Half Price Books

What Half Price Books does

Half Price Books (legal name: Half Price Books, Records, Magazines, Incorporated) is a privately held, family-owned retailer of new and used books, movies, music, video games, and collectibles, founded in 1972 in Dallas, Texas. The company operates more than 115 physical retail stores across 19 US states, plus four dedicated HPB Outlet stores (in Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, and Washington) that sell residual and overstock inventory at deep discounts. Its e-commerce platform at hpb.com offers nationwide shipping and in-store pickup, and the company runs a circular buyback program ("Sell to Us") in which it purchases used media from the public for cash or store credit and resells it at reduced prices.

The underlying technology stack is deliberately non-proprietary and built on commodity integrations: Demandware/Salesforce Commerce Cloud for the storefront, TurnTo for product ratings and reviews, Google Maps for the store locator, and standard payment processors (PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay). Digital gift cards are powered by CashStar (Blackhawk Network), and the audiobook category is fulfilled through an Audiobooks.com partnership. There is no proprietary AI, ML, or data platform referenced in the available materials.

The business model combines retail markups on used inventory (acquired at low cost from the public) with new-item sales, outlet-channel monetization of residual stock, gift card float, and educator/student pricing programs. Customer segments are horizontal: general readers, collectors, students and educators, and gift buyers. The company is led by co-founders Ken Gjemre and Pat Anderson and operates without any disclosed private equity, venture capital, or public shareholders, funding expansion entirely through organic cash flow and ongoing store openings such as the planned Montrose, Houston location.

Name

Half Price Books

Legal name

Half Price Books, Records, Magazines, Incorporated

Website

https://hpb.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1972

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Half Price Books is a privately held, family-owned chain operating 115+ new and used bookstore locations across 19 US states, plus an e-commerce site, four outlet stores, and a direct-from-consumer media buyback program serving general readers, collectors, students, and gift buyers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Used Book Retail

NAICS

Book Retailers and News Dealers (4592), Used Merchandise Retailers (45951)

SIC

Retail-Variety Stores (5331), Retail-Catalog & Mail-Order Houses (5961)

akta.pro primary industry

Used, Rare & Antiquarian Bookstores (CRALAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

General Bookstores (New Books) (CRALAAAA), Books, Media & Entertainment Resale (CRAFAGAF), Books, Media & Entertainment Inventory-led Online Retailers (CRAFADAM)

Keywords

• Used bookstore chain
• Used media retail
• Book buyback service
• Discount bookstore
• Used books resale

Headquarters

HQ city

Mckinney

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Retail Sales of Used Books and Media: Primary revenue stream from buying used books, movies, music, video games, and other media from the public and reselling them at discounted prices. The company specializes in secondhand goods but also carries new items.
2. E-commerce Online Sales: Online sales through hpb.com with shipping to customers nationwide. Items can also be purchased online and picked up in stores.
3. HPB Outlet Stores: Outlet stores sell overruns and excess inventory at deeper discounts starting at 50 cents, restocked weekly from retail locations. Separate from main retail stores.
4. Gift Cards: Sale of physical and digital gift cards with no fees and no expiration date.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Half Price Books operates a chain of brick-and-mortar retail bookstores plus an e-commerce storefront, selling used and new books, movies, music, video games, collectibles, textbooks, and home/games merchandise at discounted prices. The company sources inventory by buying used media directly from the public at retail locations and resells it through both its main stores and dedicated HPB Outlet stores. Supporting services include a buyback (Sell to Us) program, physical and digital gift cards, and an educator discount program.

Product overview

Half Price Books is a regional bookstore chain and online retailer selling used and new books, movies, music, collectibles, textbooks, and home & games products. The company operates over 115 physical retail stores across 19 US states and an e-commerce platform at HPB.com. The core offering consists of discounted used merchandise supplemented by new items and exclusive collectibles. The business model is built on buying used goods from the public and reselling them at reduced prices, with dedicated outlet stores for excess inventory. Supporting services include a buyback program (Sell to Us), donation acceptance, gift cards (physical and digital), and an educator discount program. HPB.com enables online shopping with in-store pickup and ship-to-home delivery across the US.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• HPB Retail Bookstores Physical Half Price Books retail stores selling used and new books, movies, music, video games, and collectibles at discounted prices. The chain operates more than 115 stores across 19 US states, with a flagship location in Dallas, Texas.
• HPB Outlet Stores Discount outlet locations offering bargains starting at 50 cents everyday with more than 50,000 titles under $5 and gift books for $10 or less. Outlet stores do not buy merchandise from the public and focus on monetizing excess retail inventory.
• HPB.com Online Retail Platform The company's e-commerce website offering online shopping for used and new books, movies, music, collectibles, textbooks, and home & games products, with in-store pickup and ship-to-home delivery options across the US.
• Sell to Us (Buyback Program) HPB buys used books, music, movies, magazines, audiobooks, video games, board games, gaming consoles, e-readers, collectibles, and ephemera from the public at retail store locations, paying cash or store credit. This buyback program is the primary supply channel for the chain's used inventory.
• Physical Gift Cards Traditional plastic or cardboard gift cards available for purchase with various shipping options. Redeemable in any HPB store or online with no fees and no expiration date.
• eGift Cards Digital gift cards emailed within minutes or on a scheduled date, customizable with personal memos. Powered by CashStar, redeemable in store and online with no fees and no expiration date.
• HPB Educator Discount Card Discount program for K-12 and post-secondary educators honored at HPB retail locations and outlets, supporting teachers on a budget.
• HPB Summer Reading Camp Seasonal children's reading program where kids earn rewards by completing monthly reading logs during summer break. Activity booklets are available at local HPB stores to track reading progress.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Strand Bookstore: Strand is an iconic New York City used bookstore operating a flagship and a smaller secondary location; it shares HPB's discount used-book positioning and strong brand identity among collectors and bargain readers.
• 2nd & Charles: 2nd & Charles is a used media retailer (books, music, movies, video games, collectibles) owned by Books-A-Million, operating stores in a format highly comparable to HPB's mix of used media and collectibles.
• Powell's Books: Powell's City of Books in Portland is one of the largest independent used and new bookstores in the US, with comparable used-book assortment, trade-in programs, and a strong regional brand identity.
• Books-A-Million: Books-A-Million is a multi-state US bookstore chain selling new books and gifts, with a similar large-footprint physical retail model and ownership of the 2nd & Charles used-media banner that directly overlaps HPB's offering.
• BookOff: BookOff is a Japan-based used bookstore chain with US operations that buys and resells used books, manga, CDs, DVDs, and games in a retail-store model closely mirroring HPB's buyback-and-resell flywheel.
• Better World Books: Better World Books is a large online used-book seller sourcing inventory from library discards and donations; it competes with HPB.com on used-book pricing, selection, and nationwide shipping.
• ThriftBooks: ThriftBooks is the largest online seller of used books in the US, operating a marketplace model that competes directly with HPB's used book value proposition, especially in geographies HPB does not serve.

Broad incumbents

• Barnes & Noble: Barnes & Noble is the largest bookstore chain in the US and a broad incumbent in physical book retail, competing with HPB on new books, café/store experience, and e-commerce through BN.com.
• AbeBooks: AbeBooks (owned by Amazon) is a leading online marketplace for new, used, rare, and out-of-print books; it competes with HPB.com in used and collectible categories and broadens the addressable buyer set online.

Emerging players

• Daedalus Books: Daedalus Books is a discount books and media catalog/online retailer specializing in overstocks, remainders, and specialty titles - functionally similar to HPB Outlets for the bargain-bin segment.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/half-price-books

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Half Price Books