I’ve never been to Uncle Hugo’s bookstore. In fact, I’ve never been in Minnesota. But like many of you, I think now and then of Uncle Hugo’s Bookstore, which was destroyed by fire on May 31, 2020. An article which I read the other day reminded me of it in an infuriating way.

A fundraiser has been running since last year to try to restore the store in some form. Fans have been very generous, but half a million dollars is a huge amount to raise, and it’s still far short of its goal.

A recent article by Carz Nelson reports that there’s still hope. Owner Don Blyly remains determined. He’s still looking for a new location. Insurance helped, but much of what was in the store was irreplaceable. Old used books and signed editions can’t just be re-ordered.

The fire that destroyed Uncle Hugo’s, along with its companion mystery store, Uncle Edgar’s, was clearly the result of arson. The person or people responsible have never been identified. It could have been some of the people who were rioting at the time. It could have been a rioter indiscriminately destroying stuff, a pyromaniac using the riots for cover, or someone trying to make the protests look bad. Blyly said there was a video of “a white guy in a mask,” but he’s never been identified.

A website has been started on the Uncles Stories Project, Its aim is to collect and present people’s recollections of Uncle Hugo’s and Uncle Edgar’s.

The most recent update on the fundraiser site, dated January 8, 2021, gives details on the hunt for a suitable location.

In today’s throwaway Internet culture, a lot of people don’t understand the significance of a bookstore. They read only e-books, if they read whole books at all. This leads back to the article that I mentioned at the top, which infuriated me. It had a quotation from a New Yorker article quoting Alicia Garza. In the interest of staying close to the source, I’m linking to that article rather than the one I found first.

Why are we having this conversation about protest and property when a man’s life was extinguished before our eyes? …
 

We don’t have time to finger-wag at protesters about property. That can be rebuilt. Target will reopen. The stores will reopen. That’s assured. What is not assured is our safety and real justice.

Does this person even realize that small, locally owned businesses exist? Does she know that black people own some of them? Does she think you just order replacement out-of-print first editions from the Out-of-Print First Edition Factory? Does she think that there’s no damage to “safety” and “justice” when people’s livelihoods are destroyed?

Yes, Target and other big chains will reopen (though there are reports that Target won’t come back to Minneapolis). It’s just the smaller shops, the ones that had a connection to their communities and neighborhoods, that may be permanently gone. Uncle Hugo’s at least has the support of a nationwide fan network. Others have less hope.

Alicia Garza evidently isn’t the kind of person who cares about those shops. She’s not unusual. A lot of people never go beyond the big chain stores and websites for their shopping. The mall is their world.

Stores like Uncle Hugo’s are becoming increasingly rare, and not just because of riots and fires. Take some time to shop at your local bookstore instead of ordering online or browsing Target’s shelf of best-sellers. It’s worth keeping these shops around.