Mojo Books And Music Expands To Larger Location

It’s hard to believe that the metropolitan Tampa area has only a few independent music and bookstores. One of them, , has been around since 2007, and has become a popular alternative for people in the Tampa area to buy, sell and trade everything from books and games to CDs, DVDs and vinyl records. Because of the popularity of the store and availability of the space in the same shopping plaza, Mojo's owner, Melanie Cade decided to expand and relocate.

“The bank that was located here before went out of business, and I finally decided last year that we were going to expand and move to this location,” said Cade. “We needed a lot more space for our inventory.”

Mojo Books and Music, located in the shopping plaza at 2540 E. Fowler Ave., opened its new location last month and has been able to expand their already vast assortment of items.

Brian Campbell, a frequent shopper at the previous location, was pleased with the store’s new location and larger size.

“They just have a lot more open space in here to fit more stuff,” he said. “They already had a pretty good collection before, but this just helps them add to it.”

With the new location also comes the addition of a coffee and tea bar, an idea that came from customers, Cade said.

“A few of our customers were suggesting we add a coffee bar, and we wanted to go a step beyond that,” she said. “We didn’t just want to have your average coffee bar, so we decided to offer loose leaf organic teas and other superb drinks.”

Mojo also sells Kahwa roasted coffee, which is roasted locally, and iced coffees.

The store continues to specialize primarily in secondhand items, but also has a small collection of handpicked new items, including an eclectic collection of new vinyl. There are also posters, T-shirts, and other memorabilia.

People can sell their used books, music, movies, and games for cash or store credit. According to Cade, few stores in the area offer cash for trade-in items. However, with store-credit, customers get almost 40 percent more for their items than if they chose to receive cash. The credit people get for books must be used to buy books. If they trade in music, however, they can use the credit to buy music or books.

According to student Maggie Helm, the most beneficial part of the program is the fact that Mojo also buys textbooks.

“I, of course, take my music and books here, but especially my textbooks,” she said. “Even though they do not sell textbooks in the store, they buy them back year round, which is extremely convenient, and they usually offer a better price than the other places I go to.”

The store buys textbooks, and it doesn't matter where the seller originally bought them.

“There’s no place like this in Tampa,” said Helm. “Its a one-stop shop for music and books, and I hope the new location helps more people find out about this neat little place.”