Wholesale used books for bookstores, antique dealers, and resellers
Quality books. New beginnings. Endless possibilities.
Classic Book Wholesalers supplies good-quality used books in quantity to independent bookstores, antique dealers, used-book retailers, and online resellers in the Phoenix metropolitan area and across Arizona.
We sort every incoming book to its best use — wholesale boxes, category boxes, premium and collectible singles, retail collections, and decorative staging — so you get books that are ready to sell, not a random pile to sort through yourself.
What you can order
Standard mixed wholesale boxes
A variety of commercially marketable used books, by physical box size. Quantities vary by book size and category.
Category-specific wholesale boxes
Cookbooks; self-help and personal development; religious and inspirational; fiction and literature; children's books; history and biographies; arts, crafts, and hobbies; coffee-table and specialty books.
Premium and collectible books
Individually evaluated and priced for books with greater resale value, including occasional first editions and signed first editions.
Tell us the categories your customers buy, and we will match future deliveries to your preferences where we can.
How it works
1. Source. We obtain substantial quantities of used books through an established regional collection network.
2. Inspect and grade. Every book is inspected and graded using IOBA condition definitions as a reference: A — Very Good or better; B — Good; C — Fair / reading copy, where commercially appropriate. Books with significant mold, water damage, missing pages, or unreadable text are generally rejected from ordinary resale inventory.
3. Organize. Books are sorted by condition and subject, and assigned to wholesale, category, premium, retail, or staging use.
4. Deliver. We prepare your order, deliver locally in the Phoenix area where practical, and help with in-store merchandising and replenishment on request.
For antique stores: books that bring in traffic
Low-priced book selections — for example, signs reading "Books $1 Each" or "Books $1 and Up" — have brought new visitors into antique stores, who then browsed other merchandise. We supply the books. You benefit from the traffic.
Our exchange promise
Retailers who buy from us may exchange books they are dissatisfied with, one-for-one, for another book — not a cash refund or store credit — subject to available inventory. There is no restrictive expiration period.
Carrying on a Phoenix legacy
Classic Book Wholesalers continues the work of Ron Marinch, the original founder, known to many customers as "the book guy." Ron ran a used-book collection and resale operation in Phoenix for about three to four years. William Carrigg, his business partner and successor, is formalizing and expanding that operation.
How to order
Wholesale ordering is by inquiry while we build the store. Email info@classicbookwholesalers.com with your store name, the categories you want, the number and size of boxes you need, and whether you need local delivery or pickup in the Phoenix area. We will reply with availability and pricing for your order.
Serving the Phoenix metropolitan area, Arizona. Wholesale is our primary business — public retail, curated collections, book staging and rentals, and fundraising partnerships are also available, and will be added to the site as capacity allows.