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Bay Books Overview

Established in 1988, Bay Books serves our community of book lovers and collectors. Whether you are looking for that hard-to-find volume or the latest bestseller, Bay Books is the place to start. At our San Ramon location, we stock over 150,000 books- half are new and half are used.

We have a wide array of art and architecture books, classics, cookbooks, craft books and history books. Our children's section is well organized and a favorite place for parents. Teachers and librarians (home-schoolers too!) receive a 10% discount on used books for classroom use. We boast a large selection of paperbacks, and we are very proud of our large collection of archival-quality leatherbound volumes. We carry all of the tradepaper bestsellers and some hardcovers too. You will find both new and used titles on our front tables and floor displays-all discounted 10-50% off. We don't carry every new hardcover, but check with us by phone; we are always glad to check the stock for you!

Our friendly staff enjoy sharing ideas and helping customers find interesting books to read. Often our staff members end up reading books suggested by customers because they, too, are book lovers. We are a member of the American Bookseller's Association, and participate in its nationwide programs. And, we are active in the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association. Bay Books will find rare and obscure books for you wherever in the world they are for sale. On request, we will special-order any book in print, if we don't have it in stock.

Bay Books helps our local schools, libraries and churches through book donations and fund-raising assistance. We were a major sponsor of the first annual 5K Fun Run/Walk, a fund-raiser for book acquisitions of the Contra Costa County Library. We have sent books direct to our troops, risking their lives in service to their country, in far-off Iraq and Afghanistan. We also donate books to the Blue Star Moms for their Care Packages to soldiers away from home.

Our San Ramon store is a very busy place.  Though it is 4400 square feet of new, used and rare books, it is cozy and friendly.  Our staff are all passionate book lovers who are eager to talk books with you.  They love to suggest books for you to read and also to hear your suggestions.  Though we buy enormous quantities of books from the public every day, we try to keep the shelves neatly stocked and organized.

Supplementing our bricks-and-mortar location is the website you are now visiting.  Here we sell new books to you for direct shipment to you from the publisher.  We could never stock all the books the publishers have, so, inevitably, there is a large number of titles that are only available online or on special order.  Besides using the search blocks in the right-hand column, you can also shop our warehouse site (see the link in the "About Us" block in the left column). Rest assured that when you buy online from us, you are supporting us just as much as when you buy in our store. 

Our rare books are also available online. Please see the Bookstore Information block in the left column for the link to the search engine for these rare books.  


Remember when you shop locally- your dollars stay local.