Hawaii Kai Community Bookstore

A non-profit bookstore in HI Kai! This little gem is such a treasure when you're simply looking for books or magazines to read, books to keep your kids occupied, or just seeking information on something you are researching.The State of HI government-run HI Kai Library opened in Dec. 1973, and for the next 30 years, the HI Kai Lions Club and Nagoya Lions provided monetary donations and cultural artifacts from Japan, respectively. In Aug. 2013, the Friends of the HI Kai Library opened the HI Kai Community Book Store to assist with the library's funding.Prior to the bookstore's opening, there was thought of using unused space on the ground floor of the library for a bookstore. A group of volunteers, including a carpenter and artist, and assisted by students of Kaiser High School and its Key and Leo clubs, spent much time and effort to enclose and enhance the space to make it look like a bookstore. Many of the volunteers, led by the current Manager, Lillian Yoshimura, were retired teachers who sought operational tips from similar bookstores of the Kaneohe and Kailua public libraries. They also hustled for gently used donations of books, cleaned them, priced them, and sorted them for placement on the shelves. Books were categorized and shelved in different areas: children, young adult, instructional books for teachers and home schoolers, test preparation, juvenile non-fiction, adult fiction, biographies, religion, self-help, business, cooking, crafts and games, foreign, etc.In Aug. 2013 and staffed entirely by volunteers, the HI Kai Community Book Store was open! As with any new entity, it took time for the community to learn that a non-profit bookstore had opened. Signs were placed on the library lawn as traffic whizzed by on busy Lunalilo Home Rd. With regular prices ranging from 50¢ to $3 per book, semi-annual sales of 50% off of its entire inventory during a one-week period were held to thank its patrons.This bookstore has been very successful over the years, as it's now known throughout the HI Kai community. Teachers and parents of little kids are especially happy, as well as the community residents! Improvements have been made over the years to tailor its services to the community:· In addition to books, its inventory has expanded to:- CDs & DVDs - all interests of music, books, films, and blank ones.- Vinyl records - popular, classical, and world.- Sheet music for all instruments.- Calendars, greeting cards, puzzles, world and road maps.- Clean and books that look new are placed in an area for gift giving.· Monthly and pop-up sales of 50% off specific categories of books, e.g., biography, history, and military; cookbooks; adult fiction; children's; home and garden; business, etc.· Story telling, sing-a-longs, and other events for children.· Acceptance of magazine donations that are categorized and placed in an area where they are free for the public at their choosing.Note that every item sold is donated by community residents, and all proceeds benefit the HI Kai Library. The bookstore is selective of what is donated, as items should be stain free, no age spots, no torn pages, and is in saleable condition. No encyclopedia or textbook donations.The bookstore was our lifesaver when we were babysitting our grandkids. Not only was it air conditioned so that we could make use of the cool air during the hot summer days, but we loved to take our grandkids there! They would spend a lot of time there, browsing through the many books. And because the cost of the books was so reasonable, we allowed them to pick as many books as they wanted, which they would later donate back to the bookstore once they had finished reading them.Hubby and I have and continue to make good use of the bookstore. Hubby collects vinyl records of the 1950's and '60's, so he periodically checks the offerings and has gotten some deals! He also reads a lot of novels, so he's constantly on the lookout for certain books. I gravitate to the local cookbooks that are out-of-print, books on chess for our grandson, books on HI by local authors, and books on Christianity and travel when I'm doing research.COVID requirements have affected the bookstore's operation. It was closed for 14 months after COVID started in 2020 and reopened in May 2021. Hours of operation are: Mon/Tues 12:30p - 3:30, Wed/Thurs/Sat 9:30a - 3:30p, Fri/Sat closed. Free parking available in the library's parking lot (21 spaces). COVID compliance required: max 6 shoppers in the store at one time, 20-minute shopping time limitation depending on number of people in line, facial masks, social distancing, and use of hand sanitizer.However, with the recent increase in COVID numbers, the bookstore had closed temporarily in Aug 2021 and will remain so until further notice. We look forward to it reopening again when it is safe, and I'm sure others do too! What a great gem in the HI Kai community!

