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Mary Margaret Hansen's avatar

What a wonderful post. The Machine catalog w metal cover sounds terrific. I do miss the two 1/2 Price Books that were inside 610 loop. Not the same without them nearby. I also like the one in Seattle near UW. They are hardly any old haunts left inside the loop - too high rents? All going corporate? And now charging for parking too. Again, enjoyed your post.

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Scottapeshot's avatar

I've shopped at Half Price Books locations since 1979, starting in San Antonio at their lovely Broadway Ave. location by the Zoo and the Witte Museum. I now rather regret the massive amounts of time I spent flipping through record bins and shelves. The internet has given me more convenient ways to waste my time looking through listings of Kindle Books, streaming films, and many other cultural products. HPB was part of the employment market for Houston hipsters similar to what you've talked about in Seattle. There was a constant shuffle of people from HPB to Record Exchange to Whole Foods Market to various bike shops. Some folks got trapped in that cycle forever. Which is better than now, I guess, when young hipsters become baristas or just permanently unemployed.

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