Second Hand Books in Chilliwack
Raba Thrift Store sells second hand books in Chilliwack at 46191 Yale Rd — fiction, non-fiction, children's books, cookbooks, and textbooks, alongside vinyl records, CDs, and DVDs. The shelves are restocked as donations come in, seven days a week.
What books does Raba Thrift Store carry?
Raba Thrift Store stocks the following in our books section. Everything arrives as a donation, so what is on the floor today is not what was on the floor last week.
- Fiction — paperbacks, hardcovers, and series
- Non-fiction — history, biography, self-help, and reference
- Children's picture books and young adult novels
- Cookbooks and hobby and craft guides
- Textbooks and educational material
- Magazines, comics, and graphic novels
- Vinyl records, CDs, and DVDs
Second hand book shelves at Raba Thrift Store in Chilliwack
How do you check books before you buy it?
Secondhand stock is sold as-is, so a two-minute inspection is the difference between a good buy and a regret. These are the checks worth doing on books before you take it to the counter at Raba Thrift Store.
- 1Open the book flat at the middle and look at the spine. Cracked glue and pages starting to release means the book will come apart the first time you actually read it.
- 2Fan the page edges and look for waviness or brown tide lines. That is water damage, and a water-damaged book stored in a basement often carries mould you cannot see.
- 3Do the smell test, especially in the Fraser Valley. Our winters are wet and a lot of books sit in damp basements and garages before they reach a shelf. Musty paper smell does not come out.
- 4Check the copyright page for the edition and printing before you buy a textbook. Course requirements are edition-specific and a previous edition is often worth nothing to the student who needs it.
- 5Flip through for highlighting, margin notes, and missing pages — especially in textbooks, workbooks, and puzzle books where somebody may have filled in the answers.
- 6On hardcovers, check whether the dust jacket is present and intact. For any book with collector interest, a missing jacket is most of the value gone.
- 7For vinyl, tilt the record under the light and look across the grooves. Light surface marks are usually fine; deep scratches you can catch with a fingernail will skip.
- 8Sight along the edge of a record at eye level to check for warp, and confirm the disc inside actually matches the sleeve — mismatched records are extremely common in donated collections.
Why the book section is worth checking often
Books arrive in waves. A single household clear-out can put a hundred titles on the shelf in one afternoon, which means the section is genuinely different from one week to the next — one visit is heavy on paperback fiction, the next is somebody's cookbook collection or a shelf of Canadian history. There is no ordering and no back stock: what is out is what exists. That randomness is the appeal for readers who like being handed something they were not looking for, and it is the reason regulars check the shelves on most visits even when they came in for something else.
Books, records, and media in one place
Vinyl, CDs, and DVDs sit alongside the books because they come in together — the same Fraser Valley basements and estates that produce four boxes of paperbacks usually produce a crate of records too. Records in particular reward a careful look: donated collections have almost always been stored casually, so condition varies wildly within the same crate. Our vintage section is worth a pass on the same trip if you are hunting older pressings or collectible editions.
Donating books and media
Raba Thrift Store accepts books, magazines, comics, vinyl records, CDs, and DVDs. Two practical requests: pack books in boxes rather than bags, because a full bag of books tears out at the bottom, and keep the boxes to a weight one person can carry. Books that are mouldy, water-damaged, or falling apart are the one thing we cannot use, since nobody will take them off the shelf. Drop off at 46191 Yale Rd any day between 10 AM and 7 PM, or book a free pickup — seven days a week, no minimum. Donors get a 30% off coupon; we are for-profit, so no tax receipts.
Drop off in person
46191 Yale Rd, Chilliwack, BC V2P 4X5, Canada. Open 10 AM – 7 PM, 7 days a week — no appointment needed. Park out front, or pull around to the back lot if the front is full. Either entrance works — come in whichever way is easier for you. Our staff will help you unload.
Drop-off detailsOr book a free pickup
Can't haul it? We pick up free, 7 days a week, with no minimum — Chilliwack, Sardis, Yarrow, Cultus Lake, Sumas, Matsqui, and Abbotsford.
Book a free pickup