Every time I see Bookman's, I think of Seinfeld. The episode in which Phillip Baker Hall played the library cop, Bookman. He called Jerry Seinfeld, Joy Boy. Hilarious angry deadpan delivery.
Never heard of Bookmans until this video, and man how I wish I had one near me. The Pornoire reminds me of mom and pop video stores or Movie Gallery where they had the secluded back room for Adults Only. Nothing like that feeling of ducking into the back room lol
Back in 1992 or so, I traded in a bunch of old books into the Bookman's in Flagstaff. Some of the books were older fantasy stuff that I'd read in the early 80s, so I'd written my name in them (in case I left one in the lunch room at school or on the bus). Fast forward to last weekend (and now in Mesa), and I find one of the books I'd turned in back in '92 in the Scifi/Fantasy section with my name still in it. Good stuff.
I really like the Bookmans in Mesa. I didn't go for years and I was surprised when they got rid of the cafe area and replaced it with a huge toy section. But, I guess that's how the business is going now. Which is fine, they seem to be doing well. Everytime I go in, I see a lot of people.
Never heard of this one, bookstores are dying, I remember we had a local magazine shop in my town, was fun just to browse and see the latest issues released
One of my favorite stores too. I used to go there a lot every month. The one that I go to in Mesa, has like old-school televisions, and even some Amiibo figures! And tons imported games from Japan. I have not been to this location though. But it looks newer and nice. Thanks so much for doing video on this store. You are a very awesome UA-camr.
Yessssss. I've been waiting for this! Bookman's holds such a special place in my heart, especially the Mesa location. I always have to stop in whenever I'm nearby.
Wow! Talk about sphincter pucker. I thought you were saying Bookman's was meeting it's demise. With about $900 in credit there, I wouldn't like that. I have been trading at Bookman's since 1981 so I remember the original store on Tucson Boulevard. Books from floor to ceiling and aisles that would not meet today's fire code. Then the store at Grant and Campbell and finally at Ina and Thornydale. I moved to Phoenix in 1989 and lo, and behold the store at Country Club and Southern appears. I have not been to the store in Peoria or Flagstaff, but when it comes to obscure, Bookman's is the place to find it. Thanks for the video overview and biography, even if it did restart my heart.
Wow, the Phoenix location looks much bigger than the Mesa location. It's such a cool store. When I moved to AZ for school, my mom and I found a health science book with no price. They told us to name a price and they'd go for it. We never encountered such an interesting store when we lived back East. I take all my out of town friends there for a visit
@@samivayajd We still have 3. We used to have 4. We have the one in Marana, and 2 on Speedway. The 4th store used to be sporting goods but when the Grant location closed, they moved it to the sporting goods store. The idea of Bookmans having sporting goods was an odd idea though...
When I still lived in Arizona I was a big fan of Bookman's. We lived closest to the Flagstaff location and I remember looking at all the used PC games fondly. I don't remember what else I might have bought there but I remember definitely picking up the adventure game, Robot City, based on Isaac Asimov's stories.
Bookman's looks like a REALLY cool store!! Wish we had them on the east coast. The closest to Bookman's here is *probably* 2nd and Charles and Books-A-Million. Great video!! :-D
Bookmans is awesome. The only competition is zias and maybe half price books. You are right about Barnes and noble. Might be time for a video at a dead bn!
i loved those choose your own adventure books, every time i got a bad ending i would reread it and choose another path. That love of them has transferred over to rpg games like Fallout 4
The closest thing to this store that we have in the midwest is Half Price Books, but it doesn't have as many cool toys or musical instruments. Thankfully theres a Guitar Center a few stores down from the one I go to
looks like a really awesome store! I do remember Skeleton Warriors (we even had the videogame... it was decent but not terrible iirc) but I was unaware there were ever shadowrun figures, I may have to look those up later! but yeah you would probably find me in the videogame section, lol
I believe Tucson's Bookman's is my favorite ! I remember always going with my aunt and mom and being in awe everytime we went. Always loved the video game display cases too. I WANT THOSE ELVIRA SOCKS!!!
