In a tough economic climate, everyone is looking for a good deal. For bookworms in Gaithersburg, the Friends of the Library Bookstore in Quince Orchard Plaza is a hidden treasure to find affordable reads while helping support the county's library system.

Opened in May 2009, the FOL Bookstore is one of three used bookstores in Montgomery County that funnels its income back to the library in the form of unrestricted enhancements. With some items as cheap as 50 cents, the shop estimated 80-to-90 percent sale prices are a good find for booklovers who aren't trying to break the bank.

"Customers go nuts," Gaithersburg store manager Kathy Blair said of the FOL's low prices, that include $5 DVDs, $2 books on tape, and $1 VHS all with a flexible exchange policy. "They come up to me and say 'Is this really the price.'"

Blair added that the employees use their vast knowledge of books and a keen eye on what's moving off the shelves to determine the prices. Even the hotter items are still a bargain: consider a hardcover of the newest Harry Potter selling at FOL for only $7 compared to it's $25 price at Barnes and Noble.

With its charming decorations (scarecrows and construction paper leaves adorned the walls the store's current Autumn theme) and spotless linoleum floors, FOL is not exactly the dusty, dimly lit used bookstore collectors may be more used to rifling through. That doesn't mean there aren't some hidden gems. Blair said that one customer discovered a first-ever edition of Roald Dahls' James and the Giant Peach on their shelves and bought it for $350.

"I'm sure that person could put that copy up on e-Bay and get just about whatever they wanted for it," Blair added.

United with the other FOL locations in Rockville and Wheaton, the used bookstores grosses about $15,000 a month that is then redistributed into funds for the county's libraries. Seventy-nine cents of every dollar they makes goes to aid for cultural programs, (such as Cinco De Mayo and Chinese New Year events) conversation clubs for recent immigrants learning English, book clubs, and children's reading programs.

Most importantly, the cash flow can also provide an avenue for purchasing additional technology, a much-needed asset in the local libraries.

According to Blair, proceeds from the FOL store in Wheaton bought the first set of computers in the county.

"The libraries benefit from our sales and the library can use all the benefit it can get," said Blair, estimating her location totaled around $800,000 in revenue last year. "Everything is cut to the bone so we want to help supply them with whatever we can."

Ari Brooks, executive director of the Montgomery County chapter of the Friends of the Library Organization, added that the unrestricted nature of their donations to the library allows for a wider selection of uses than a direct endowment.

"There's more leeway to how the library can use the money they get from us," Brooks said. "People can attach strings to individual endowments. The use of our donations is completely at the discretion of the library."

Libraries aren't the only winners from the FOL store. Customers, mostly teachers and home-schooling parents purchasing resources on their own dime, and donors unloading unused books, get equal benefit.

"It's a unique opportunity to do well by doing good," said David Stewart, an FOL board member and published author who spearheaded the development of the Gaithersburg location. "Donors get books cluttering their house out, purchasers get affordable books, and all the money goes back to the libraries."