Half Price Books, Records, Magazines, Incorporated is a chain of new and used

bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The found ...

s in the United States. The company's original motto is "We buy and sell anything printed or recorded except yesterday's newspaper", and many of the used books, music, and movies for sale in each location are purchased from local residents. The corporate office is located in the flagship Northwest Highway location in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. Half Price Books now operates more than 120 stores (including outlets) in 19 states.

History

Founders Ken Gjemre (1921-2002) and Pat Anderson opened the first store in 1972 in a former laundromat in Dallas, Texas, filling the shelves with 2,000 books out of their personal libraries. Pat Anderson's daughter, Sharon Anderson Wright, is the company's current CEO, and Kathy Doyle Thomas is President. In 2009, Sharon's sister Ellen O'Neal stepped up to the position of Chairperson of the Board to become more involved with the family business.

Unionization

Minnesota

Half Price Books employees at the Roseville and

Saint Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

locations in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

filed for union elections in late 2021 and were soon joined by the Coon Rapids location. All three stores won their union elections on December 16, 2021, becoming the first unionized Half Price Books locations. Employees from a fourth Minnesota location in St. Louis Park won a union election on January 6, 2022. Workers from the state's unionized locations belong to local chapters of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). On July 13, 2023, employees from the four unionized Half Price Books locations in Minnesota began a strike, citing the company's conduct throughout the contract negotiation process. UFCW officials filed an Unfair Labor Practices charge with the

National Labor Relations Board The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States that enforces United States labor law, U.S. labor law in relation to collect ...

on behalf of the striking workers.

Indiana

Half Price Books employees in

Greenwood, Indiana Greenwood is a city in Johnson County, Indiana, United States. The population was 63,830 at the 2020 Census. Greenwood is located southeast of central Indianapolis between Interstate 65 and Interstate 69. It is the most populous suburban mu ...

won a union election on April 1, 2022, becoming the fifth store in the country to organize with a local

United Food and Commercial Workers The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a trade union, labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufa ...

chapter.

Philanthropy

The Half Price Books original mission statement includes the promise to "promote

literacy Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

and be kind to the environment." Teachers and librarians, for example, are offered a year-round 10% discount on purchases. Each year, every Half Price Books store holds a book drive to collect new or gently used children's books, building "Half Pint Libraries" at non-profit organizations and schools in the communities it serves. The company has promoted recycling and reusing, and the sound management of paper, energy and water resources. In 2008, Half Price Books launched a formal environmental education initiative called "B(eco)me Green" to help spread knowledge about the health of the environment. In addition, the chain donates millions of books and its overstock inventory to non-profit organizations around the world such as

Feed the Children Feed the Children, established in 1979 and headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a non-profit organization focused on alleviating childhood hunger. Its mission is "providing hope and resources for those without life's essentials." The orga ...

and

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

. It also gives some of its books to

Better World Books Better World Books (also known as Qumpus, Inc.) is an American online bookseller of used and new books, founded in 2002 by students of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Better World Books' used book inventory comes primarily from regular bo ...

, a for-profit online bookseller.

Publishing

Half Price Books publishes some of the books it sells, inexpensively reprinting non-copyrighted titles or acquiring the U.S. or English language rights from another publisher. Half Price Books reprints these titles under its publishing arm, Hackberry Press. Among Hackberry Press titles is the Half Price Books children's storybook series '' Say Good Night to Illiteracy'', with 13 editions in print. All proceeds from the series benefit family

organizations such as Reach Out and Read and the

National Center for Family Literacy The National Center for Families Learning (NCFL; formerly the National Center for Family Literacy) is an organization founded to create educational and economic opportunity for the most at-risk children and parents in the United States. History ...

project.

Wholesale

The wholesale division of Half Price Books is Texas Bookman, also headquartered in Dallas. Texas Bookman sells trade and scholarly remainders at discount prices to wholesale buyers around the world. In April 2020, Texas Bookman began selling directly to the public on their new retail website. In May 2022, Texas Bookman hosted its first annual trade book show, Texas Remainder Expo (TRex), in which exhibitors travel from across the US and UK to show their latest inventory available for wholesale purchasing at discounted prices.

References

External links

*
BecomeGreen.org
– an environmental initiative by Half Price Books
DeleteCensorship.org
– a Banned Books Awareness message sponsored by Half Price Books
Official Facebook PageTexas Bookman WholesaleTexas Remainder Expo
{{Bookstore Chains Chain bookstores of the United States Bookstores in Texas Companies based in Dallas Retail companies established in 1972 Book distributors American companies established in 1972 1972 establishments in Texas Used bookstores