It seems like Bookmans and Zia Records are approaching each other as far as what they carry. Both have greatly increased the amount of merchandise that wasn't related to their original selection, and a lot of it is pop-culture toys and other tchochkes.
Thanks for uploading this one. Another part I miss about Phoenix, I loved shopping at Bookman's. Indeed they are a very unique store. I used to buy Books, CD's and DVD's on the cheap. This store layouts really brings back memories. Appreciate this video, now I have to see if ONLINE shopping is available. Cheers.
PS5 will be backwards compatible with most PS4 games; however, there has been no word on backwards compatibility with PS1-PS3, and it doesn't look likely to happen.
Wish I had one of these stores anywhere near me! I could browse there for hours. I particularly like the cool display idea of putting related items in with the books
I found a trivial pursuit box game on a military base thrift store in Japan. It had the Bookmans sticker on it. I also found a couple of very nice University of Arizona insulated mugs at the same shop. They were brand new.
If you’re ever in Nashville, TN. Go to McKays Used Books. It’s basically a half WAL-MART in size for the first floor which has used book, movies, video games, consoles, media players, phones and tablets, and instruments and other stuff. The stop floor is a 10-15 foot widecatwalk type area that goes around the first floor and has a metric assload of music on all formats. It’s a beautiful nerd haven.
Love this chain, I live near the Flagstaff location and have been to the Phoenix location a few times, even bought some GBA games such as Mario Kart: Super Circuit and even my SNES. I even once was lucky enough to find both Banjo-Kazooie AND Banjo-Tooie in the same location at the same time! :)
Thanks so much for this video. This is a favorite store of my friend Bree so it was great to see it. I wish she could have been there the day you filmed. She's a huge fan and turned me on to your channel. Keep up the great work.
Very creative presentation of what they are selling, they are offer something more than just bland vanilla. Bookmans reminds me of Bookoff here in Southern California which is a cool store that pays in cash for old items, I have sold books, and electronic equipment to them.
Great video! Now this is on my list of places to visit if I ever come down to Arizona. This chain reminds me a lot of a chain that was in Sacramento called Dimple's that had records, toys, games, movies etc., but they closed last year :(
Spent many of my teenage years in Tucson, and was a frequent visitor to all the Bookman's branches. One of the locations listed on that flier no longer exists, as it was demolished last year. It had been there for 30 years, and was, I think, the oldest Bookman's store.
I remember back in grade school going to the Mesa location every week. They used to hold every copy of Final Fantasy VII for a $65 ransom. They just had a gigantic stack in the glass case that would never sell.
I’ve always loved Bookmans! Been going there 10 years now and the employees there are the ones that sparked my interest in retro gaming when I was 11 those 10 years ago! Been enjoying the channel to man 😊
I visited Phoenix about 6 years ago and I'm so mad I didn't know about this store. I can see a Fugazi album on vinyl in one shot there, the "Instrument" soundtrack, that's rad.
BTW - Two customers a day *each day!* win a completely FREE checkout. The register rings you up, but when they press total, it lets the employee know it is free. I always thought it was a Bookman’s wive’s tale until I won it last year. I was almost doing cart wheels it was so great.
Now one of my favorite places and I found it by accident. A few years back during construction of the light rail line on 19th Ave. the construction cut off for a short time the small parking lot to my Doctors office so I had to park across the street in the sprouts grocery store lot when I came back from my appointment I checked out the store next to Sprouts which was Bookman's I have been going there ever since even if it is a bit out the way.
That was interesting! It's got similarities to the Half Price Books outlet store I have in my area and a few other local shops like one called "disk replay". I wonder how these stores manage inventory. Kind of funny how many old action figures are still available in box. I guess collectors of the 90s held on until the realized there wasn't a huge market for the stuff, lol.
Love bookman's! I live closer to the Mesa location so I'm there more often. I do enjoy the Phoenix location when I'm over that way as well! Great video!
They are an awesome place, found an extra power supply and tv switch for my Atari 2600 in the east Tucson area. Lots of cool stuff like Phillips CD-I that has games like dragons lair and space ace.
