Quirky little used bookstore,but with a remarkably excellent selection for varied interests despite it size. Knowledgeable bookman 📖 in the true sense.

Quirky little store. Good selection. Unique man who runs the place. Good prices on books. Wished the owner would have had a few other recommendations but he reads an obscure genre that I couldn’t relate to (ancient egyptian history). Though he did help me get a more relevant book on the subject I had of interest than the book I had in hand. Go and see for yourself.

Love this bookstore. Located in the heart of hillcrest by the flag. Small space but cramped with books in a good way. Lots of different tittles, new and old, rare and collectible. Owner is veru friendly has been on the owner since the 90s. Come by ans take a look.

I love the sense of community. Its such a lovely place to explore.

Used bookstores are a little slice of heaven, and Footnote Books is no exception. There are haphazard piles of books leaning against floor to ceiling shelves containing every genre and title imaginable. This is a place I could get lost in for hours. The prices seemed fair and the owner is friendly and personable.

Good genre of books and the place are well organized and it is so peaceful and quite

By far one of my favorite bookstores to date. Well priced books, and the owner is doing amazing making sure everything is sanitized. I want to come back again and I just left after buying some books!

This shop just opened its doors back up and I’m so grateful especially with the libraries being closed. The owner is kind and helpful And was able to quickly find a book That I was looking for. The owner has a thoughtful routine down, offering sanitizer at the door, limiting the number of customers, cleaning all commonly touched items between customers. I highly encourage you support this small local business!

Owner has integrity!

This shop is a gem. I managed to find a few rare items here that I hadnt seen available elsewhere on the West Coast, among the very extensive stock of history books. I could have spent hours perusing titles, and the owner was most helpful and friendly. Far and away the best used bookshop Ive visited in San Diego.

A wonderful little bookshop. It is wall-to-wall and floor to ceiling with everything from comic books to classics, with a number of foreign language texts sprinkled in.The owner knows his business quite well and is fair and reasonable with pricing.I havent sold to him, so I can not speak on that experience.I recommend this place to my friends, co-workers and classmates all the time.

My friend and i saw this place on google and we were so excited to go see it for the first time however as soon as we walked in the owner of the place started arguing with us about how we’ve came in multiple times when it was our FIRST time walking in there and you could tell he wasn’t even sure if it was us or not. he took our bags n let us look around but the entire time we felt really uncomfortable and felt as if we were being constantly watched. this place is just full of negative energy all around. i absolutely don’t recommend going to this book store unless you want to walk around as if it were more of a museum instead of a bookstore and not touch anything because according to other people’s reviews they also felt as if they couldn’t really do anything like look at the books. you might as well just buy it online if you can’t look around. the owner was incredibly rude and we expected better from this place.

Floor to ceiling books! This place is a real treasure. Its so overwhelming when you first walk in, you dont know where to begin! This is a book lovers heaven. I have found some really special books here. This is an absolute must go!

This is an amazing store! My favorite thing is a good coffee table book, and this store has just that and more. The place is spacious and has a GREAT variety. Was even able to buy an old postcard today. Highly recommend and will be back!

Terrible selection for the number of books that are in here. I think this place has been pretty picked over -- there are lots of books 2 and 3 of whatever series youre interested in, but there arent many book 1s.I went in here looking to start two different fantasy series. I was able to find later books in both series but this place didnt have book 1 in either series.Also, the guy at the front is very rude.

Ah the beauty of independent bookstores! I love that I can always count on tons of good recommendations here. There are little cards all over the store with them. Ive found some good gifts that way too. Love this place! I always want to wander around in here after Ive gone to Joys.

Who I am assuming is the owner of the store wouldnt let us come in because we were wearing masks with valves. Understandable to a degree, but he was incredibly rude and condescending about it for someone who was wearing a very thin cloth gaiter over his face and not a mask.

Theres always something good at Battle-- much of what I love about this store is the amazing fiction section, though other highlights include poetry and literary journals (if youre into GRANTS, Battle is a great place to score reasonably priced older issues).NOTE: The store is definitely a bit weaker on scholarly texts--Oh, and the upstairs antiquarian stuff is mind-blowingly cool.

I liked the large selection of books, but was a bit worried I would topple one of the many precarious stacks of books inside. Loved the variety of sci-fi and fantasy books. The stacks of books also made it somewhat challenging to find what youre looking for, or move around safely/freely. I would recommend this place to others, but keep in mind to move slowly and dont bump a tall stack when you do!

They don’t make ‘em like this anymore! A wonderful winding world of floor to ceiling words! A kind, human owner—not many of those left either! A true sanctuary for the passionate, thinking person. Very grateful!

Cute little bookshop in the heart if Hillcrest. It’s a take your time and peruse the offerings. Help is readily available.

This is the spot if you love getting lost searching through a bookstore. The books are stacked nearly to the ceiling and you really dont know what youre going to find contained within. Its a book nerds dream in there.... A sweaty one though as I dont think its ever been less than 10 billion degrees inside of there.Be sure to talk to the dude who runs it as well, super cool guy.

My nieces are in town for a spring break and we stopped in at Footnotes after dinner. Had an amazing conversation with the owner, Troy, who is kind, friendly, and extremely knowledgeable.It was such a good reminder of the importance of small, independent bookstores. This the sort of place that feeds the soul!

