Barnes and Noble: the Textbook Company Store

During the 70s the original Barnes and Noble store on 5 Ave and 17 Street was the only place where students from many schools could buy or sell used textbooks. What an operation! You'd go on a Saturday during the beginning of a school term and there would be huge lines to sell books at a counter near the front door.

I'd lug a couple of big bags of books from the prior semester, hoping they'd take most of them. Finally I'd reach the counter, and inevitably the man there would fine that most of my expensive texts were not on the "Buy-Back List." I was stuck with these. When they did take a book I was lucky to get back a quarter to a third of what I paid. Paperbacks would fetch a dime to a quarter, and they would then sell them for a buck. For a few hardcover texts in big demand they'd actually give you half price. But that happened only once in 6 years of dealing with the Company Store.