Yo, this absolutely looks like my kind of store! Though it does make me sad that bookstores, independent ones especially, are dying but I love that Bookman's looks like it's doing okay. If I'm ever in the area, I'm definitely gonna have to drop into one of their locations and take a look around
I sometimes wish I was back in the Phoenix area from being there in 1976, when you said Bookman's started in Tucson, before Phoenix, even though I am in southern Florida. How is Fry's still doing? There is a Ham Radio Outlet store in Phoenix, as I and my wife are amateur radio operators. But, I also like music and audio, and still like and have cassettes and vinyl records.
This reminds me of a place that opened up in my home state of Louisiana before I moved away. It's called 2nd and Charles. A very pale comparison to this! Bookmans is MIND - BOGGLING.
This reminds me more of a 2nd and Charles type of store (although they are SUPER expensive, so I often end up passing on a lot of the cool stuff I see there).
This place makes me think of Half-Price Books and Records here in the DFW Area. It is much like Bookmans, minus the musical instruments and toys. But, the inside of it, Half-Price Books is very much is like that.
Bookman's has been hit-and-miss for me, but thank God more hit than miss. Bookman's also takes in collections for either cash or store credit. A great store, all things considered.
I don't think I've ever been to this location but they are having a big sale next weekend that I'll probably go to. I love Bookman's and this one seems to have a much bigger selection than the Mesa location.
Very cool store. I think they have an eBay store as well. Pretty sure I've bought used books or movies from them in the past despite not living in Arizona.
Back in 2013 I happened upon the Bookman's in Flagstaff. Got a great deal on Destiny of an Emperor for NES, but since I was traveling with a larger group I didn't get time to explore the whole store as much as I would have liked.
Wish I had one of these near me. This looks like my kind of store.
WISH i had one some one in my area but not. but now i know to look out for one of these stores, we have store like it tho.
Worked at the eastern Speedway location in Tucson for a few years, the best job I've had to this day.
This place looks amazing, like a bigger and better Half Price Books
Every time I see Bookman's, I think of Seinfeld. The episode in which Phillip Baker Hall played the library cop, Bookman. He called Jerry Seinfeld, Joy Boy. Hilarious angry deadpan delivery.
Ahhhh Chinese Democracy; the musical equivalent of Duke Nukem Forever.
Better album than pretty much anything rock related released today
Never heard of Bookmans until this video, and man how I wish I had one near me. The Pornoire reminds me of mom and pop video stores or Movie Gallery where they had the secluded back room for Adults Only. Nothing like that feeling of ducking into the back room lol
Back in 1992 or so, I traded in a bunch of old books into the Bookman's in Flagstaff. Some of the books were older fantasy stuff that I'd read in the early 80s, so I'd written my name in them (in case I left one in the lunch room at school or on the bus). Fast forward to last weekend (and now in Mesa), and I find one of the books I'd turned in back in '92 in the Scifi/Fantasy section with my name still in it. Good stuff.
Nothing better than old issues of MAD. I like the 50's and 60's best.
I really like the Bookmans in Mesa. I didn't go for years and I was surprised when they got rid of the cafe area and replaced it with a huge toy section. But, I guess that's how the business is going now. Which is fine, they seem to be doing well. Everytime I go in, I see a lot of people.
Never heard of this one, bookstores are dying, I remember we had a local magazine shop in my town, was fun just to browse and see the latest issues released
This place looks amazing. I wish there was a Bookmans near me.
I wish a Bookmans was near me. I live in the Midwest.
One of my favorite stores too. I used to go there a lot every month. The one that I go to in Mesa, has like old-school televisions, and even some Amiibo figures! And tons imported games from Japan. I have not been to this location though. But it looks newer and nice. Thanks so much for doing video on this store. You are a very awesome UA-camr.
Yessssss. I've been waiting for this! Bookman's holds such a special place in my heart, especially the Mesa location. I always have to stop in whenever I'm nearby.
