Moore Used Books
990 Main Street, Mendocino — A longtime used bookstore in a small Main Street house, associated with Carl Moore since the late 1990s.
Last updated: August 17, 2026
A used bookstore in an old Mendocino house feels exactly right - quiet porch, old boards, ocean air, and shelves full of other people's stories waiting for one more reader.
Moore Used Books sits at 990 Main Street in one of those simple village buildings that still looks and feels more like a house than a conventional commercial storefront.
Overview
Moore Used Books is a longtime Mendocino used bookstore carrying gently used books across a wide variety of subjects. Current Mendocino County visitor information continues to list the shop at 990 Main Street and gives the familiar telephone number, 707-937-1537.
Older descriptions of the store identify Carl Moore as the owner and note that the shop offered used books as well as book-search services. Other advertising mentions music, CDs and a particularly strong selection of art books.
Location
The bookstore is at 990 Main Street on the eastern approach to Mendocino village, across from Preston Hall. Unlike the tightly packed storefronts farther west along Main Street, this little building stands apart and retains the appearance of a converted residence.
Visitors have repeatedly described it as a small house rather than a traditional store, with the coast visible from the property. A 2019 visitor specifically remembered discovering the bookstore almost by accident because it sits in a small house somewhat apart from the village's main group of shops.
History
Business records provide one useful date in the bookstore's history. Main Street Book Shop, associated with Carl A. Moore at 990A Main Street, is recorded as having been established in 1998.
The same address has appeared under both Main Street Book Shop and Moore Used Books over the years. By 2016, visitors were specifically recording stops at Moore Used Books, and later tourism and theatre publications continued to advertise the business under that name.
A 2022 Mendocino Theatre Company program advertised Moore Used Books at 990 Main Street as carrying music, books, CDs, art books and more, showing that the shop remained an established part of the village retail scene more than two decades after the 1998 business record.
The bookstore has developed the kind of reputation that small independent used-book shops often earn slowly. One older regional guide noted that some customers considered it among the best used bookstores in Northern California and highlighted the availability of special book searches through owner Carl Moore.
The Building Today
The building itself invites another question.
Its porch, steps, windows and residential scale strongly suggest a structure that began life with a purpose different from the bookstore it now contains. But the earlier history of 990 Main Street remains an open part of the story. Historical photographs, Sanborn maps, property records, old Mendocino directories and community memories may eventually identify who occupied the house and how it was used before books filled its rooms.
Why It Matters
Walking into a former-looking house to browse used books is very different from walking into a modern retail space. Rooms become sections, windows bring in the Mendocino light, and shelves seem naturally at home against residential walls.
At 990 Main Street, the building and the business have grown into each other - a small Main Street bookshop associated with Carl Moore since at least the late 1990s, surviving through an era when independent bookstores elsewhere were disappearing.
Timeline
1998 - Main Street Book Shop, associated with Carl A. Moore, is recorded at 990A Main Street.
2016 - Visitors record stops at the shop under the name Moore Used Books.
2022 - A Mendocino Theatre Company program advertises Moore Used Books at 990 Main Street.
Present - Visit Mendocino County continues to list the bookstore at the same address.
Sources & Original Research: Visit Mendocino County current listing for Moore Used Books; historical Main Street Book Shop business listing identifying Carl A. Moore and a 1998 establishment date; North of San Francisco regional guide and bookshop profile; Mendocino Theatre Company 2022 program advertisement; published visitor accounts and travel references documenting Moore Used Books and Main Street Book Shop at 990 Main Street; original post text and photograph provided by Gee Bee.