Ann Arbor ReUse Center

by Avalina Buikema
(Chelsea, MI, USA)

I live in a small town 15 miles from Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan. Ann Arbor is very big on reading and recycling, which is why Ann Arbor ReUse Center is my favorite “book store”.

You can shop for furniture (I bought a 1940’s Duncan Phyfe dining room table); building materials, household items, electronics and lots and lots of books. Hardbacks sell for $1.00 and are quickly reduced to 50 cents if they don’t sell.

I do not buy junk! I buy only First Editions in fine or near fine condition with like dust jackets. I often find signed and inscribed books.

Here are a few of my most recent finds:
• “When We Were Bad” by Charlotte Mendelson; inscribed by author.
• “Rosie and Skate” by Beth Ann Bauman; debut book for teens. Only three first editions on ABE.
• “Read This and Tell Me What It Says” by A. Manette Ansay; collection of short stories and winner of the Associated Writing Programs Award for Short Fiction. Inscribed by author.
If you’re ever in Ann Arbor check it out.

WARNING: There’s no coffee shop and it’s not heated in the winter!