Wow! Talk about sphincter pucker. I thought you were saying Bookman's was meeting it's demise. With about $900 in credit there, I wouldn't like that. I have been trading at Bookman's since 1981 so I remember the original store on Tucson Boulevard. Books from floor to ceiling and aisles that would not meet today's fire code. Then the store at Grant and Campbell and finally at Ina and Thornydale. I moved to Phoenix in 1989 and lo, and behold the store at Country Club and Southern appears. I have not been to the store in Peoria or Flagstaff, but when it comes to obscure, Bookman's is the place to find it. Thanks for the video overview and biography, even if it did restart my heart.
i remember the day this store opened up, right down the block from me. spent so much time in there after school
Wow, the Phoenix location looks much bigger than the Mesa location. It's such a cool store. When I moved to AZ for school, my mom and I found a health science book with no price. They told us to name a price and they'd go for it. We never encountered such an interesting store when we lived back East. I take all my out of town friends there for a visit
Cool, that store is right where I used to live. Lots of memories of trading in unwanted stuff for credit and browsing inventory.
I just discovered the Bookmans in Tucson. I love the amount of retro games, consoles, and accessories they have.
Turletwife I went to that one when I was in Tucson for rehearsals in 2018. That Bookmans was so clean, calm, and retro!
We have 2 (used to be 3) locations
@@samivayajd We still have 3. We used to have 4. We have the one in Marana, and 2 on Speedway. The 4th store used to be sporting goods but when the Grant location closed, they moved it to the sporting goods store. The idea of Bookmans having sporting goods was an odd idea though...
I love Bookmans! I go there once a week
The Tucson bookmans are awesome cause they're all so close together. You can hit all 3 easily. The one on Ina Rd always has the best prices
When I still lived in Arizona I was a big fan of Bookman's. We lived closest to the Flagstaff location and I remember looking at all the used PC games fondly. I don't remember what else I might have bought there but I remember definitely picking up the adventure game, Robot City, based on Isaac Asimov's stories.
This place remind me of 2nd & Charles.
Bookman's looks like a REALLY cool store!! Wish we had them on the east coast. The closest to Bookman's here is *probably* 2nd and Charles and Books-A-Million. Great video!! :-D
I'd be in there for hours. I wish there was one in my area.
Bookmans is awesome. The only competition is zias and maybe half price books. You are right about Barnes and noble. Might be time for a video at a dead bn!
i loved those choose your own adventure books, every time i got a bad ending i would reread it and choose another path. That love of them has transferred over to rpg games like Fallout 4
Same feeling here too.
The closest thing to this store that we have in the midwest is Half Price Books, but it doesn't have as many cool toys or musical instruments. Thankfully theres a Guitar Center a few stores down from the one I go to
looks like a really awesome store! I do remember Skeleton Warriors (we even had the videogame... it was decent but not terrible iirc) but I was unaware there were ever shadowrun figures, I may have to look those up later! but yeah you would probably find me in the videogame section, lol
I've never heard of Bookmans myself; however, I have been to a store called 2nd & Charles that seems to be pretty similar to it.
I used to have a ve collection of Mad Magazines as a Kid and books by them as well
This place is awesome! Wish I could go to Phoenix and visit!
I believe Tucson's Bookman's is my favorite ! I remember always going with my aunt and mom and being in awe everytime we went. Always loved the video game display cases too. I WANT THOSE ELVIRA SOCKS!!!
Dude, yes. Wonder Showzen. I'm subscribing.
It seems like Bookmans and Zia Records are approaching each other as far as what they carry. Both have greatly increased the amount of merchandise that wasn't related to their original selection, and a lot of it is pop-culture toys and other tchochkes.
I go to this exact Bookmans every couple months, I only live 10 minutes away!
I love to see you old specialty companies like bookstores keep true to themselves but also wise enough to change the times
Reminds me of Hastings out here in NM before they closed for good in 2016.
Wish there was a store like this in Idaho, only thing kinda close to it was Hastings but they closed down years ago. I miss it
I love wonder showzen!!!
I love saying “I live by Bookman’s Phoenix” - so great. I love living in 19North and Bookman’s is such a big reason for it.
I moved back to Ohio 2 years ago from Tucson. Bookmans were the best. We have nothing like that here. Thx for the walk through!!
Thanks for uploading this one. Another part I miss about Phoenix, I loved shopping at Bookman's. Indeed they are a very unique store. I used to buy Books, CD's and DVD's on the cheap. This store layouts really brings back memories. Appreciate this video, now I have to see if ONLINE shopping is available. Cheers.
