Touring the Used Book Stores of York, Pennsylvania

In my quest to find the remaining books in Philip Jose Farmer's Dungeon series, I made a mecca to York, Pennsylvania to tour the three used bookstores that I was able to locate using Google.

Note: Driving through York is as close as you are going to get to experience driving in a real life Mad Max film. Nobody within the borders of the city knows what a turn signal is or bothers using it. Drive judiciously and defensively. 

The three used bookstores I was able to find were York Emporium, TG Books, and Book Ends. If you are traveling through York west to east, I encourage you to visit them in that order. If traveling toward the setting sun, reverse the order. 

1) The York Emporium is clearly the largest of the three, a veritable heaven for book lovers with an interior labyrinth that is only rivaled by Harrisburg's Midtown Scholar. Located at 343 West Market Street, the Emporium is not located directly on the street, but off to the side. Be aware you will need a fistful of quarters for York's stingy parking meters (15 minutes per quarter), but the investment is worth it. You'll be spending a lot of time in the Emporium.

Operated by Pam and Jim Lewin for over a decade, Jim is an author in his own right and he knows his books. His selection is huge. I suspect if I was to ever find a copy of The City of Sarkomand, A Guide for the Traveler, it would be waiting for me in the stacks of the York Emporium.

Unfortunately, though I found three books of the Dungeon series in the shelves, they were ones I already own. Nonetheless, someday soon I will return with pocketfuls of quarters and explore the depths of the Emporium until I am kicked out for drooling all over the treasures. By the bye, they have a Facebook business listing.

2. TG Books is the smallest of the trio, but spacious and comfortable, mainly specializing in thrillers, the mystery genre and its sub-genres, with a healthy sampling of romance and Christian fiction. They do not have a web page, but they have a business listing on Facebook. Located at 2107 Industrial Highway, they have a free parking lot and share the strip mall with a comic book store that is worthy of exploration. Unfortunately, their science fiction and fantasy offerings are very few in number.

3. I struck gold at Book Ends where I found a very nice used copy of the 4th volume in the Dungeon

series. Located at 2856 Eastern Boulevard it has a free parking lot shared by other stores in the strip mall. Nicely arranged, the emphasis appears to be paperbacks and they have a respectable science fiction and fantasy section. Like TG Books, Book Ends does not have a web page, but does have a Facebook business listing.

All three stores, especially the York Emporium, are worthy of a visit. Used bookstores are a dying breed. It is up to book lovers like us to keep them open with our patronage.