A Bibliophile’s Bliss
Please click here for our new policies for the store and selling books due to the COVID-19 crisis.
"One of CT's truly great bookstores"
--New Haven Advocate
ABOUT US
"Best Used Bookstore to Get Lost In"
--New Haven Advocate
“Book Binge: A bibliophile’s bliss awaits at the Book Barn in Niantic. No ordinary bookstore, this reader’s and collector’s heaven maintains over 350,000 volumes of gently used books, on almost any subject you can imagine. Old books to current bestsellers to new releases are housed between two sites – The Main Barn, which is made up of multiple buildings, and The Book Barn Downtown. At every turn, books are literally stacked from floor to ceiling, and friendly cats roam freely. The collection is not computerized, so if you can’t find a particular title, ask one of the helpful staff. This is definitely a place to browse, so be sure to set aside time to enjoy it."
--Connecticut Magazine
The Book Barn valiantly attempts to fulfill our mission as we continuously add and refine our collections to bring the best-used books available to our customers. We recommend checking in periodically for improvements, additions, and rearrangements. We presently have over 500,000 books at The Book Barn and we are adding to our numbers every day. You will find an information booth at the entrance to the Main Barn, where you can look for your favorite subjects, or pick up a brochure that will guide you throughout the property. We are always open to questions and are available to assist you if you become overwhelmed and your vision begins to blur. (If this happens to you, just sit down and place your head between two books and breathe deeply until your head clears. If this fails to revive you, please remember that we do supply complimentary coffee, tea, cocoa, cookies, and crackers to help keep up your stamina.)
Most days we can count on friendly visits from “old faithfuls” – customers and friends who come in at least once a week if not every day to talk about books or the issues of the day. We also get a great number of people coming in to sell us books. Part of the fun is that we never know what kinds of books are going to come in on any given day. Our new book treasures can range anywhere from rare finds to wonderfully illustrated children’s books, Janet Evanovich mysteries to cookbooks or pocketbook paperback dollar books. Whatever the catch of the day, we’re always glad to put them on the shelf because we know there is the perfect someone out there just waiting to get their hands on it!
Because The Book Barn takes in so many books, we are very happy to say that we often times will carry many books that are unavailable at new bookstores or even public libraries. Our treasure trove of books is frequently the “last hope” for someone seeking a given title. We enjoy being able to help books find their people, who have sometimes been searching for years to get their favorite title. To this end, we are more than willing to go out of our way to help you search.
Although The Book Barn maintains a “web presence”, we view the Barn as a traditional brick-and-mortar (or cats-and-sheds) shop and as such do not participate in this new-fangled “e-commerce.” We have neither shopping carts nor on-line catalogs. Nor do we intend to get those any time soon. However, if you are looking for a particular title and haven’t had any luck finding it at other shops, please feel free to contact us either via phone, e-mail, or walk-in query and we will check our shelves for you. If we do not happen to have the book on our shelves, we can keep an eye out for it and contact you when a copy does become available. If you really and truly feel you simply must buy your books online, may we recommend BookFinder.com?