“Be fair to customers and our employees, promote literacy, be kind to the environment and remain financially viable so we may continue.”
— Our Mission Statement in the words of HPB Co-Founder Pat Anderson
It was 1972. Corporate dropout Ken Gjemre and fellow bibliophile Pat Anderson opened a used-book shop in an old laundromat in Dallas, Texas. They ran ads in the local paper, declaring “We Buy Books,” and soon found themselves with a few thousand books and hordes of customers. “You could stir them with a stick,” Ken said.
And now? With more than 120 stores across the country, plus a website with customers and sellers around the globe, we’ve become America’s largest family-owned retailer for new and used books.
Our founders coined the phrase, “We buy and sell everything ever printed or recorded (except yesterday’s newspaper).” And if you’ve been to one of our stores, you know that’s true.
Ken and Pat weren’t just talking about our enormous selection, but about our refusal to censor products. As Ken said, “We don’t let others, or ourselves, determine what our customers should read.” To this day, we’ll shelve and sell just about anything, from The Diary of Anne Frank to The History of Farting. We might chuckle at the titles, but we won’t censor them.
Half Price Books is committed to the community. We've been supporting literacy and environmental groups for more than 40 years and will continue working together to carry on the mission and causes of our founders. Each day when we go to work, we hope to do two things: share our favorite things with our friends, and help make the world a little better. That includes recycling and donating more than a million of our overstock books each year to local nonprofits and organizations around the world. Learn more about how we give back.
Our goal of helping to make the world a little better also touches each and every HPB employee. This employee-centric culture began at inception with the notion of sharing profits with the staff
eBay is one of the world’s largest online marketplaces, connecting people with the things they need and love virtually anytime, anywhere. eBay has 157 million active users globally and more than 800 million live individual and merchant listings at any given time, the majority of which is new and fixed-price merchandise. With mobile apps available in 190 countries, eBay delivers a personalized shopping experience and seamless access to inventory from down the street and around the world. Tailored shopping experiences, including eBay Fashion and eBay Motors, customize buying and selling; and eBay provides variety and choice for sellers by enabling them to offer goods through online, mobile and local channels to consumers around the world.
Powell's is an independent bookseller serving Portland, Oregon, since 1971, with four store locations. Its flagship store takes up an entire city block, offering 68,000 square feet of used, new, rare, and out-of-print books. Powells.com offers the combined inventory of its four retail locations and five warehouses, with approximately 3 million books in all. The website features author interviews and essays as well as staff recommendations.
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