MN, Minneapolis, Uncle Hugo's and Uncle Edgar's

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MN, Minneapolis, Uncle Hugo's and Uncle Edgar's

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1Morphidae
Dez. 9, 2006, 1:38 pm

Uncle Hugo's sells Science Fiction and Fantasy and Uncle Edgar's sells Mysteries. They do both retail and mail order sales for new, used, paperback and hardcover.

You name the book in those genres and they either have a gadzillion copies of it or will find it for you. They also have lots of signed editions if that is your thing. Want a back issue of Analog? They have it as well. Probably at least six copies.

They also can give you great recommendations. We've been going for 17+ years and they never fail to amaze.

www.unclehugo.com/prod

2brightcopy
Jan. 24, 2010, 10:40 pm

Know this is an old post, but I had to find someplace to rant. ;)

I just got back from a thorough visit to Uncle Hugo's (I'm not really a mystery fan so I don't venture into the Edgar territory). I have a love/hate relationship with Uncle Hugo's.

The love part is based on their thorough catalog of books, many very hard to find. They often have multiple copies of books that I've never even seen at any other bookstore. The staff is very knowledgeable.

The hate part is based on their seeming lack of interest in actually selling books. As far as I can tell, their main interest is in collecting books. How else to explain the fact that in front of almost every shelf, there is a stack of books around two feet high. And right next to it, another stack. And on and on. In the hardcover section, you can't actually see anything on the bottom two rows of the bookshelves because of all these towering stacks. And in the corner, it gets worse. I am not kidding when I say there are stacks of books that mean you can't get closer to the shelves in the corner than about three feet. That's around three rows of stacks between you and the shelves, plus the multiple stacks going left and right of you. Many authors aren't even on the shelf but are in the floor stacks only. They tend to be roughly grouped by alphabet and author, but there are no guarantees.

And if that wasn't bad enough, there's the "new" section. There are a lot of books in there that are "new" as in they've never had a non-bookstore owner, but they're not "new" as in "not old." I'm sure there were older, but the ones that most got me were a couple of Dozois anthologies from 2003 and 2001 (I had the one, but I wanted the other - The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighteenth Annual Collection). Not only were they "old" in a temporal sense, but the pages were actually yellowed. They were in worse shapes than much earlier years in the new section. I brought it up to the front and showed these things to the clerk and he insisted that it was "new", the facts notwithstanding. I pleaded that I would love to hand them money and take this book with me, if only they'd be reasonable. He either didn't have the authority or he didn't care, or both. I think the manager was within earshot and I he didn't say anything. The clerk didn't seem all that interested in going and asking the manager or anything.

So an hour later, I stopped at Half Price Books and picked up the exact same book, only in much better condition for a measly $7. It's like the folks at Uncle Hugo's are in the collecting business, with the occasional sideline of selling extra copies to the public.

I've seen the "Uncle Hugo's is having a hard time and may go under" thing float to the surface a few different times. I support my local bookstores, especially the non-chain ones. I'd really hate to see that happen.

But would I be surprised? Not at all.

3LamSon
Feb. 12, 2010, 10:07 pm

>2 brightcopy: I know exactly what you mean. Hugos is great and frustrating at the same time. Good luck getting a book from the middle of one of the stacks on top of the shelves, one wrong move and five feet of books will come crashing down. And of course you can't get the small ladder close to the shelves which adds some excitement to the challenge. I try to take the challenge every couple of weeks, so far so good.

Hugos has a 20% sale once of twice eavery year, but they do little to clear the log jam. They need to have a real house cleaning sale of 35-40%.

They are one of the most unique of the independent bookstores.

BookSmart near Lake and Hennepin has a respectable SF collection, for a general purpose used bookstore.

4brightcopy
Feb. 12, 2010, 11:38 pm

I always make sure to tell someone where I am and when I'm expected to be back, just in case I get trapped under a pile of books and no one at the store notices.

Yeah, they had their last 20% off sell right after Christmas, when I was out of town. Not that I knew about it beforehand, though. I should have been checking the website. I've signed up for the email so maybe I'll hear about it next time.

The saddest part is I feel like they could be so much more if only they'd put in the effort.

Yeah, I like BookSmart and go there anytime I'm near uptown. Much better selection than M&Q just down the block. Know of any other good places for scifi (especially cheap hardcovers) around the cities than Half Price?

5LamSon
Bearbeitet: Feb. 13, 2010, 10:14 am

>4 brightcopy: Midway books on University and Snelling also has an SF selection that isn't to bad. I know they have hardcovers, but not sure about the prices as I tend more toward the mass market paperbacks. However, hardcovers in other areas tend to be on the high side of what I want to pay.

If you ever find youself in TX, check out Recycled Books... in Denton and/or the Half Price flag store in Dallas (this place is massive). Both have nice SF sections.

6brightcopy
Bearbeitet: Feb. 13, 2010, 12:39 pm

Actually, I used to live in Houston. So many Half Price Books. The only downside to them is that they can have very similar selections, since they likely get most of their books from overstocks and old warehouse sell-offs. I don't usually get to Dallas much and have never been to the flagship. But they have a pretty huge one in North Oaks.

There was another place in Houston that was pretty cool called 1/4 Priced Books. Unfortunately, at some point they stopped charging 1/4 price and you'd find all kinds of markups because this book was "out of print" or "first edition." It really frustrates me when bookstores do that, as sometimes even Uncle Hugo's does.

7LamSon
Feb. 13, 2010, 2:11 pm

Is North Oaks east/north-east side of Dallas? That might be the one I was thinking about and I could be wrong about it being the flagship. Either way it is big, like walking into an airplane hanger.

Whenever I go to TX I always want to get to Houston, but run out of time. Maybe I'll have to start my next trip there.

8brightcopy
Feb. 13, 2010, 2:17 pm

No, it's a pseudo-suburb of Houston on FM1960.
http://www.halfpricebooks.com/056.html

After living in Houston for five years, my opinion is don't bother. About the main thing I can say is that it has some really great restaurants (usually tucked into strip malls). But other than that, it's really wasn't my thing. Austin is much cooler, if you're looking for a Texas destination.