Book Store Spotlight
Bonnetts Book Store
Location: 502 E. Fifth Street
Dayton, Ohio
Sells: Used books
Pricing: cheap- fair- some pricey rarities
Bonnetts has been around since 1939. They have piles and piles of books lying around. Books behind books. I often wonder if there is something in the store from 1939 that never sold and is hiddenly tucked away somewhere.
The store isn’t a big place but it packs a lot in. It’s in a historic building that has wood floors that creak when you walk on them. Real old school, book buying ambiance. Old paper smell. There are stuffed dolls hanging from the ceiling. Dusty old toys displayed in any spare alcove (but they don’t sell toys). When you walk through the door it almost feels like you stepped back in time.
The place is what I would call organized chaos. Aside from a couple of random boxes of books lying around, every book is under its appropriate handwritten genre sign. There’s an occult section, horror, fantasy and sci-fi, men’s adventure, mystery, western, nonfiction, kids, literature, movie and tv, and even the spy section is separated out into its own shelf. The shelving is random sizes and shapes. Some homemade, some look like they were donated, maybe even some right off the curb. They also have vintage magazines. Many of the porn variety. They also have porn novels. From old 50’s softcore sleeze up through the 90’s straight up hardcore. You don’t find THAT in every bookstore.
There’s an 80’s era TV halfway back playing a random VHS movie on mute. The music played in the store is mostly oldies, but I have heard non-mainstream hip-hop in there. The owner is the only employee. He’s friendly and knowledgeable and gives a hell of a trade in deal.
As for the pricing, it depends on what you’re looking for. This is a store with almost no bestsellers. I’m pretty sure there aren’t any James Patterson books or maybe my mind ceases to acknowledge seeing them at this point. Even the usual culprits of the horror section, Andrews/King/Koontz/Saul are mostly on a separate shelf kind of buried behind some boxes. The obscure horror books you are probably looking for are displayed proudly in the front.
That being said, he knows what he’s doing and how much these books are worth. They’re not overpriced but you probably aren’t going to find one for a dollar, except maybe some of the spy books in the back. But that’s fair. You want books for a dollar? You gotta do the work and be the first person at the book fair or climb in the book sewer and hit up the Goodwill outlet with the cockroach resellers first thing in the morning. Bonnetts is an institution that deserves those fair prices. Fuck Thriftbooks, support your local bookstore first. Especially those that cater to us weirdos!
Some negatives?
Not much. There’s no bathroom so pee before you get there! It’s in the Oregon District which is where the bars are so parking can be problematic. They do have parking behind the building but if it’s the weekend, forget about it. They’re only open from 6pm to 9pm Mon through Sat so plan accordingly. Sometimes, but not often, he can’t open so watch the Instagram account the day you plan on going or maybe send him a message if you’re coming in from out of town. (@bonnettsbooks)
The book selection here is top notch though. It’s definitely one of those stores where every time you go there is always something new or books you missed your previous visit. There are always books that are “going to have to wait until next time.” If you are a lover of any genre of vintage books, especially paperbacks, Bonnetts is a must.
Spotlight by Nick Anderson
Instagram @next_stop_willoughby
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