Used book stores can be just like in the movies and books, musty crowded places run by witches, pagans or at least those who don’t mind carrying a selection of pagan books. When you discover a used book shop that carries pre-read magic books, you have hit gold!
Vancouver, Washington:
Cover to Cover Books
(360) 993-7777
6300 NE St. James Rd., Suite 104B
Vancouver, WA 98663
Mel runs a great shop, she is very involved with the local community. I have on and off attended the Ghost Town Poetry readings that are monthly at her shop. There are a few pagan poets who come now and then. It can be quite inspiring and a good place to meet people. Cover to Cover has a full wide shelf of witch and pagan books, and a few shelves of other occult and new age stuff too. Don’t miss the shelves right by the counter, they have local Vancouver area ghost stories and a few occult thrillers by local great Lilith Saintcrow. Look up and see some original art by local painters. And the best part? Cover to Cover has a bookstore cat, his name is Smedley.
Portland, Oregon
S. M. U. T.
(503) 235-7688
7 SE 28th Ave
Portland, OR 97214
No particular reason that I can tell why this thrift/junk shop is called S. M. U. T. (So Many Unique Treasures). There is some kitschy stuff, some retro clothes, tons of cheap records, and a bunch of paperback books. I can usually leave with at least two or three old witchy books for 5-10 dollars. There are so many books and the organization is a little strange, so I can easily end up spending an hour looking through everything for treasures. One of my favorite finds that combined the kitschy and the witchy was Chant-o-Matics by Raymond Buckland–after getting my laughs out, I traded it in at Cover to Cover to get different books. Mel got a good laugh at it too.
I may have to go meet Smedley and touch some books.
It seems you’ve been away and I found you just today.
Yes! I just didn’t have any ideas of what to write about and I usually wrote on lulls at work, of which there have been none for a long time! However, I have recently gotten inspiration for articles for my blog and hopefully will be writing a couple times a month. I am planning my next article to review some of the local new age shops, most of my favorites recently closed or are closing (Orleans Candle Co, Fantasma and Wishing Well RIP) so I am touring some of the new ones and many of the older ones at their new locations to do a little review. Plus my friend knows of a local botanica that we can check out together.