used bookstore

See also: used-bookstore, used-book store, and used book store

English

From used book +‎ store.

used bookstore (plural used bookstores)

A bookstore that principally sells secondhand or used books.
Synonym: secondhand bookshop (UK)
- 2023 May 13, Lilah Raptopoulos, “The charms of New York’s Antiquarian book fair”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 21:
  Used bookstores have been disappearing for decades: The Booksellers tells us that 1950s New York had 368 bookstores, and today it has about 79.

Garner’s Modern American Usage disputes this form, arguing that it lacks logical or linguistic justification.^[1]

store selling secondhand books

^ Bryan Garner (2009), “Phrasal Adjectives”, in Garner's Modern American Usage, →ISBN, page 628: “[…] although a bookstore is where we buy books, for secondhand books we go to a used-book store (not a used bookstore or a used-bookstore) […]”