A little pricey for a used bookstore IMO but Im happy to pay more to support a local business, theres a vast selection of all genres, and the owner is very friendly and knowledgeable. Its a little difficult to navigate the store, there are so many books crammed into such a tiny space that it can be hard to find what youre looking for without help. The whole place has such a cool and eclectic collection of various antiquities, ranging from books, ornaments, toys, packaging, globes, and more. A cool place worth a visit!

By far my favorite bookstore in San Diego. So many books and new discoveries every time I go there.

I’ve been searching for awhile for someone to take a look at a signed Dr. Seuuse book that I have as well a a box full of a dozen or so various novels and such. I wasn’t sure where or even how to market these things properly. I called one book shop after the next, the call always ending with me feeling frustrated and no closer to getting an offer that I felt was worth considering. I finally came across this shop. The owner took the time to look through all of my books and even offered me a little something for a handful of them. He also was very helpful and informative about my signed Dr. sues book, telling me what I might be offered depending upon where I took it. He definitely pointed me in the right direction to get the most fair price for the book. Definitely will be back if I want to sell books in the future.As for the shop itself; it’s small but perfect for those of us that enjoy the coziness of a small book store overflowing with unique, antique, beautiful books; many of which aren’t seen very often. He knows his shop well, knowing just where to find books on any genre I asked about down to the shelf.He also has boxes of “$1” books outside which no doubt will draw any book lover inside. He even gave my girlfriend one of the $1 books for free that she really liked which was just a nice touch that spoke to his kindness. I wish I’d known about this shop sooner and I will be back soon!

What a shop! Reminds me of used bookstores in Canada. Fantastic selection of vintage science fiction magazines.

Dont be intimidated by the amount of books. Its well organized, has some great finds and the guy is knowledgeable. Very helpful.

I can always find what i am looking for. Its also fun to browse.

I found exactly what I was looking for. The prices were good. I look forward to my next trip.

This a small, dingy bookstore crammed with books from floor to ceiling. There is no room to move and the space could use a good cleaning. Worse yet, the owner has a real attitude problem. He doesnt want people actually looking at the books before they purchase them. He also lectures people about how they should hold the books and talks down to his customers.

Found an obscure book on meditation that otherwise I wouldnt have found. Thanks guys!

The cashier was lovely. If you dont mind spending the time to really look around theres def some gems, bought 3 books

Cramped and dingy. Owner doesnt want you browsing through the store or touching the books. He is incredibly rude. I believe in buying local. This man makes me question that belief. Save yourself the horror movie creepiness and just use amazon.

Gem of a bookstore! We chanced upon this place while strolling along this quaint neighbourhood.

Friendly staff, a nice inviting atmosphere, well arranged, and with a comfortable childrens section. I enjoyed it very much.

Extensive selection of sifi novels. Reasonable prices and wonderful service with friendly conversation and good suggestions. I look forward to visiting again to see what else I can find.

This is a cute shop with a large selection of books however the owner is very unfriendly and unwelcoming. I felt as if I was being watched constantly and that my business was not needed or wanted.

The guy is such a joke.Crazy rude.I will never step in that book store.

Its stacked and packed close but this is by far my favorite used books store in the area. I come here as often as I can and I usually drop like 180 dollars on two fat bags of political, philosophical, gender studies, psychology, etc, lots of resources for multiple sides of any debate, and I have come upon some really great finds. The owner gets a bad rep but I can understand when his shop is really packed close hed want to be precautious. Hes still very helpful and nice, sometimes hes even a treat to talk to if hes not too busy! (were all human ffs)

I love the smell of old books and they had a used book i needed for a present. Great prices and a unique store for sure.

Awesome little bookstore with so many titles stacked up all over. Support local book shops and like this one.

I LOVE brousing thru the books in the boxes outside in the boxes set on the ground. And guy working there is SUPER NICE + HELPFUL!PROBLEM IS....+ often keeps me from shopping there a lot! is that I use a rollator/walker to get there andSADLY, books are set on sidewalk, not table. So, people w disabilitiesCAN end up in moreEART pain from stooping over.IS IT SO HARD TO PUT OLD TABLE OUT???? HAVE A H

Amazing book store! Can find nearly everything ! Very crowded, but I highly Recommend this thrift book store.

The owner of Footnotes should remove the Welcome sign from the front door as he makes his potential customers feel anything but welcome. In my 30+ years of shopping in used bookstores I have never been asked to leave a book list at the front desk. Apparently the composition notebook that I bring to all shops with my buying list can be used to steal from him.Despite my better judgement I entered his store anyway. I found several books that I needed but decided not to give him my business. He doesnt need it if this is how he treats potential buyers. I should have listened to the many negative reviews on Yelp.

Not only is there a fine selection, the owner is also knowledgable and friendly. Its nice to see an independant book store.

Excellent place to buy used book with reasonable price.

A very cool and low key book shop with a lot to offer is you spend the time to look

Pretty good selection and every book its half whatever price is on the cover!!

Lots of stuff packed in. They will find it, if they dont have.

Some really cool books here, and the owner is very knowledgable. Cozy place for a booklover.

Great old fashioned book shop

Although the store has a wide selection of books from many different genres, its almost impossible to find anything in particular you may be looking for. At least a fourth of the product is either obscured by other books or theyre in piles stacked so high you cant actually access what youd like without either moving several pounds of books or risk toppling them all. The space is much too small for the number of books available.

The last of the great little bookstores.

Fantastic, huge used book store.

Lots and lots of books. Could spend the whole day here.

Great little bookstore

Unfriendly and rude worker.

Slow service

Very rude and abusive owner. I will never return to this store.