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| - This place is an independent bookseller, is cozy for browsing, is in an interesting location with lots of shops, has lots and lots of books to look at, and has a cat. All of which are positive things. It's also neat, pretty and well-organized, as opposed to many used-book stores that have piles of books everywhere, including on the floor to stumble over, or that cram books into every available inch of a tiny space with all the charm of a rented storage locker.
If you just want to browse, poke around and maybe stumble on something cool in a bookstore that isn't focused on current bestsellers or sci-fi fantasy/ game stuff, this is a nice place to do it.
If, however, you have any sort of special request or are trying to buy something online rather than in the store, this place is less user-friendly. Very little of their inventory seems to be online, and the responses I've gotten to a couple of e-mail inquiries have been either unhelpful or patronizing. I'm a pretty experienced buyer of used books and collect certain authors, occasionally paying a pretty high price when the book merits it and I've done my research first to make sure price is fair. I remember quite well the old days about 20 years back when old, out-of-print books weren't so easy to find, even on the Internet, and you pretty much had to take the used bookseller's word for things (same for travel agents). When someone is telling me stuff about price and availability that a few simple searches on sales sites contradict, and talking down to me to boot, it makes me think their business model is not keeping up with the times - and also not want to ever work with them on a request or a special order or anything that isn't right out front on the shelf with a price already on it.
Speaking of price, I am not sure I'd say the prices here are "moderate". The prices seem to be more on the high side compared with other independent booksellers, but I'm guessing some of that goes into keeping up the nice brick-and-mortar store space, which is understandable. The place is also in an "art and antiques area" in a traditionally wealthy town, so you're unlikely to find any bargains here.
In conclusion, browsing once in a while = yes, if only to visit the cat. Not so good for online buying, special requests, or lower prices.
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