will deduct the value of your credit purchase from your Trade Credit slip and let you know how much credit is remaining on the slip.

1. Trade credit can be used toward the purchase of any books in store, except new books on consignment from local authors.
2. Trade credit is valid for one year from the last date on the card.
3. Trade credit slips are transferable. Feel free to pass them onto friends and family if you are unable to use the credit within the year.
4. To redeem credit, a credit slip must be presented at the time of purchase. Slips that have been altered or are damaged to the point of illegibility are not redeemable.
5. Hang onto your credit slip as the store does not keep records of credit issued.
6. We do not pay cash in store when buying used books.
   

Books we will buy

We have 72 categories of books for sale. We try to offer a good selection in each category to suit everybody's taste but we have a bigger need in some categories than others.
These are a few book categories and authors that are always in high demand:

• Science Fiction (Sci Fi) and Fantasy, especially vintage books
• Philosophy
• Non-Fiction Authors
• Beat Authors
• Spirituality/New Age (including Paganism, Wicca, Magic and the Occult)
• Mystery/Detective
• British Fiction
• Kurt Vonnegut
• Franz Kafka
  
• Terry Pratchett
  
• H.P. Lovecraft
  

Types of books we won't buy

• Encyclopedias
• Reader's Digest condensed
• Former library books
• Books that contain underlining or highlighting
• Books that have been exposed to water or smoke, are heavily creased or soiled, contain torn pages or have broken spines
• Textbooks (McMaster University Bookstore/Campus Store will buy back used textbooks)
• Magazines or videos

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Online books

Westside Stories has a large selection of highly sought after books, vintage books, most desired out of print books, used books, bestselling books, rare books, out of print books and hard to find books available online. Some of these online books are available in our store and others are simply for our online bookstore.

ABE Books
You can use the fillable form to search the online books Westside Stories has in its ABE Books collection. These may be different titles from the books available in the store, so fill out the form if there is a particular book you are seeking.

Biblio.com
You can use the fillable form to search the online books Westside Stories has in its Biblio.com collection. These may be different titles from the books available in the store, so fill out the form if there is a particular book you are seeking.
If you are unable to find the book you’re looking for either from our online bookstore or our local store in Hamilton, we suggest you look at Pickwick Books, Books & Beats, Epic Books and A Different Drummer Books. These are local bookstores which may have different categories of books than we offer.