In case you haven't noticed, the little used bookshop around the corner has some serious competition. The new kids on the block are so spacious, brightly lit and spotlessly clean that they could easily be mistaken for convenience stores.

In the business world, the secondhand book mega-emporiums stand out as success stories. Three of the major chains have between them already opened more than 800 stores nationwide.

A pioneer in this field is Book Off Corp., which this year celebrates its 10th year in business as well as the opening of its 575th outlet. Last year it opened a store in New York, its second overseas outlet after Hawaii. Its sales for fiscal 2000 were reportedly a staggering 13 billion yen.

The company's pricing policy is the same at every store: Depending on the condition of the goods, Book Off outlets generally buy books from customers at 10 percent of the publisher's recommended price, and sell at 50 percent of the recommended price, said Book Off official Shingo Koganei. They also have a section offering books at 100 yen.

The simplicity of the system makes it easy for even the most inexperienced to operate a Book Off store, he stated.

While the customer benefits from the stores' low prices and user-friendly layout, sellers are given a helping hand by two innovative delivery systems.

Call the company's free-dial number, and Book Off will dispatch a car to pick up unwanted books. It also foots the bill for items sent by express mail with its "takkyu hon-bin" service, provided that the delivery exceeds 100 books. Applications can also be made via the company's Web site, and credit for the books is paid within a few weeks of arrival.

While most Book Off stores stock only Japanese-language titles (which include novels, nonfiction books, magazines and manga), its Harajuku outlet in Tokyo has recently incorporated an English-language book corner. Pricing is determined on the same basis as Japanese-language titles, but Koganei warns that the section is currently operating on a trial basis.

Similar delivery systems exist for the two other major players in the field, Book Market and Book Mart, which operate 300 stores nationwide, the latter mostly in Saitama Prefecture.

While these large-scale bookstores continue to expand at a rapid rate, traditional secondhand stores specializing in collector's items have endeavored to keep up.

Around 20 of the stores in "Kanda Book Town" now offer an online search and ordering service, according to Yoshiki Okuno, chairman of an association of bookstore owners in Tokyo's Kanda-Jinbocho area.

Kanda Book Town is home to some 140 antiquarian and secondhand booksellers, stocking an estimated total of 3 million books.

Okuno is conscious of the rapid growth of new-style used bookstores in Japan, noting that a Book Mart branch recently opened near his own store, Okuno Books. He insists, however, that stores in Kanda, many of which date back over 100 years, are not feeling the pinch.

"Their objective is completely different, as is the kind of books they stock," Okuno said. "Ours are specialist shops, so there is no need for rivalry with such chain stores."

Indeed, Okuno says the need for high turnover at the likes of Book Off can be a bonus for sellers of rare books.

"Their only concern is a book's general condition, regardless of its content. I've heard of [antique book dealers] coming across some real finds [in such stores] and purchasing them for just a few hundred yen," he said.

While the Kanda-Jinbocho area does have some stores specializing in old, secondhand English-language books, inexpensive, used foreign-language books are generally hard to come by.

A number of stores stocking foreign-language books went out of business in the early '90s when the escalating yen forced down prices of new imports.

Good Day Books in Ebisu, however, weathered the storm and emerged as Tokyo's only surviving English-language used bookstore.

According to owner Taeko Kobayashi, prices of the some 30,000 titles at the store are generally set at half the book's yen price. So, a novel priced at $10 in the U.S., but costing 1,800 yen in Japan would be sold secondhand for around 900 yen at Good Day Books.

Kobayashi's buying price for such a book would be half the selling price -- 450 yen, which would be paid in exchange vouchers, not cash.

A newcomer to the used book market is the Ikebukuro-based Caravan, run by the aptly named Tom Reid. The Briton's store, however, fits into neither of the old- or new-style categories mentioned above.

When he started up his business last summer, Reid had originally operated a small store near JR Ikebukuro Station. But, with business proving to be more fruitful via his online order service, he recently decided to close the store and concentrate on his cyber customers.

"I really thought there was space for this kind of service. Compared with a store, the Web has a much wider reach," Reid said.

Reid's pricing policy is simple: He buys paperbacks for 100 yen and sells them for 400 yen. Those placing orders over the Net pay postage plus 100 yen for packaging.

Residents of Tokyo looking to get rid of unwanted books can make use of Reid's pickup service.