Feldman’s Books

Probably the best used book store in the Peninsula. Huge collection and mostly good prices (books about 75% off). The back area is all paperbacks and it’s a separate building where you briefly walk out into an open patio area to enter it, and it has this somewhat slightly enchanting feeling.
Slight knock: some of the really old paperbacks that should be like $ 1 are priced at $ 4. It’s a book so I don’t mind but feels inconsistent when pages start falling out.

Science, fiction, foreign language, literature, children’s, local, history, computer … of course Feldman’s has it all. But the real gems in the bookstore are the bookseller and assistants who seem to have read every book in the store (they’ve always «just read» what I am enquiring about!) and have interesting comments on them. I was disappointed they didn’t have Elena Ferrante’s books, but they they are too recently published in English. In two months I’ll be back to buy them as gifts for friends.
Plus, the quiet, open, sitting area in the middle of the store, surrounded by plants and water, the smell of old books, the narrow aisles, the serendipitous finds …

Mr. Feldman is certainly interested in quality and age which I respect– I took 6 boxes of books here to sell but none of them were to his standards. Thankfully he was willing to walk to my car to look and not make me lug them in just to get turned down. The store is beautiful, small, and organized, I look forward to going back and exploring.

Wonderful oasis in soulless Silicon Valley

I have been shopping here for more years than I can count. It is so wonderful to still have a used bookstore in the neighborhood. I am often hunting for a novel for one of my kid’s English classes or for myself and Feldman’s almost always has a copy. Their fiction collection is top notch and I often find some unusual treasure. Of course we can trade books back to them as well
Always a pleasure to go in and browse.

This shop appears to be in a sad state of decline. It’s filthy, many books misfiled (McPhee is not fiction), some shelves unbrowsable due to heaps of books on the floor, labels falling off the shelves. Meanwhile the staff lounges about while slagging off the shop down the road. Still, you may find a gem somewhere in the store, probably not where it’s supposed to be. There are worse places to spend an hour exploring books, especially if you enjoy musty paper as much as I do.
It would be a great service to separate biography from history.

This place is a treasure. So fun to get lost in the stacks. They have such a great variety and they are educated and helpful when I am looking for something specific.

I have a special weakness for books, libraries and used book stores. I just love being surrounded by musty old tomes full of wonder and mystery. This place totally fits the bill. It is an old relic, as others have said, but that’s part of what makes it so fun to visit. The books are definitely overpriced for used books — a paperback Herman Hesse with a retail price of 95 cents was being sold for $ 2.50. And those old fantasy mass market books that you can find for 25 cents in bins — also in the few dollar range. What? It definitely turned me off from buying. But browsing? Fun.
Not the best business model, if you ask me, but hey, I can still enjoy it.

Excellent selection of books (particularly the religion and psychology sections) that all seemed to be in good condition (no marking/​tears etc). Their prices aren’t the cheapest, but you get what you pay for with their organized and choice selection. The guy at the register sometimes stared at me while I was looking through the books making it a bit awkward feeling – at least if you’re going to stare, help me move some books hiding the shelved books I’m trying to browse through! Ugh. Walked out with one book on humanist prayers and blessings based on biblical texts.

Good old fashioned, vintage, real deal kinda bookstore. Love the ambiance, the oodles of old books (& some new, too). I could pull up a chair, grab a cuppa & literally live here. Take a break from Amazon & peruse the shelves…

Absolutely great contrast to the other bookstore down the block. Prices largely reasonable and full of hidden rarities. I myself got a very early edition of Dodsworth that was in good shape. Planning on going again soon

Selection was interesting but not well stocked. Many of the books were of a pretty questionable quality, and some of the prices were also insane for a second hand store. $ 10 for a musty used book? I dunno about that. It was really dusty and I had trouble breathing.
Customer service is awful. I went here with the intention to sell. I brought in about 25 books, many of them technical books about different programming languages, business books, and some fiction books. He told me to wait about 10 minutes and he took about 25 minutes, even taking a personal phone call in this time. Then once he finally waved me over he turned away all but one book with the excuse, «these are out of date.» I’m sorry, how is fiction book ever out of date?
Unless you have «old relics» or poetry and art books, don’t bother trying to sell here. There are also probably better people to give your money in exchange for a used book. I’d shop around.

