Oxfam Books & Music

Been coming here for years. Always a good selection of academic books, particularly history, politics and philosophy. Staff always very helpful, friendly and polite. Great for visitors to Exeter for local books too.

What a rip off selling second hand clothing more expensive than original in the shop I understand is a charity but this is money extorsion from poor people trying to recycle ♻️ what a disgrace of charity!

5 stars for the stock this Oxfam bookshop gets. Every time I visit Exeter, this shop has some great books, some are very hard to find.

But 2 stars for some pricing, though. £75 for a used art book that’s still available from Tate Britain for £40? Really? They had a large donation of reports from the Devon Archaeological Society, priced at £3.50 each. A few were doubles, one of which was £20, it’s identical twin was £3.50. Rare and obscure history books for £2.49, while common art books that often appear in charity shops are £15.

Their pricing is either great and fair, or completely ridiculous. There seems to be no in-between. It’s a case of know what you’re looking for and know the current price of what you want. And decide whether it’s worth paying that. (And the excuse of “Its £250 on Amazon so our’s is cheap at £150” doesn’t cut it, sorry. It’s probably been sitting on Amazon for 10 years at £250, and it will remain on Amazon for another 20 years at £250. Amazon prices are NOT the gauge of what books are SELLING for.)

Quite possibly the best bookshop in Exeter with an almost comprehensive selection of fiction and particularly non-fiction. If you like books, there is no way you can go there without buying something.