About Us
Originally opened in 1975, Roswell Book Store has served the Roswell-Alpharetta area for over 30 years. Rey and Cathy Vilar have been the owners since 1997. Located in the basement of an old retail building with minimal signage, we seem deceptively modest. But when you enter the store, under the original, quaint old sign and fresh barrel of beautiful flowers, you will find a surprisingly large, neat, well-organized and well-stocked interior.
Although we specialize in used books for popular reading, we offer many other interesting items. Very old, interesting books are placed in the front of the store as you come in. Large, beautifully illustrated books line the tops of the shelves. Our selection of audio books, popular with travelers, has been growing steadily. Overstocks of hardbacks are placed on a bargain shelf for $1 each and are very popular with decorators. We offer a selection of almost 100,000 used books in every genre. The only new books we purchase for sale are the classics, due to the high demand by the students in the community. Book-related gift items are also available: bookmarks, small book lights, bookends, hand-made book covers, and even plush animals to cuddle up with as you read.
We greet many of our customers by name, and often greet their well-behaved pets as well. With only one other employee, Betty Williams, our customers find that we know our inventory and can help you find what you're looking for and make recommendations on other authors you may enjoy. With the inventory changing every day, even our frequent customers find each visit like a treasure hunt when they browse the stacks, never knowing what surprises they will find. (We do, too!)
Being an independent book store owner is a challenge, but one that we enjoy. There are bargains available every single day, and you can browse through many books quickly, open them up and scan the contents, check the condition and take it home to read right away (with no shipping charges). Although we will gladly respond to e-mail requests and ship out purchases immediately, we will always have our heart in the local community.
To support the community that has given us so much support, we donate to local causes and post the thank you notes on our community bulletin board. Newcomers (and even longtime residents) are usually surprised when they learn about us. We're tucked away out of the limelight and advertise only in the yellow pages in order to keep our costs down. We can only compete with the big chain stores and discount warehouses by offering the best bargains AND the best service. We depend on the best kind of advertising - word-of-mouth recommendation by our customers.
