This guy is super nice. When I used to live up there, we used to donate all the time from books to printers, etc etc. He'd then just give it away to the elderly, etc. It's like a goodwill.

Book exchanges always remind me of Eurailing from hostel to hostel when I was in college. Bet this guy has more than dog-eared copies of Let's Go, though.

What a cool story...I didn't even know this place existed.

Remember the bagel place on Central Avenue (with the cat in the window) that had a free book exchange? The owner loved books and wanted to make sure his customers always had a supply. He was such a nice guy. I miss that place.

By Hinaa Noor/The Jersey Journal

For four years running, the Jersey City Free Books store on Griffith Street in the Heights has been Anthony Olszewski?s labor of love.
More than 500 books fiction, history, do-it-yourself manuals, you name it are crammed into his storefront rental. And it?s all free to anyone yearning to learn something new.

?One of the greatest things I have experienced here is that people would come in search for one of their favorite (books) and they would end up taking five or more (books) at the end,? said Olszewski, who earns a living fixing computers. ?It?s a great source . . . people are able to receive affordable reading and it takes no effort at all.?

Well, people do have to make the trek to the store, located just off Kennedy Boulevard. Customers are invited to leave books, or browse through the collection and take some.

The bookstore receives donated books in several languages, and it receives old texts as well.

?I remember a young lady came to my store with a very unique paperback in Polish. I believe the book was from the 1950s,? Olszewski said.

When a fire shut down a bookstore in 2008 that ran a free book exchange program, Olszewski said he decided to open up his own store.

?I saw this book called ?Prehistoric European Art,? a very good read. I believe it had a $35 price tag it was on top of a pile of garbage,? Olszewski recalled. ?A passer-by comes by and asks, ?Why are you digging garbage, shame on you.? I replied that whoever threw the book out should be ashamed of themselves.?


The Jersey City Free Books store, 297 Griffith St., is open from Mondays to Wednesdays noon to 5 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays noon until 8 p.m., and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For information, call (201) 798-2292.

Great story, I will take a bike ride up there :)