It's a magical feeling when you open a book for the first time — getting taken into a whole new world where characters come to life amid the whispered sound of pages turning.
No matter how much you enjoy reading, your story-lover persona can be a pricey one. Books can be really expensive, and many are thrown out before someone else gets a chance to enjoy them.
But there's a store in Largo that saves thousands of books and resells them at a deep discount. For instance, paperback books are $2.06 and hardcover books are $3.09.
It's called The Book Rescuers. And the owner, George Brooks, loves books — if that wasn't already obvious.
"Dude. Books are dope, right? Hands down. Books are dope. ... The one thing I found that is even more magical than those books are the readers of those books."
It's a really big store. There's a section in front for local authors to showcase their books. There's also a huge cut-out hole in the middle of each aisle that you can stare into. It makes it look like there's an endless maze of books to explore. It's a little trippy.
"This one look down this hallway was pretty much one of the only things I refused to give up," Brooks said. "Like, we ran out of time, we ran out of money, and I refused to not have this."
The store is well-organized, which could surprise people considering these are all books on a second life. There are even copies of the first edition of the first three books of the "Dune" series there.
Another cool element is the "bookmas" tree. If you need more context than that, it's a huge Christmas tree made entirely out of books. The owner said he likes to climb it sometimes and that it's really popular.
"It definitely is a great way for us to know who's never been in before because when they walk in, usually you can see the face of 'Ooooh,' " he explained.
The whole idea of giving books a second chance started when Brooks said he met an Amazon seller dumping 5 tons of books every week.
"He was showing me all his 'trash.' I was, like, 'Hold on. Stop what you're talking. You're throwing all that away?' I was, like, 'No, no, no, no, no.' Luckily, when I went home to tell my wife what I wanted to do, she's as crazy as I am and loves books as much as I do, because when I told her, she said, 'We have no other choice if they're getting thrown away. We have to save them.' "
It started in their driveway in January 2021, according to the store's website. They filled a minivan with 800 books and put them in their front yard for $1 each. They then kept growing, having multiple yard sales, with the number of books increasing.
Eventually, The Books Rescuers was born. Now, it gets books from all over the region.
"Our goal is to truly eliminate at least Pinellas County and Hillsborough County's books in the dumps. So we're talking 200 to 250 tons a week," Brooks said.
He said they process thousands of books per day for resale of every genre. Seriously, every genre. Teachers also receive 50% off for all classroom books, according to the website.
Brooks said one of his favorite genres when processing books is history.
"Realistically, my entire school in history, not once did I not cheat. So I love reading nonfiction. I am learning a lot. I had no idea. I'm just being honest. All the stuff I missed," he said.
He said they rehome around 1,000 books daily. They also have vinyls, CDs and VHS. But don't get it twisted — the main thing here is the books.
"Even if you don't like reading, per se, I got some of the dopest picture books around that to show you. It doesn't matter if you're a fisherman, you're into guns, whatever you like," Brooks said. "I mean, how often have you held a 150-year-old book. I got a whole rack of them right there, and I've probably smelled 80% of them."
Hey, how many times do you get a smell-tested guarantee on your book? The Book Rescuers are open every day of the week. It's a must-see if you're a bookworm, and if you're not, it's still a really cool hidden gem in the Tampa Bay region.
The Book Rescuers is at 8325 Ulmerton Road. Learn more at the store's website.
This story first aired on WUSF's daily morning podcast, The Bay Blend. You can listen to it wherever you get your podcasts.
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