Best Used-Book Store
Half Price Books
With 80-plus stores in 14 states, Half Price Books lacks the charm of an independent shop. But let's be honest: Cigar smoke, mangy dogs and dank basements are overrated. A link in a big chain, the Half Price in Overland Park deserves recognition for a deep and well-organized inventory. It might be smaller in size than the Westport location, but the OP Half Price always seems to have better stuff. The new-arrivals kiosk is a great place to score cheap hardbacks, and the used CDs are — brace yourself — alphabetized by artist. It's not Marks & Company, the bookshop immortalized in the book and movie 84 Charing Cross Road, but it'll do.