PS5 will be backwards compatible with most PS4 games; however, there has been no word on backwards compatibility with PS1-PS3, and it doesn't look likely to happen.
I had no idea this was such a thing! Next time I'm in Phoenix I'll stop by. Thanks for sharing!
I lived in Tucson in the mid 90s and loved going to Bookmans.
that store looks like paradise, thanks for sharing!
Wow, super cool store! *thumbs up* for having Space Harrier music in the video. :)
Wish I had one of these stores anywhere near me! I could browse there for hours. I particularly like the cool display idea of putting related items in with the books
I found a trivial pursuit box game on a military base thrift store in Japan. It had the Bookmans sticker on it. I also found a couple of very nice University of Arizona insulated mugs at the same shop. They were brand new.
I really wish we had something like that here. I love that kind of store.
If you’re ever in Nashville, TN. Go to McKays Used Books. It’s basically a half WAL-MART in size for the first floor which has used book, movies, video games, consoles, media players, phones and tablets, and instruments and other stuff. The stop floor is a 10-15 foot widecatwalk type area that goes around the first floor and has a metric assload of music on all formats. It’s a beautiful nerd haven.
Love this chain, I live near the Flagstaff location and have been to the Phoenix location a few times, even bought some GBA games such as Mario Kart: Super Circuit and even my SNES. I even once was lucky enough to find both Banjo-Kazooie AND Banjo-Tooie in the same location at the same time! :)
Used to live in Tucson and went to Bookman's all the time. Such an awesome place
In UK here. Love your videos. A store like that and I'd be beyond broke. And yeah laserdiscs!
This is an amazing store. This is a destination to never miss. Stop in at Carlos O’Brien’s for lunch and you won’t regret it!
Dude, this is a great video! What a crazy catch-all place. I love it.
Thanks so much for this video. This is a favorite store of my friend Bree so it was great to see it. I wish she could have been there the day you filmed. She's a huge fan and turned me on to your channel. Keep up the great work.
Very creative presentation of what they are selling, they are offer something more than just bland vanilla. Bookmans reminds me of Bookoff here in Southern California which is a cool store that pays in cash for old items, I have sold books, and electronic equipment to them.
Great video! Now this is on my list of places to visit if I ever come down to Arizona. This chain reminds me a lot of a chain that was in Sacramento called Dimple's that had records, toys, games, movies etc., but they closed last year :(
Spent many of my teenage years in Tucson, and was a frequent visitor to all the Bookman's branches. One of the locations listed on that flier no longer exists, as it was demolished last year. It had been there for 30 years, and was, I think, the oldest Bookman's store.
0:30 is that a Rosie O'Donnell doll behind the Doug thingy? DAMN!
i love this place man. i always find all sorts lf cool stuff like figures, books, etc.
Recently visited Tucson. Love Bookmans. Picked up some Black Flag vinyl. My girlfriend actually bought some vintage Arizona Highways magazines.
Never heard of Bookman's at all. I guess it's not this far east, so thanks for filming this, with trips down memory lane.
I remember back in grade school going to the Mesa location every week. They used to hold every copy of Final Fantasy VII for a $65 ransom. They just had a gigantic stack in the glass case that would never sell.
I'd have bought the hell out of that The Cure Disintegration vinyl 6:38
It's 6:38. Your timestamp is way off.
@@coreym162 no idea how that happened lmao but thanks! I fixed it
What a great looking store!
The only VHS I buy now are slasher flicks from the 1980s.
I’ve always loved Bookmans! Been going there 10 years now and the employees there are the ones that sparked my interest in retro gaming when I was 11 those 10 years ago! Been enjoying the channel to man 😊
Thanks!
I visited Phoenix about 6 years ago and I'm so mad I didn't know about this store.
I can see a Fugazi album on vinyl in one shot there, the "Instrument" soundtrack, that's rad.
I love going to Bookman's!! I got my bass guitar from there :)
I love bookmans. I used to buy so many laser discs there.
BTW - Two customers a day *each day!* win a completely FREE checkout. The register rings you up, but when they press total, it lets the employee know it is free. I always thought it was a Bookman’s wive’s tale until I won it last year. I was almost doing cart wheels it was so great.
