Pegasus Books

Bookstores like this are a dying breed. Something about walking into a bookstore where the employees know exactly where every book is without having to look it up in a computer (after misspelling it a couple of times) that makes it feel more REAL.

Pegasus Books came up #1 under wrapping paper, but they don’t sell wrapping paper

They have a great selection of books, new and used. I love the neighborhood feel of this store. I can always find a great gift for a friend or family member here.

I love books and I love to read. The thought of reading a book on a Kindle or other device leaves me cold. I like the heft and feel of books. Just call me a Luddite, I guess.
Pegasus Books is the place where I indulge my hobby. They have a simply stellar selection of new and unused books, and can order nearly anything.
Special thanks for the yearly calendar sale. Get there early.

If your New Years Resolution is to (a) read and (b) support local business, stop into Pegasus Books in Rockridge on College Avenue.
I’m a sucker for used book stores and this one doesn’t disappoint. It’s a small store, but they have a nice selection of books.
When I used to live in this neighborhood, I would stop in at Crepevine across the street, then hop over to Pegasus Books for an after brunch book.
If you prefer a larger selection, they have a bigger store in Downtown Berkeley on Shattuck Avenue.
Support local!

I love Pegasus Books.
I find at least one book to buy every time I pop in (they sell both new and used books).
This weekend I found five: When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris; A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan; The Key by Junichirō Tanizaki; Pictures at an Exhibition by Sara Houghteling; and The Wind-​Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.
This lot of used books set me back about forty bucks.
My best trips to Pegasus are when I visit with a list (I always have a running one going) and can scan the aisles (each section is categorized alphabetically by author’s last name) to find what I’m after. But even when I let serendipity take over I do well here.
The staff are friendly and read a lot and will chat you up at the register (which I really like). Pegasus Books has been a well-​loved fixture in Rockridge since 1969. I’m grateful to have them in my hood!

I love this bookstore. I have always loved this bookstore, but now that it’s close to my house I love it even more. They have a pretty good selection, reasonable prices, and I love to support small bookstores. (especially used ones) It’s also pretty well organized, especially for a used bookstore.
The staff is friendly, and I always find multiple things I want. Too many things I want.

Clerk tried to steer me to the used section to buy a book I was asking for the full priced version of :) (I bought the new version — I like to support local businesses !)

I typically only go here to get books for my kid. And they’re pricey — that’s not the fault of Pegasus though.
They have a quirky selection of stuff, worth going into once in a while to peek at. Also, they’re open really late.
What I do dislike, which isn’t anything to do with them is that this is a favorite spot for particularly aggressive Greenpeace solicitors. Grr.
But still, go take a look. And compare with the nearby Diesel.

I’m on a self imposed book strike. I have at least 10 books that I’ve purchased in the last few years that I haven’t had a chance to read. Once the self imposed book strike is over, I’m heading here.
Great book selection. What I like in particular is the extensive selection of Bay Area focused books.
Their prices seem fair. It’s got to be tough for a book store to survive the online competitors, but they seem to discount some of their selection. Additionally I think they offer store credit for book swaps.
My reason for the visit is that I needed a greeting card, and they have a nice selection of artsy cards.
Great source on College for gift needs.

