Best used-book store
Crow Bookshop
Crow Bookshop — Musty, yellowed pages and overcrowded shelves may characterize the stereotypical used-book store, but Crow Bookshop flies in the face of that image. Its cozy space on Burlington's Church Street Marketplace has warm wooden floors, rolling library ladders and books — new, used and remainders (the industry term for publishers' extras) — impeccably organized and lined up flush on its shelves.
No must. No fust.
Sections are labeled on little wooden signs: art history to zoology and everything in between. Two armchairs invite lingering.
Keith Terwillegar started Crow in 1995. While Borders has come and gone, this beloved indie remains, selling staff favorites and new adult hardcovers at 20 percent off list price, new children's hardcovers at 15 percent off, and used books and remainders for half or less. Its exacting standards for used books mean shoppers won't find cracked spines, soiled pages, highlighting or writing.
Crow sells a smattering of note cards and puzzles, but no coffee drinks, scented candles or other frivolous distractions. This is a book lover's bookshop.
Other Finalists
- The Eloquent Page
- Monroe Street Books
- Otter Creek Used Books
- Speaking Volumes
