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| - Whatever positive aspects this store has are totally negated by the owner. I don't expect to be treated like royalty when I enter a store but I expect to be treated with common decency. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I'm a lot younger than most book collectors (which doesn't excuse the patronizing behaviour) but I was almost immediately told that the store "wasn't a browsing store", as though I had to commit to purchasing something before he let me look in the room on the lower level.
I had a pretty solid list of not-too obscure authors to look for and found none. When I came back upstairs he immediately asked me what I was buying (not "did you find everything ok?", not if I needed help, but, "what are you buying?"...) and I told him nothing because he had nothing I was looking for.
Also, though the selection is decent, and there are some cool rare books to be found, the prices are absurdly high. And I DO understand the value of rare books, and I know the market for the type of books I like, but it's almost as though EVERY book is overpriced, even compared to Abebooks or eBay prices. For example, Pynchon's "Vineland" for $50? McCarthy's "The Road" for $150?! First editions of both of these titles are commonly found for less than $20 at many other stores in the city.
Overall it was a totally unpleasant experience. I felt uncomfortable and grilled by this pretentious dude the whole time I was there. I frequent many other bookstores in the city with much, much friendlier staff and way better prices (e.g. Sellers & Newell, The Great Escape, Pandemonium, etc.)
I will happily never return.
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