Retail is hard for us to recommend. Bcs I have no idea what sorts of stores you have.

But you might look into a unfinished furniture store.

These guys charge less than $200 for a small bookcase w/o moldings and only a little bit more for a bookcase w/ a little bit of molding on top and sides.

And their glass doors are only . These are glass only--no wooden frame. A plate-glass store might help you w/ similar doors. And you could find out what the unfinished-furniture place would charge you to make wooden frames (and either they could supply the glass, or you could have the plate-glass place supply the glass which might be cheaer).

These guys are local to me, and they're a chain, and in NYC, so I don't know how their prices compare to unfinished-furniture places elsewhere.

But bookcases are the simplest thing for such stores to make. And that furniture is generally VERY sturdy.

Mail-order options are easier for us to recommend. I've had good luck w/ inexpensive furniture from Home Decorators Collection catalog. Even the assemble-it-yourself stuff has been fine in terms of quality. Not fine furniture, but I'm not embarrassed to have it in my living room.

http://www.homedecorators.com

I have a question, but don't want to hijack your thread. Do you want glass doors because of dust?

We have what you are describing, but DH made it in high school. Our is technically a trophy case, so maybe it would help to refer to it as that. I don't much like it for books though because the doors aren't meant to be opened and closed often. I suppose if they had a different handle it'd be easier.

Costco featured a bookcase with glass doors that was about $500. If you or a friend are a member, try their online resources.

I did check Costco website. I coul't find any bookcase with doors. Can you tell me which category it is listed under. Better will be a link.

My 5 yr twin girls are crazy for books. Any kind of books they like to page thro' for days looking at the pictures. We have a big collection of art, cooking books that we use once in a while. I want to keep them away from the kids. Hence the doors.

IKEA has a line of bookcases with doors called Billy. I installed and connected 3 of them together on one wall and I put 6 glass doors. Relatively cheap but look quite nice. I think I paid a total around $600. But it does require assemply (one afternoon for me) and maybe two adults (me, my wife) to raise and line them up.