I love this bookstore! It's like a book sale everyday and this store is better than all those book sale events! Even the annual McKinley one!This bookstore is located at the bottom level of the Hawaii Kai Public Library. You'll walk by it from the parking lot. Their hours are 1230-430pm Monday, 10am-430pm Tuesday-Thursday, 930am-3pm on Saturday, and closed Friday and Sunday.There are so many great deals, and great finds. They have monthly and daily deals (50% off certain types of books or dvds), and a quarterly 50% off everything sale. I have found quite a few difficult to find items here and many great deals.I need to thank the individuals who donate their precious items, the staff and volunteers who work here that always keeps the store clean, well-stocked, organized, and always provide friendly and top-notch service. All the money earned here goes straight to the public library!

Located in the bottom floor of the Hawai'i Kai branch of the State Library System, the Community Bookstore has great deals on used books, music, and video. It also has an adequate selection given its size. They also take used books.

I use to live in Hawaii Kai - beside my friend's this is the place I miss the most!I love treasure hunting and I always find amazing readings at this basement library book store. I saw the place grow ten times in less then a year - I was so happy with their enormous selection of children's books, cd's, and their fantastic sales (you need to ask the dates) The employees (most of them volunteers) work very hard to keep the place organize and are very knowledgeable of what they have, I couldn't do their job - with all my allergies (old dust etc) MAHALO to all

I love taking my keiki here. You can find so many children books for bargain prices. The staff is so helpful & friendly! I highly recommend this place is you are looking for great deal on books!

I went to drop off about 10 boxes of books that I had just sitting around in storage. Keep in mind that I am donating the books to them. I guess it was the head of the bookstore that I was talking to, and she said we don't take books that the cover is a little ripped, and there were spots on the pages. I didn't know that was mold, I thought it was just old age. Then she told me they threw away half the books because of that, which is fine because I'm giving it to them. Then she said about textbooks or books in general that are from the early 2000's she can't sell because they want current information, which is understood, but people still might want them as souvenirs. Then she said THATS COMMON SENSE! I said okay, sorry I don't have common sense! It's like giving a homeless person a salad, and they say, no! I rather have a hamburger. I guess the rest of the books, I'll donate to goodwill or throw them away.

I went to this library for the bookstore so this review is ONLY based off of my experience at the bookstore & not the library itself. On the bottom floor of the library there is a small bookstore with quite a good variety of genres. I am a huge fan of YA novels so obviously I made myself to that section. Let me tell you, they had an awesome variety ! They are a little on the pricey side compared to Kaneohe library bookstore and Kialua library bookstore but still really cheap ! They price there books based off of the condition it's in I believe. The most expensive book I saw was $2, which is really cheap ! The workers are very kind & helpful. They will do there best to help you find a book that you might want but you can't be picky, what's there is what they have. It's always super exciting to find little treasures here and there. Most of there books are books that they no longer need in the library and many more are donations ! So if you have some books looking for a new home donate them here or to any bookstore of the libraries ! Below I included the books I got and how much I paid compared to retail price. These are all YA books. - Looking for Alaska $2 (retail $9.99) - Stolen by Lucy Christopher $0.50 ( R $17.99)- Tricks by Ellen Hopkins $0.50 (R $10.99)- Gone by McMann $1 (R $9.99)- Fade by McMann $1 (R $9.99) - Rampant by Peterfreund $1 (R $8.99) - Willow by Hoban $0.50 ( R $8.99)- Forever by Blume $0.50 (R $8.99) - Reached by Condie $2 (R $17.99) - Insurgent by Roth $2 (R $17.99)- Maybe I like him by Naylor $.50 ( $9.99) - Bree Tanner by Meyer limited white edition $1(R $10 ?) - Starkighter by Davis $0.50 (R $9.99)- Impossible by Werkin $0.50 (R $9.99) - The vow by Carpenters $0.50 (R $14.99) Total savings of ... $162.86 ! And may I say that all of these books are in really good condition ! No dark old age brown spotting, no bent pages, just good ! If you love books, you should go. If you would like to get into reading, you should go !