This place has a fantastic selection of foreign language materials for a store of its size. Where most new bookstores have meager foreign language offerings — often only a shelf or two mostly dictionaries in «big languages» — Feldman’s shines in this area. I’d estimate Feldman’s had 3 sections of bookcase (about 60 linear feet of shelving) devoted to foreign language materials.
Language geeks who frequent online communities like how-​to-​learn-​any-​language are often on the hunt for out-​of-​print language learning materials. I found several great things — a couple of hard-​to-​find hardcover 1960s Teach Yourself methods I’ve been searching for along with a great dictionary full of example sentences. They had a very good condition FSI Programmatic Spanish set with both manuals and original tapes for a song that I’m sure will delight the right person. I saw good-​condition learning materials for a lot of smaller languages (Samoan, Tagalog, Zulu, Czech, and Indonesian come to mind), and decent literature offerings in major languages like French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Japanese.
I’ll definitely be back. If you’re looking for something specific in Foreign Language, definitely also check out Book Buyers in downtown Mountain View.

A true treasure of Menlo Park.
The religious studies/​theology section alone warrants five stars. Their selection is wide, the books themselves are inexpensive, and the building itself is just so gosh darn cute (it has that charmingly shabby and musty used bookstore feel that places like Kepler’s simply fail to emulate).
Be sure to check out their back room; the number of two dollar sci-​fi paperbacks with cutout jean-​clad barbarians wielding electric axes is legion, and you might even find a decent title worth buying.

I LOVE FELDMAN’S!
I love old books. I love the smell of them, the looks of them and, of course, the content in them, I could spend HOURS in Feldman’s. The store is well organized for a used book store, and they often have rare or out-​of-​print books available.
The outdoor seating is a nice getaway — you can almost forget you’re living in the 21^st century. until the techie teenager with his dad announces that Books Will Be Obsolete In Five Years. (Truly overheard at Feldman’s.)
Nothing compares to a used book store.

Great old book store! If you love books and being surrounded by stacks of them, and especially if you like older books, this is your place! I love it here! They even have an outdoor reading corner that is secluded and covered in nature!

I’m a lover of used bookstores that carry rare and antiquarian books. This place is actually quite large though you wouldn’t be able to tell because it’s packed with shelves everywhere, a fantastic selection. Prices are great, not marked up at all for the neighborhood it’s in. I like Recycle Bookstore too (San Jose), which is also great especially if you’re searching for contemporary stuff. Feldman has more rare and classic fiction work. I was in the children’s section for a good 15 minutes today looking at all the old series they had. great staff.
«$» — contemporary paperbacks are cheap. rare books are naturally pricier. but for the rare books that they are, still reasonable.

Just got home from Feldman’s. It is a place my children and their beaux always want to hit when in town.
This bookstore’s reputation extends to places like Pt. Reyes, where the groovey used bookstore owner told me he knew my local used bookstore, and that the Feldman brothers have an amazing selection.
Anyway, I have so many favorite sections, up front and out in back.
I basically want to add my 5 stars to let others know about this amazing used bookstore, and to thank the Feldman brothers for all they bring to Menlo Park. I have lived here over 50 years, and I hope they never leave. They are such an asset to our otherwise sometimes boring town. I love their French and music sections, but the whole store is beyond awesome. A feel good place.
Please don’t ever leave… you make Menlo Park a better place to live. P. S. I love the comfy chairs too.

I live within walking distance of both this place and Kepler’s. While Kepler’s is mostly a new book store and Feldman’s is used, the question I ask myself is «how much good reading am I getting for the money I spend there?»
Feldman’s wins quite easily here. The books are dirt cheap, but the whole front of the store is quality stuff in academic subjects to the left coming in, and fiction to the right. There is also a children’s section past the fiction that’s pretty solid. The Tom Swift books (the cooler, nerdier version of the Hardy Boys) have not been reprinted past the first three issues. They had about ten to fifteen– about two thirds of the original series. That’s the sort of reach that Feldman’s has– if you want strange stuff for amazing prices, it’s a great place– particularly if you’re willing to buy books that aren’t mint-​condition but still sturdy and readable.
In the back is a separate building (separated by a meditation garden, I kid you not) which has the pulpy stuff– mysteries, romance, and science fiction. There’s also an amazing pseudoscience section if you want to read something straight-​up bizarre.
I recommend this, especially if you want to buy someone a book as a gift, but you have no idea what book. Fifteen minutes in this place and you’ll find something amazing that they have never read before.

My boyfriend loves this place. My favorite thing about it, is the garden area outside in the middle. I sat out there for a while and it was super peaceful.
The books are fairly priced and there are some good selections.