This:
«Because I don’t care what anyone says or how often or winningly they say it: no one will ever, ever be able to persuade me that life is some awesome, rewarding treat. Because, here’s the truth: life is a catastrophe. The basic fact of existence — of walking around trying to feed ourselves and find friends and whatever else we do — is a catastrophe. Forget all this ridiculous ‘Our Town’ nonsense everyone talks: the miracle of a newborn babe, the joy of one simple blossom, Life You Are Too Wonderful To Grasp, &c. For me — and I’ll keep repeating it doggedly till I die, till I fall over on my ungrateful nihilistic face and am too weak to say it: better never born, than born into this cesspool. Sinkhole of hospital beds, coffins, and broken hearts. No release, no appeal, no „do-​overs“ to employ a favored phrase of Xandra’s, no way forward but age and loss, and no way out but death.»
and this:
«Whatever teaches us to talk to ourselves is important: whatever teaches us to sing ourselves out of despair. But the painting has also taught me that we can speak to each other across time. And I feel I have something very serious and urgent to say to you, my non-​existent reader, and I feel I should say it as urgently as if I were standing in the room with you. That life – whatever else it is – is short. That fate is cruel but maybe not random. That Nature (meaning Death) always wins but that doesn’t mean we have to bow and grovel to it. That maybe even if we’re not always so glad to be here, it’s our task to immerse ourselves anyway: wade straight through it, right through the cesspool, while keeping eyes and hearts open. And in the midst of our dying, as we rise from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic, it is a glory and a privilege to love what Death doesn’t touch. For if disaster and oblivion have followed this painting down through time – so too has love. Insofar as it is immortal (and it is) I have a small, bright, immutable part in that immortality. It exists; and it keeps on existing. And I add my own love to the history of people who have loved beautiful things, and looked out for them, and pulled them from the fire, and sought them when they were lost, and tried to preserve them and save them while passing them along literally from hand to hand, singing out brilliantly from the wreck of time to the next generation of lovers, and the next.»
From the closing passages of «The Goldfinch» (Donna Tartt). I didn’t fall asleep for a long time after.
Go to Pegasus. Read this book.

I give these guys props for being an independent bookstore and keeping in business. Every time I go here though, all of the hipster workers don’t acknowledge my presence and after waiting for them to stop talking crap about people and finally ask where I can find a certain book, they act like it’s this huge deal and they are so inconvenienced.

Great selection, cheap prices and right down the road from Bourbon and Beef so great for browsing while waiting for your food to digest. Very large children’s section .
The staff is really helpful with suggestions if you need a new book to crack!

A really nice local bookstore in Rockridge, that is close to restaurants so it makes the perfect stop on a neighborhood walk or after meal stop in.
The selection isn’t huge, but I get the sense that if you want something you could order it from them. If you are in the area, worth checking out, but not worth going out of your way for.
As others have mentioned the staff is iffy.

Rockridge has two of the best (if not the best) bookstores in Oakland.
I’ve bought quite a few books from this place over the years and lord knows I’ve spent many hours browsing magazines and other books.
Today I bought two books and a magazine for a pretty good deal. Oh yeah — they always have a great selection of calendars throughout the year.
Staff can be friendly and not friendly — it depends who’s working –hence the one star off.
Support your local bookstores!

Pegasus books is wonderful– they’re right near the BART, as well as a lot of other places to make your errands feel fancy, as you may be want to do while in Rockridge. (By errands I mean they have a Super Cuts, a liquor store, and a Safeway… by fancy I mean everything ELSE on College Ave. is a cute little store that sells cute little things). New and used books for new and used people!
So, back to Pegasus… I find myself buying books here even when I’m not planning to do so. I see a hardback of some book that I want or didn’t even know EXISTED in their amazingly-​selected window display and say to myself «Oh cool! I’ll check Amazon,» or wait til it comes out in paperback. Oh WAIT, THIS IS CHEAPER!“
Great prices, great location, the people working there are knowledgeable without trying to put you in your place with the old, «Oh, but have you read: all-these-books-that-you’re-a-dumbass-for-not-reading-instead-of-the-one-you’re-buying: ?!»
Worth the trip before hitting up Amazon. This one has MUCH better parking that the one in Berkeley (are they even related? I dont know). Also, it’s not in Berkeley.
Yay, Pegasus! :)

This bookstore has a few things to commend it:
–They carry both used and new books. In fact, one time when I was buying a new book one of the staff kindly checked to make sure that they didn’t have it in stock, used. While they didn’t, it was a nice gesture.
–Good customer service. See above.
–Decent and generous buying. A lot of used bookstores have gotten a bit stingy and conservative in their book buying in the last 5 years of the recession. Pegasus is still reasonable and offers decent cash versus store credit.
Not so great:
–Their inventory seems erratic and inconsistent in both the used and new areas. I’ve browsed these areas several times and found this to be the case: SciFi/​Fantasy, Mystery and Children’s books.
–Bad store layout. It’s just not a welcoming space and it seems a bit messy and disorganized.
You know, I’ll always choose a local independent bookstore over some nasty chain, and certainly over a Kindle, but Pegasus is really just a mediocre bookstore– not one of the best.

