This photo shows the front desk of Deja Vu Books and really it tells you everything you need to know about the store. Like a lot of second hand bookshops I've been to the proprietors seem to aim to provide an interesting experience rather than an efficient one. That's great if you're browsing for fun, but if you were looking for a specific title or subject area I wouldn't recommend Deja Vu - they have no organisation at all. Follow this photo to my flickr photostream and the picture I've taken of the inside of the store will show that there is no organisation at all - books of every type, on every subject, have just been dumped on the shelves. It's a librarian's worst nightmare.
There are no signs, shelf labels or finding aids of any kind. There wouldn't be any point since there's no pattern at all to how the books are laid out. They carry fiction and non fiction print material only, with a emphasis on fiction paperbacks. The staff member on duty was friendly and co-operative but he couldn't do much to help me find a specific topic (when I took this picture he was off helping another customer). As far as I could tell there is only one staff member on duty at a time. Deja Vu Books does have an online presence at http://dejavubooks.com/ but it's a single page that only gives the address, 77 Salamanca Place, Salamanca Arts Centre and the opening hours, 10-5 Monday to Saturday, 11-5 Sunday. There is no catalogue or electronic record of any kind. On top of all that the store is narrow, cramped and hard to move around in.
I've reviewed Deja Vu more as an example of how I think a bookshop shouldn't be run than anything else. If I was seriously looking for an out of print book I'd go to Astrolabe Books upstairs, which is everything Deja Vu isn't. This store is probably a lot of fun to poke around in, but I personally wouldn't use it for any professional need.
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