Great selection of books. I especially loved finding the nonfiction by Black, Indigenous, and other people of color so easily in the front and nonfiction from some of my favorite publishers all together. The staff was helpful with offers for help, recommendations, and letting me browse to my heart's content. I didn't intend to spend my whole Richmond shopping budget here, but the prices were right, and I'm glad for it. I'm also glad they changed their name to Shelf Life Books. It's clever, and I might have been confused or otherwise deterred.

I have been to Chop Suey books a couple of times, whenever I visit Richmond I stop by. I love the store and the employees. I live in Williamsburg and I needed to go for a drive, social distancing can be difficult and lonely. A new book came out in March and I really wanted it and I wanted to purchase from an independent book store. I called Chop Suey books, they had the book, I purchased it over the phone with my card. Today I drove to the store. I called from outside the store, an employees had it ready and placed it outside on the sidewalk, I swooped in and took my book to my car. All done with kindness and social distancing. Wonderful people, wonderful bookstore. Thank you Chop Suey Books!

However, of the two boxes of books I attempted to sell, the store took NONE. Of course, it is within their realm to decide on their need for inventory, but it was disheartening to walk out with the same items with which we walked in ('cept for our purchase). Luckily parking was available outside the front door .. albeit on the street.

I was excited about visiting this bookstore when I read about it in articles about the area. I love books and local bookstores so I couldn’t wait to check it out. I was fairly underwhelmed. The bottom floor was mostly new books at market price. The top floor had tons of used books. It was cool to walk through but there didn’t seem to be anything super special or unique about it like there is at some other local shops I’ve visited.

I was looking for a specific book and not only did they have this random memoir but they directed me towards other books that I may like in two different topics. The selection was great, the books were in great condition and very reasonably priced. They had every book on my wish list and I will certainly be back!