Spring of 2023

The 59th Five Colleges Book Sale will take place from April 8 through April 16 at the retail location next to the CVS in the Kohl’s Plaza off Route 12A in West Lebanon N.H. (250 N. Plainfield Road). New books will be added every day of the sale.

Hours:

Saturday and Sunday, April 8 – 9, 9 am to 5 pm

Monday to Friday, April 10 – 14, Noon to 7 pm

Saturday, April 15, 9 am to 5 pm

Sunday, April 16, 9 am to 3 pm (half price day)

We have recently learned that the capacity of the former Sears store is 127 people at one time due to fire safety codes. Consequently, on the first day of the sale, we will be using a hand stamp entry method and a one hour shopping time to remain in compliance. We appreciate your understanding.

Patrons cannot use boxes to reserve spots on line, or line up outside before 8:30 a.m., as our new location is next to other businesses and we do not want to inconvenience their customers.

Masks are welcome, and there are no public bathrooms available. We accept cash, checks, and credit cards as payment.

Please come visit us more than once so you can browse the new books put out each day. Our volunteers have been hard at work preparing thousands of books for the sale to raise funds for scholarships for NH & VT students to attend Vassar, Wellesley, Mt. Holyoke, Simmons, and Smith. The sale is still being run by Upper Valley residents and supported by hundreds of Upper Valley volunteers.

Coming out of the pandemic, many of our volunteers — quite a few of whom are older and at greater risk of contracting complications from Covid-19 — expressed concerns about holding a large-scale event that draws thousands of people. They said they would feel safer in a smaller space that had a smaller capacity limit. Rather than cancel the sale for the fourth year in a row, we decided to go this route.

Since the space is smaller than the high school, we decided to extend the sale for nine days — including a second weekend — which will give patrons a longer time to visit us. We also plan on putting new books out each day. We are not planning on instituting time limits for shoppers during the week or the second weekend, unless capacity becomes a concern.

We again apologize for the delay in getting this information out earlier: we did not know until a few days ago what the fire codes would set our capacity limit so low. We are doing our best to respond to the circumstances we’ve been presented with and we ask for patience as we navigate this new landscape.

We look forward to seeing you at the sale!