This was my 19th stop on the Indie Bookstore Passport tour. Parking was tight, with limited street…read moreparking available. The store is located on the second floor. It's a used bookstore with more than 40,000 books; so prepare to spend at least an hour (if not an afternoon) perusing the bookshelves. It's easy to get lost in the stacks here, as there are LOTS of hallways and a labyrinth of rooms. There is a room for small gatherings, a rare book room, and an alcove to tuck away with a book. One window in the store has a bit of nostalgia as it overlooks Bob Dylan's old apartment (and is now the Loring Bar). If you love a used bookstore and a historic site, this place is worth a visit.

Any used bookstore near a university is bound to be worth a couple hours of browsing and the Book…read moreHouse is no exception. It's got good prices and an impressive variety, lots of scholarly books. I love the atmosphere here, and the restaurant downstairs is pretty good too.

I am honestly horrified that it took me until 2024 to find this place (it was an accident- I was…read morewalking to an event at Day Block Brewing and was caught by the window displays). Once I got home, I Googled my walking route to find out what this magical place was, and lo! There is a cafe inside, there is a gift shop, a book shop, AND they offer classes. I signed up for an adult community education class to learn more about bookbinding, and had a blast. I learned many fun technical terms (read: throw up. Yes, really). Pictures of my first amateur creation included. I highly recommend the classes, as they stive to make everyone of all ages and abilities feel welcome. I got there a full 30 minutes early one night just to be able to browse the giftshop, which contains not only a plethora of bookbinding materials and supplies (which are pretty niche) but creations by local artists and just cool book-themes things in general. I will definitely shop there for gifts for my other book-obsessed friends. Bring a buddy and go check it out, or bring a book and just go chill in the cafe on a day when you don't feel like interacting with humanity.

Truthfully, I visited because I heard about the gift shop from social media and was blown away. The…read moreshop features a ton of local artists, and artists from marginalized communities. They have a huge selection of zines, prints, and greeting cards. I ended up getting four greeting cards and two stickers, but I would've absolutely gone home with more if my bank account allowed for it.

Saw the reading "Blues in Stereo" by Danez Smith. It was such an amazing experience and I loved the…read moreatmosphere of the space. I already reached out to a friend who could maybe do a reading there as well. I thought it was really nice and classy. I do wish there were more signs about where the reading was taking place it was a little confusing.

Wow! What an inspiring place! My friend and I went to a reading with 2 writing fellows and a guest…read morewriter. All three were wildly talented. We were blown away. The Friday night event was FREE and had a Q&A panel at the end. Learned so much about the writing process and how to move through writers block. I'm not a writer but still felt welcomed and enjoyed myself. The event was about 90mins. Afterward we had dinner at Grumpy's- very close by such that we walked there (one block). I needed parking for more than 2hrs and found a nearby lot by Dunn Bros for $4 all night. We will definitely return for the next event!

I've been looking for a bible for a while and so glad I went here versus ordering one online. I was…read morea bit surprised with how much stuff this store had to offer. They had all the different versions of the Bible as well as different sizes and different size fonts. Many options. They sell gifts, trinkets, books, art and more. When you buy a bible here they imprint it for free. You can pick the font and color. The Bible I picked had a floral design over the entire cover and at first the woman working said she couldn't do it on the one I picked but when I asked if she could imprint on the back she was able to do it. Customer service was great. They have a parking lot which is nice as well.

Came across this place as I was in look for a study Bible and was glad to find it in a cute…read moreneighborhood. When you walk in it's honestly like traveling back in time. There are tons of cards for all occasions so I was very glad to see that as sometimes it's hard to find faith based cards at stores. Given that Easter is almost here it was a great opportunity to get a bunch of cards to mail to family. They also have a Spanish section for bibles which I thought was fantastic as I also can utilize it to get some for family members who only speak Spanish. They have great gift sections and also one for kids. There are a lot of resources for kids in terms of bibles, books, or devotionals as well. Service was great as I got help trying to understand different versions of bibles and which one was a better fit for me. I found the perfect one and they also do free engravings so I was able to get my name engraved in silver which was very special! This place is very charming and I hope more people consider checking it out (: they have a parking lot so you can access it easily.

I have been a customer since they were Solid State and now here in St Louis Park as SolSta. If you…read moreare a fan of browsing through well organized bins of LPs, and appreciate clean well-organized shops with fair and solid prices, then you will love this place. You can either efficiently find what you're looking for quickly or while away the hours waiting for a surprise. You will find them here. On top of that there is a downstairs arcade with loads of 80's classic games, as well as a wall full of CDs, another of cassettes and an lp bargain lot. Add helpful staff who will be glad to locate hard to find LPs and a top notch turntable tech set up service, this should be in your top twin cities music haunts. There are even sneaker collector pairs here. So family friendly vibes here. And free parking is nice. A cool shop.

Great record shop! I passed by this spot several times last year and paid a visit today. There are…read moreso many records to dig through here, you could get lost for hours. The selection is very eclectic, they even have a selection of classical records to choose from. It's a very open space, room to move around. There's a listening station where you can take a seat and relax with a new find, they had some mystery bags for $5. They also buy your used records, so I brought a few in and got some store credit. SolSta can also be found at various events with their bus full of vinyl. Owners were super nice and open for questions even though they were busy packing for an event. Reasonably priced vinyl, street parking, great place to hang out.

This is a small pocket park on the outskirts of downtown St Paul. The .45 acre site was originally…read morethe Pedro Luggage and Briefcase Center, and the land was was donated by the Pedro family to the City of Saint Paul to be developed as a park. It has a distinctive mural as a backdrop and is home to the Urban Flower Field. There is metered street parking available, but I really do not see this as a destination park. The park is maintained by local residents and community members of the buildings which I think is awesome and gives them a sense of ownership of the park. In the summer, the park's gardens are in full bloom. I visited in early spring so it was pretty bare while I was there. It is absolutely gorgeous in the summer with the Adirondack chairs and full plants. You may not be able to tell from the ground level, the plants are arranged in a spiral shape, mirroring the mural on the wall. It is also ADA complaint. It has been known to host community events and Music in the Park. It is a very chill and laid back park. I would definitely enjoy listening to music while drinking some lemonade there, on a summer evening. I will admit that the park's utility is limited, but it is a work in progress and I am excited to see what the developers have in store for this place.

This is a small park that feels more decoration than recreation. There's a nice swirled walking…read morepath and an interesting mural on the building the park leans up against.

Honestly was not a huge fan of my experience at this goodwill - but unfortunately my experience…read morewith other goodwills is often similar. Things were not super well organized and just felt overcrowded. I also didn't notice until recently that some thrift stores are reselling brand new items I assume that are being donated by large corporations. While here I saw a bunch of nice Starbucks tumblers - brand new - that were retail like $30 being sold for $20 (or something similar to that) I just can't believe the prices on a lot of the stuff!

Brand new Good Will but unfortunately still has the yucky smell of an old one. Lots of items…read moredonated and new. Clothes galore!! The prices seem a little inflated compared to the demographics they are trying appeal to and being brand new.

I'm shocked this hasn't been reviewed! Longfellow Gardens is a cute little field area with…read moresidewalks, tall grass, a statue, some arches, flower gardens, benches, and trees. I use it primarily for photography, but I've seen other groups gather to do park-like activities on occasion (yoga, picnic, etc). It's never been particularly busy when I've gone and there's a little parking lot near the entrance. It's honestly a hidden gem!