BYOB- it's not what you think. In this case, it stands for Bring Your Old Books. This store offers buying, trading, and selling of used books. BYOB, located in Shelby Township, is more than one would expect from a typical used book store.
At first glance, BYOB is a typical book store. Neat rows of shelves lined with books, a quiet atmosphere for browsing, signs promoting book trades. But then you look to the right. Comic book galore. That's right, BYOB also sells comic books and related paraphernalia. That part of the store alone was enough to release my inner geek, but along with the great selection of books, going to BYOB was a stellar experience.
Selection wise, BYOB has books that I don't see in every store. The books were in great condition- even the ones with older publishing dates. The children and young adult books were together, neatly alphabetized. From a large collection of Harry Potter to old Judy Blume novels, I could have spent hours in just that section. BYOB also had the entire Series of Unfortunate Events novels, tied together with a ribbon- part of their package sales.
The other books were categorized by genre- horror, romance, self-help, etc. I was impressed by their religious section, a fairly large mix of bibles, which something you don't see in many used book stores. The selection was not dominated by popular romance novels, nor was it overflowing with used James Patterson books, the norm of other stores. I got to see unusual titles, like a series of James Bond books and a section devoted to dream interpretation. The graphic novel section held many Marvel and DC comics, as well as Manga and The Walking Dead series.
Prices at the store were affordable. Books ranged anywhere from one dollar to five. If you bring a book to trade, it is one dollar off the price of another book. The store also allows patron to keep trade-in credits.
BYOB had a few Nancy Drew novels, including a few eighty page Nancy Drew Notebooks. Among the usual yellow-spined reprints, I found a reprint of The Bungalow Mystery. This copy was part of a short lived arc of special books reprinted in 1991 with the original covers. The Bungalow Mystery reprint featured a few pages of special artwork from the original artist, as well as a brief history of Nancy Drew withing the first few pages. In my opinion, this book was a great find.
The entire back of the store held messy stacks of yet-to-be shelved books. I'm certain that when I return to BYOB I'll see many new books upon the shelves.
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