Pegasus books have served the Temiscal neighborhood in Oakland for over ten years. Yes, that was before Kindles and iPads were around. The last time I was there, I bought three used books for the AMEX small business Saturday promotion. The deal is, if you buy something over $ 25 bucks with an American Express card from a small business, they’ll give you $ 25 bucks back. Amex gets the publicity for their campaign, small businesses get a boost in sales, and I get some «free» books — a virtual win-​win-​win.
The decision for spending $ 25 dollars at Pegasus was a no-​brainer. They had a great selection of new and old books, calendars of all sorts for the new year, and even some good picks for stationary. I asked for the Nate Silver book, but they did not have it. The cashier not only checked their other store for me, but offered to order it and call me when it arrives. I declined the kind offer, and went on to get three others: Stephen Fatsis’s Word Freak, Milan Kundera’s Encounter, and a Frida Kahlo artbook. It was a great haul, to say the least. I think I’ve developed a new November tradition — Amex Saturdays will be my Pegasus Books day. I love bookstores, but this one especially.

Only YOU… can prevent Amazon from taking over the world.
When faced with the moral dilemma of either purchasing the exact book you want online for $ 15, or paying double to actually leave the house and interact with a real human being in order to procure it, I know it’s tough, but… take the high road. Not only will you feel pious and guilt-​free about your local purchase, you’ll get some fresh air and firsthand reminder that our beloved neighborhoods are made up of gems like Pegasus and Pendagron, passionate folks with a specialty. If bookstores and bakeries and boutiques disappear, we’re headed towards a Dallas fate. Bleck. Let’s pay a little extra to avoid it, eh?
I was in a last minute birthday gift crunch. I knew I needed «Thinking: Fast & Slow» within 48 hours, so I called up the closest bookstore (this one) and asked it they had it. Yes, it had just come in, they named the price and put it on hold for me to minimize the whole «leaving the house» hassle. I love an excuse to stroll College Ave, where off-​street parking is easy and abundant, and every shop has something I want/​«need».
The Pegasus shop is sweet and old-​fashioned, as you’d hope. The staff are friendly, helpful, and appropriately geeky. Not only did I score the exact book I was after, but they’ve got a lovely collection of greeting cards to accompany your tome. Plus, they buy old books and sell them at a discount. Now, that’s some recycling I can get down and dirty with.

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to review this bookstore. I couldn’t even tell you how many years I’ve been coming here. Before there was any concept of a superstore like Borders or Barnes & Noble, there was Pendragon — now officially Pegasus like its sister locations in Albany and Berkeley. It’s been in the same location since 1969… geez, Nixon was just elected back then. I honestly remember coming here before I even went to Berkeley as an undergrad, and that was back in the horse-​and-​buggy days when I was wearing platform shoes. I came here all the time when I lived in Oakland years later and sold my used books there often.
Nowadays, I have my Kindle, and I live in San Francisco. But I come back periodically to Oakland for family matters and find myself strolling along this stretch of College Avenue. This bookstore is an automatic stop for me for leisurely browsing. I know exactly how to make a beeline for the magazine rack where I can find pretty much any periodical I could possibly want to peruse. I know where the cookbooks are in case I need to get a last-​minute housewarming gift in the East Bay. I know the sale table will always have something tempting, and there is always some oversized book on some idiosyncratic topic that I never see anywhere else, especially since Cody’s bit the dust. Long live Pegasus and whatever else the owners want to call it in the future.