15 Old Orchard Street, Old Orchard Beach, ME
We’ve all been on that vacation where we bring a beach read, a book for the plane, a paperback thriller for the cabin getaway, and we finish it way too soon with nothing else to keep us entertained. If you’re in an airport, you likely have access to one chain bookshop or another. But if you’re vacationing at Old Orchard Beach in Maine, you’re still covered with Barnett Books right downtown. *Note: I sometimes see this shop listed online as Wholesale Books, too.
Tucked in between lobster roll counters and tourist gift shops packed with flip-flopped families slathered in sunscreen, you’ll find Barnett Book Warehouse. It is much closer to the beach and the boardwalk than I anticipated—as in, you can throw a frisbee and probably hit sand, if you don’t hit the Ferris wheel across the street first. It’s one big room that feels like it used to indeed be a small warehouse or big garage, and it’s open air, which means no air conditioning and the hot summer smells of the nearby food stands and amusement park waft in with the sea breeze. Depending on how you feel about that, I could be making this sound terrible, but in truth the shop could be a total lifesaver.
If you’re stuck with your family in OOB and you’re tired of rickety carnival rides and lying in the sun with nothing to read, there’s a lot to choose from here. The shop is something between the discount book section of a Barnes & Noble (with its oversized coffee table books on sports history, aviators, popular music, historical mysteries, and travel guides) and a really big library book sale (multiple copies of almost every Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, and James Patterson novel ever written). There are paperbacks galore but also a lot of hardcovers in very solid shape, and all steeply discounted.
The shop has a larger than expected cookbook section and a large shelf of autographed books, but their biggest sections cover the things most people would want to read on vacation: biographies and celebrity memoirs, the aforementioned thrillers, comics, romance novels with long-haired buff dudes on the cover, sports titles (especially Red Sox and Yankees), rows of mass market paperback fiction from folks I hadn’t quite heard of, and what I call “junk” history, those books with titles like “Crime Encyclopedia!” or “Maine: Then and Now” or those Bill O’Reilly “historical” retrospectives he churns out.
Look, you’re not going to find the most cutting-edge books on major social topics, or the most interesting new poets and essayists, and you may find a few recent bestsellers, but not TOO recent, you know what I mean? So temper expectations. But if you find yourself in Old Orchard Beach and in need for a good read, it’ll work.
Atmosphere — Discounted books are on shelves and displays wall-to-wall inside a warehouse-like space, open to the street right in the middle of it all in downtown Old Orchard Beach. Nothing stylish here, but it’ll get the job done if you need a beach read.
Quality — The books range from second-hand paperbacks to new copies of semi-recent titles, with plenty of hardcovers from bestselling authors.
Quantity — They have a load of books packed into one big room, with multiple copies of many of the newer thrillers.
Diversity — This shop gears more toward beach reads, thrillers, biographies, and larger general nonfiction books, the kind of things you might find in a Barnes & Noble sale section.
Affordability — Most of the books were discounted, and while some were really good deals, not all the prices were as low as you might expect. It is right in the more tourist-centric area of Old Orchard Beach, so everything is a bit more than you’d think.
Amenities — There are DVDs as well as books, with plenty of food options nearby, but this is pretty much a spot to drop in and get a quick read for your vacation type of spot.
Location — Right near the boardwalk at the center of downtown, where Old Orchard Street intersections with the last road along the beach.
Customer Service — I didn’t interact with anyone this time.
Overall — It was great seeing a shop this close to the beach, with a huge selection of books for those who don’t go for the rides, games, and endless t-shirt shops. Run in, browse around, grab that James Patterson book you’ve been meaning to read, maybe a Red Sox biography, and hit the sand. Not every beach town has one, so take advantage.