I love Bookman's! I live about a mile or so away from the Phoenix store!
That fly at 1:43 scard the shit out of me
Now one of my favorite places and I found it by accident. A few years back during construction of the light rail line on 19th Ave. the construction cut off for a short time the small parking lot to my Doctors office so I had to park across the street in the sprouts grocery store lot when I came back from my appointment I checked out the store next to Sprouts which was Bookman's I have been going there ever since even if it is a bit out the way.
This looks like a much bigger version of Half-Price Books. Pretty much has all the exact same things, right down to the Spawn figures. LOL
That was interesting! It's got similarities to the Half Price Books outlet store I have in my area and a few other local shops like one called "disk replay". I wonder how these stores manage inventory. Kind of funny how many old action figures are still available in box. I guess collectors of the 90s held on until the realized there wasn't a huge market for the stuff, lol.
Out of everyone I knew I was the only one who had a sega cd.
Really cool store. I always love stores with a huge board game section! My first job was at a board game company.
Which board game company? I live in Wisconsin and we have a few well known board game companies nearby.
fuzer909 GMT Games in Hanford, CA
@@camree2408 Legion Wargames and Fantasy Flight Games are within a hour from me over in Minnesota. I haven't owned any GMT games that I can recall.
Love bookman's! I live closer to the Mesa location so I'm there more often. I do enjoy the Phoenix location when I'm over that way as well! Great video!
They are an awesome place, found an extra power supply and tv switch for my Atari 2600 in the east Tucson area. Lots of cool stuff like Phillips CD-I that has games like dragons lair and space ace.
9:34 - I'm shocked that not only someone else remembers Wondershowzen, but that there was actual merch!
Yo, this absolutely looks like my kind of store! Though it does make me sad that bookstores, independent ones especially, are dying but I love that Bookman's looks like it's doing okay. If I'm ever in the area, I'm definitely gonna have to drop into one of their locations and take a look around
New one on me, but it looks like a pretty cool store.
Didn't see any vintage PC game boxes. When I started collecting retro PC games of course I unintentionally picked the hardest to collect for lol.
I sometimes wish I was back in the
Phoenix area from being there in 1976,
when you said Bookman's started in
Tucson, before Phoenix, even though
I am in southern Florida. How is Fry's
still doing? There is a Ham Radio
Outlet store in Phoenix, as I and my
wife are amateur radio operators. But,
I also like music and audio, and still like and have cassettes and vinyl records.
This reminds me of a place that opened up in my home state of Louisiana before I moved away. It's called 2nd and Charles. A very pale comparison to this! Bookmans is MIND - BOGGLING.
Bookmans was also the first place I ever saw an electric car charger. And that was years ago when Tesla just started making their first car.
This reminds me more of a 2nd and Charles type of store (although they are SUPER expensive, so I often end up passing on a lot of the cool stuff I see there).
WOW, I 'll need to make a trip there next time I'm in the Phoenix area!
I haven't lived in Phoenix in almost 8 years and knew that was the 19th Ave location on the first image.
This place makes me think of Half-Price Books and Records here in the DFW Area. It is much like Bookmans, minus the musical instruments and toys. But, the inside of it, Half-Price Books is very much is like that.
I always make time to go to Bookman’s when I visit relatives in Arizona
I would love to visit that book store....how interesting...
Bookman's has been hit-and-miss for me, but thank God more hit than miss. Bookman's also takes in collections for either cash or store credit.
A great store, all things considered.
Bookmans is awesome! 😃
I don't think I've ever been to this location but they are having a big sale next weekend that I'll probably go to. I love Bookman's and this one seems to have a much bigger selection than the Mesa location.
Very cool store. I think they have an eBay store as well. Pretty sure I've bought used books or movies from them in the past despite not living in Arizona.
Been to the one in flagstaff, az, and phoenix, az
Back in 2013 I happened upon the Bookman's in Flagstaff. Got a great deal on Destiny of an Emperor for NES, but since I was traveling with a larger group I didn't get time to explore the whole store as much as I would have liked.