Thrift stores in Chicago
- 28 shops
- 6 thrift
- 22 used books & secondhand
- 1 walking route
- within 5 mi of downtown
Only one used bookstore is listed in Chicago, and 21 of the 28 stores are secondhand thrift stores. West Grand Avenue has three of them, with pairs on North Clark Street, North Milwaukee Avenue, West 18th Street and West Division Street. The one walkable stretch is North Clybourn Avenue, where Cynthia's Consignment and two branches of The Salvation Army sit four minutes apart.
Chains with several branches: Salvation Army (4) · Goodwill (2)
Book-hunting routes
1 routeShops a few minutes' walk apart, in walking order. Do a run in one go and the outliers another day.
-
North Clybourn Avenue run3 shops
Cynthia's Consignment → The Salvation Army → The Salvation Army
· ~4 min
Showing 28 shops
-
The Salvation Army Thrift store
North Union Avenue · 60654
1.2 mi -
1.4 mi
-
Knee Deep Vintage Secondhand store
West 18th Street
2.0 mi -
Very Best Vintage Secondhand store
West 18th Street · 60608
2.1 mi -
2.2 mi
-
Take Spines with you
Heading out in Chicago? Read every shelf in one photo.
Point your phone at a shelf. Spines names every book on it, pulls the ratings, and flags the ones worth grabbing for your taste. Free to try, with 3 scans a month on us.
-
Salvage Haus Secondhand store
West Grand Avenue · 60612
2.6 mi -
2.8 mi
-
The Ark Secondhand store2.8 mi
-
Unique Secondhand store
Mon 08:00–21:00
2.8 mi -
McShane's Exchange Secondhand store
West Armitage Avenue · 60614
2.9 mi -
Solé Resale Boutique Secondhand store
West Madison Street
3.0 mi -
Chicago Estate Advisors Secondhand store
West Division Street · 60622
3.0 mi -
Perpetual Books Used bookstore
West Division Street · 60622
3.2 mi -
3.2 mi
-
Cynthia's Consignment Secondhand store
North Clybourn Avenue run · stop 1
3.5 mi -
3.6 mi
-
3.7 mi
-
2nd STREET Secondhand store
North Clark Street · 60657
3.9 mi -
Mt. Sinai Resale Shop Secondhand store
North Clark Street
4.0 mi -
Village Discount Outlet Secondhand store
North Milwaukee Avenue · 60647
4.2 mi -
4.4 mi
-
Three Stars Resale Shop Secondhand store4.6 mi
-
5.2 mi
-
My Grandma's Attic Secondhand store5.3 mi
-
Hip Cat Secondhand store
West Addison Street · 60613
5.3 mi -
Logan Square Resale Shop Secondhand store5.4 mi
-
5.5 mi
-
The Salvation Army Thrift store
West Grand Avenue · 60651
5.5 mi
No shops match. Clear the search or pick another filter.
Book hunting in Chicago
Nearest-first is a decent route plan on its own: cluster your visits, start with the shops closest to each other, and save the outliers for days you're passing anyway. Thrift stores re-shelve constantly, most put new donations out every day or two, so a shop that was quiet on Saturday can be a different shop by Wednesday. Weekday mornings beat weekend afternoons, and it's always worth asking staff when the book cart comes out.
8 of the shops here have their opening hours on record, and 8 of those open on Sundays. Where no hours are listed, nobody has recorded them yet. 21 of the 28 are general second-hand shops.
If you want the odds on your side, read our guides to finding good books in thrift and charity shops and spotting the books worth grabbing before you set out.
Donating books in Chicago
6 of the shops here are charity-run and take book donations during opening hours. Ask at the counter for a receipt if you want to claim the donation against tax. Shops pay to dispose of what they cannot sell, so a bad donation costs the charity money. The test before you pack a bag: would someone buy this today? Recent fiction, classics, cookery and children's books move. Old textbooks, out-of-date travel guides and anything damp or mouldy do not.
Our guide to where to donate books covers which shops suit which books, and what to do with a whole house clear-out.
Scanning shelves in Chicago?
Spines reads a whole shelf from one photo and shows you which books are worth grabbing, tailored to your taste. Free to try.
Nearby: Thrift stores in Minneapolis· Thrift stores in Greensboro· Thrift stores in Richmond· Thrift stores in Staten Island· Thrift stores in Manhattan· Thrift stores in Brooklyn
Shop data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License. Shop details can drift out of date: check opening hours before travelling.