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Half Price Books overview

Industry
Retail (Specialty)
Revenue
Headquarters
Employees
1,000
Founded in
Website
Organization type
Private
Social media

Half Price Books is a retail company focusing on new and used book sales, records, and magazines. Founded in 1972 in Dallas, TX, the company now operates a chain of bookstores across the country, offering an extensive range of products to cater to various interests. The company has made a name for itself by providing affordable options to book enthusiasts and collectors.

Half Price Books has become a key player in the retail industry with a workforce of 1,000 employees and an annual revenue of $255.6 million. The company's CEO is Sharon Wright, who leads the diverse team consisting of 48.1% female employees and 36.4% ethnic minorities. Notably, the company has great employee retention, with staff members typically staying for 4.1 years.

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1.8/5

Half Price Books employee reviews

Based on 5 ratings

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Half Price Books employee reviews

Half Price Books employee reviews
1.8/5

Based on 5 ratings

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Employee reviews
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1.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2025
Pros of working at Half Price Books

Store managers are great. Starting pay is ok but everyone starts at the bottom and has to work their way up. Vest benefits of any company I’ve ever seen.

Cons of working at Half Price Books

HR department doesn’t work well with regional and district managers. HR always take the side of minority employees and will put a black mark on any straight white male employee. Which can hurt them in the long run.

Half Price Books benefits

Great health package. Roll over on year to year sick and vacation. Hpb even has bereavement leave for pets.

What do you like best about Half Price Books's CEO and the leadership team?

Not much right now. They are letting the HR department run the entire company. And HR has never worked in the retail stores.

How would you improve Half Price Books's culture?

Get rid of the current HR department and then give out raises and promotions based on actual merit. The unions are ruining the culture at the store level.

How did you prepare for the Half Price Books interview?

Dressed well and just told the truth an out past work history.

How does your compensation at Half Price Books compare to the industry average?

Compensation on hourly pay is about average maybe a little above for retail book sales.

What's the diversity at Half Price Books like?

The problem is with the diversity. They try to run the stores over the actual managers. And if you disagree with them they file complaints with HR with lies. Then HR always takes the side of the minorities and lgbt groups.

What brings you the most joy at Half Price Books?

Nothing anymore. The unions and the lgbt groups are ruining the old culture of hpb.

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1.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2023
Pros of working at Half Price Books

Discount, dealing with customers

Cons of working at Half Price Books

Cliques, not accepting of those over 30

Half Price Books benefits

Book discount

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2.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2023
Pros of working at Half Price Books

The customers were a lot of fun to talk to and to help, keeping up with authors and reading trends was interesting. Figuring out what sold well and what didn't was fun for me.

Cons of working at Half Price Books

Nepotism and cliquishness was to be expected here given the average age of the employees. Older workers in general had a hard time dealing with that at my location. I understand not all locations had this environment.

Half Price Books benefits

Employee discount was really good and we were in a good location for some really cool merchandise.

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2.0
A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019
Pros of working at Half Price Books

Under the right store, opportunity is limitless. In theory, you can apply personal knowledge to the benefit of the store which opens opportunity for advancement, which can lead to even greater career opportunities both outside and inside of the company

Cons of working at Half Price Books

Management is held to almost 0 accountability. At best, it means headaches from bumping heads with somebody with unrealistic project expectations. At worst, it's a torturous slog under people that have almost no incentive to change or listen to feedback in a timely capacity. Company is also very insular; Little diversity at management levels making for an uncomfortable atmosphere if you're not white

Half Price Books benefits

Employee discount of 50% off books and DVDs. If you collect media, you may love it.

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3.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2018
Pros of working at Half Price Books

I really enjoy the day-to-day interactions I have with customers and my coworkers. Being around books and new unpredictable situations everyday also has a positive effect on the work environment.

Cons of working at Half Price Books

Upper management can be hard to handle and provide unrealistic timelines for finishing projects and/or tasks. The pay isn't the best either.

Half Price Books benefits

50% employee discount on store merchandise.

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The team at Half Price Books

  • The founders of Half Price Books are Ken Gjemre and Pat Anderson.
  • The key people at Half Price Books are Sharon Wright, Ken Gjemre and Pat Anderson.
Key people
Sharon Wright
Ken Gjemre
Pat Anderson

Half Price Books rankings

Half Price Books is ranked #26 on the Best Retail companies to work for in Texas list. Zippia's Best Places to Work lists provide unbiased, data-based evaluations of companies. Rankings are based on government and proprietary data on salaries, company financial health, and employee diversity.

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Half Price Books diversity

9.4
Diversity score
We calculated Half Price Books’s diversity score by measuring multiple factors, including the ethnic background, gender identity, and language skills of Half Price Books’s workforce.
Half Price Books diversity summary. Zippia estimates Half Price Books's demographics and statistics using a database of 30 million profiles. Zippia verifies estimates with BLS, Census, and current job openings data for accuracy. We calculated Half Price Books's diversity score by measuring multiple factors, including the ethnic background, gender identity, and language skills of Half Price Books's workforce.
  • Half Price Books has 1,000 employees.
  • 48% of Half Price Books employees are women, while 52% are men.
  • The most common ethnicity at Half Price Books is White (64%).
  • 18% of Half Price Books employees are Hispanic or Latino.
  • 10% of Half Price Books employees are Black or African American.
  • The average employee at Half Price Books makes $28,988 per year.
  • Half Price Books employees are most likely to be members of the democratic party.
  • Employees at Half Price Books stay with the company for 4.1 years on average.

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Half Price Books office locations

Half Price Books is headquartered in Dallas, TX

Biggest Half Price Books locations

RankCityJob countAvg. salary
1Austin, TX4$27,122
2Columbus, OH3$26,714

Half Price Books financial performance

9.8
Performance score

Highest paying Half Price Books competitors

Compare Half Price Books salaries to competitors, including Alibris, Books Inc., and Books-A-Million. Employees at Alibris earn the highest average yearly salary of $38,173. The salaries at Books Inc. average $35,038 per year, and the salaries at Books-A-Million come in at $33,360 per year.
RankCompanyAverage salaryJobs
1$38,1730
2$35,0380
3$33,3600
4$31,6580
5$31,6310
6$31,3570
7$30,5750
8$30,3100
9$30,2930
10$29,9920

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Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Half Price Books, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Half Price Books. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Half Price Books. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Half Price Books. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Half Price Books and its employees or that of Zippia.

Half Price Books may also be known as or be related to HALF PRICE BOOKS, RECORDS, MAGAZINES, INCORPORATED, Half Price Books and Half Price Books, Records, Magazines, Incorporated.