king used & rare books industry books founder john k. king headquarters 901 west lafayette detroit michigan u.s. number of locations 3 area served detroit metropolitan area key people john k. king website www.kingbooksdetroit.com interior john k. king used & rare books is an independent bookseller in michigan . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 the store has an estimated 1 million books in stock with a large collection of rare and used titles . 9 in a 2011 article from the online magazine salon the store was described as one of the largest and strangest collections in north america . 6 the store has four above ground floors open to customers . an adjacent building has a collection of rarer and notable items available for viewing by appointment only . the rare book holdings are the only cataloged part of the inventory and can be viewed and order by visiting rarebooklink.com . history edit the store was established in dearborn michigan by john k. king in 1965 . 10 in 1971 it was moved to the michigan theatre in downtown detroit . 10 in 1983 king purchased the abandoned advance glove factory which has since housed the store s collections . 6 11 later when two smaller stores were opened john k. king books north in detroit s ferndale suburb and the big book store in the cass corridor neighborhood adjacent to wayne state university specializing in rare comics and paperbacks . external links edit bookstore homepage john k. king rare book catalog references edit james sheryl april 7 2002 . hunting rare books a rarely profitable pursuit . knight ridder newspapers . retrieved may 10 2012 . ... john k. king books in detroit one of the nation s biggest and best known used rare and out of print book dealers . clemens paul june 26 2005 . a city of hard knocks and hardwood . the new york times . retrieved may 10 2012 . for every hour i ve spent at king s i ve heard the same three word phrase repeated to customers a dozen times we re not computerized . narkiewicz beverly s. 1990 . traveling by the book the dusty joys of secondhand shops . the washington post . washingtonpost newsweek interactive . ... you ll find john k. king used and rare books a palace of pleasure if you love old books subscription required the real deals readers choice best of detroit . detroit metro times . april 27 2011 . best indie bookstore in detroit articles with dead external links % 5d % 5d % 5b % 5bcategory articles with dead external links from may 2012 % 5d % 5d % 5b % 5bwikipedia link rot dead link % 5d % 5d king s used bookstore survives internet push check url value help . the detroit news . october 12 2006 . king s massive retail inventory is not online it wouldn t be cost effective he says but its rare books are at rarebooklink.com . a b c cytron megan may 15 2011 . the world s most inspiring bookstores . salon . retrieved may 10 2012 . converted from an abandoned 1940s glove factory john king is a five story wooden maze stuffed stairwells to ceilings with used and rare books one of the largest and strangest collections in north america . herron kevin april 3 2000 . unique shops give detroit its own flavor . brief article . crain s detroit business . retrieved may 10 2012 . a detroit institution subscription required 10 great places to crawl between the covers . usa today . january 21 2002 . retrieved may 10 2012 . hyde justin july 19 1999 . bookseller collects used volumes . associated press . retrieved may 9 2012 . king s world includes as many as 1 million books housed in a converted glove factory filling four stories in an industrial area near downtown . subscription required a b zynel rachel march 25 2012 . sentimental scent of used books embraces you at john king . oakland university news bureau . retrieved may 10 2012 . king opened his first store in dearborn in 1965 and then moved to the michigan theater in 1971 . loren d. estleman ; monte nagler 30 august 2007 . amos walker s detroit . wayne state university press . pp. 5 . isbn 978 0 8143 3357 0 . retrieved 10 may 2012 . that was when john king bought it tore out most of the partitions reinforced the interior walls and filled it top to bottom with books on every subject ... coordinates 42 19 38.51 n 83 3 24.21 w 42.3273639 n 83.0567250 w 42.3273639 ; 83.0567250 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title john k. king books & oldid 743440634 categories independent bookstores of the united statesbook selling websitesantiquarian booksellerscompanies based in detroitbookstores of michiganhidden categories pages containing links to subscription only contentpages with url errorsvague or ambiguous time from may 2012coordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 october 2016 at 17 39 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view