Among the mindless destruction that happened in Minneapolis recently, the burning of Uncle Hugo’s and Uncle Edgar’s is particularly tragic for some of us. This is a bookstore with two sections: the front part, Uncle Hugo’s, had new and used science fiction, and the back part, Uncle Edgar’s, had new and used mysteries. My wife and I would always go there and browse in the used section of Uncle Edgar’s. They had so many used paperback mysteries that there was no way that one could possibly peruse all of them in an hour. Several hours, or a couple days, were required. And the proprietors were quite knowledgeable. I would sometimes go browse the front part of the store, the sci-fi section, too.
There are not many other places in America, or even the world, with a store like this. On a trip to London once, we tried to find a crime and mystery bookstore in London, but it seems it had gone wholly online and didn’t exist as a physical store anymore. But what is nice about a physical store is that one can just browse and find things that one wouldn’t have found otherwise. Sadly, Uncle Hugo's and Uncle Edgar's was in a somewhat sketchy part of town, and it ultimately suffered from having such a location.
I understand that they are going to try to start up again, though possibly in a new location. But to some extent, this is a monumental or even impossible task since so much of their used material cannot be replaced.
Thanks a lot, Antifa.
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