The Dusty Bookshelf

The shop has a great selection and friendly staff. The displays were eye catching and prices were average. It's a great place to meet a friend too, with seating near the window!

This is such a lovely bookstore. The staff are very friendly and welcoming when you come inside and there is even a coffee shop as well as some places to sit and read throughout the bookstore. This is a great location to buy some new and used books as well as study/work.

Cozy, new and used bookstore to spend my alone time or hang out with my friends and family

The coolest spot in Manhattan, and possibly the coolest spot in Kansas. They have great hours (open basically 8am-8pm every day, even when students are out of town in the slower summer season), a great selection of new and used and antique books, AND they have great espresso and tea, too. This place was the warmest and friendliest and most welcoming spot that we found when we were in Aggieville. I'd say this is probably THE spot that you have to visit if you're stopping by Manhattan, Kansas.

I love stopping in for a browse whenever I'm visiting Manhattan. It's always a pleasant atmosphere. Folks browsing, working on laptops, enjoying a coffee. I wish each individual genre's section was perhaps just a little larger, as I would like to spend more time here. Selection overall seems slightly limited. Friendly staff and a great spot overall.

I will always miss this place the way it was before the fire... there really isn't anywhere else you can go to feel like you are at The old original Dusty Bookshelf. It's still a fun place to go and I will still support them. I am glad they were able to make a comeback. I miss the cats...

tl;dr - Do not sell books here.Having grown up in this area, I always enjoyed when travels would take me through Manhattan as I could stop at the Dusty Bookshelf, where I could find a classic in good condition for a fair price.I maintain a residence in the Czech Republic and having lugged my boxes of books one too many times to and from storage, I decided to liquidate a large amount of my library. And what better place than my favorite bookstore?Now, I have sold books to used bookstores from Kansas to New York, and I have found that for paperback classics in fair to good condition during the age of Amazon I could expect $1-$2 per book, either in store credit or cash value (which has generally been 70%-80% of what is offered in store credit). I brought in a tub of books which included no fewer than 20 hardback classics in mint condition solidly bound in a lovely green. So imagine my surprise when I was offered $32 for the entire batch. $32 for a box of books that would have fetched me at the least $50 at any other place I have let literature go. But, I was offered $69 in store credit. Welp, I went home, and the cash payment wasnt fair, but at least the store credit was. Buy some coffee during my week in town - use the credit on some merch as Christmas presents - let some young lad in the area discover a love for learning by way of what he discovers in the store -- Sure! I'll sell them for store credit.So, I bring in the remainder of my books. When I discover that there is no electronic system for storing store credit. It is written on scraps of paper. And it is only valid on book purchases. (Maybe I am an old soul at 28, but I'm used to STORE credit being valid for anything in the STORE.)Welp, I went home, and the store credit system is stupid, but hey I like books -- I can get books for Christmas presents -- they say they securely store and never lose a store credit slip -- I can stop by when I come back for holidays and pick up a book or two to take with me on my travels over the years. Sure. I'll do this stupid store credit.So I go in after my second batch of books has been appraised. And one tub is full of the books they want and other of those they dont. And the books they dont want have been absolutely maltreated - there is no other word for it. I am uploading pictures if Yelp will allow me. Bent covers, bent pages. A blatant disregard for learning and a blatant disregard for my property.At this point I am livid. But I've come this far. So I am offered $60 in cash or $130 in store credit for the second batch. Store credit please. So that's ~$95 in cash or ~$200 in store credit for ~150 titles total, most in fair to good condition, some in excellent and mint and some hardback.I ask for my total credit after this batch. And the lady at the counter pulls out what looks like a library card catalog drawer from a horror movie set in the 1930s. And they cannot find my slip. And they dont back up the information in any other way. And this is what I was trusting to use over my next several years of book purchasing.Luckily it was only a few days since the first batch of books, and they were able to find the appraiser's notes from that batch. Frustrated and angry, I said, Give me the cash for both batches instead. Welp, I went home, and the instant I parked my car I realized how fleeced I had been. I wished I had never brought my books by Manhattan's Dusty Bookshelf. I could have taken them to Wichita. I could have them taken them to Lawrence. I could have taken them to Kansas City. I could have burned them - used them as toilet paper - lined the inside of my coat for warmth. Anything rather than that book-hating greedy Mickey Mouse Racket they're running at the Dusty Bookshelf. Lord knows, if there were any way I could return the money I was given and have my books back, I would do it this moment. At the very least, I will make out with my mother before I ever so much as step foot inside the Dusty Bookshelf again. And I'm not one of those dudes who likes making out with his mother.

Very chill vibes, great selection, good coffee, a nice place to hang out on a cold day.

Wonderful local bookshop! Excellent selection of local authors, new books, and used books. I *always* find something @ Dusty! The coffee/tea bar serves lovely beverages and some yummy snacks. Nice, small place to sit by the window (to harness you inner cat? ha ha) or upstairs in the new mezzanine. This means you can have your Chai AND read your book in-store! Atmosphere feels both relaxing and inspiring. Staff are courteous and warm, and they know their books. Good gift selections, too (games, puzzles, merch, etc.). My kiddo likes the children's section and now frequents the YA alcove. So glad that Dusty Bookshelf was able to return after the fire! Stop in -- maybe you'll understand why many people love this shop.

This store has far too few books to be considered a quality bookstore. Much of the floor space is devoted to making coffee. Selection is just too sparse and most of what is there is radical left-wing propaganda. The old store pre-fire was extremely good, with a far bigger inventory and constant influx of new books. Oh well.