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Pranga Bookstore
Category: Shopping Books, Mags, Music and Video Bookstores Bookstores [Edit]
354 Court Street(between Union St & President St)
Brooklyn, NY 11231
Neighborhood: Carroll Gardens
(718) 624-2927
- Nearest Transit:
-
Carroll St (F, G)
Bergen St (F, G)
- Hours:
Mon, Wed-Sun 10:30 am - 8 pm
Tue 2 pm - 8 pm
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
7 reviews for Pranga Bookstore
7 reviews in English
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Review from Jonathan E.
Brooklyn, NY
12/27/2011
This place is tiny... the calendar section at B&N has more content. But that's not a bad thing... I'm just letting newbies know that they aren't going to walk in with a list of things they want to read and walk out with shopping complete.
Rather, this is more the type of place you should go with no preconceived notion of what you want/need. Instead, let the gems find you. In a way it's nicer this way... instead of 8,000 cookbooks there might be 80. You can easily peruse the entire selection in minutes. The other benefit to this arrangement is they have some nicely curated content and some good deals/prices. -
Review from Heath R.
Los Angeles, CA
12/9/2006
This shop opened about a month ago in a space that used to be occupied by a nail polish joint. The owner's done well reclaiming the space -- and apparently built all of the bookshelves himself.
Pranga is primarily an overstock and discount bookstore, although they're not remainders. Most of the books are priced between 30% and 60% off the list price, and they have a wide range of subjects. C. was enamored by the sure-to-grow children's book selection, and I was particularly impressed by their academic, art, and architecture offerings.
In the back room, they also sell used books, CDs, and DVDs for $2 a pop, regardless of what it is. I found an edition of the Golden Bough for $2. Not sure I'll stop by that often -- given that the prices aren't that low -- but I'd like to see more bookstores like this: Not remainders and not used books, but new books at low prices.
Good luck!Listed in: For Cobble Hillbillies
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Review from Sam J.
Brooklyn, NY
10/29/2009
Really lucky to have Pranga in the neighborhood. They have a respectable selection of used books and a lot of really great new books, too, with some of the best new book prices around, depending on the title. The owner, Mehmet, is super nice and cordial and the other employees are helpful, also. The environment is peaceful and it's a nice place to spend some time looking for good titles. There's an upstairs that has a good selection also, just in case you miss it.
Good bookstores are a luxury these days, since so much has moved online, a shame, but Pranga is definitely worth it. You're not going to find everything you're looking for, but you will find something worth it almost every single time. You just need to dig, which is the fun part.
You can get great books that are in great shape, used, for 3.95, sometimes less, but that's the average price, and there are good titles in that used fiction section. The other day I saw stuff like Tom Robbins, Iain Banks, Chuck Palahniuk, and many others. They also have a rotating selection of used dvds where you can sometimes find a great title - got "Videodrome" one time.
Hope you all check this place out! -
Review from r C.
Brooklyn, NY
9/26/2011
I just went to sell some books here, and man! what a stunningly dour experience. It started with me struggling to open the door with two heavy bags, and the woman working inside just standing there 2 feet away watching. Then says, are you selling? put the books on the counter. and walks away. The man who buys the books acted like someone just shot his dog - no hello no eye contact, nothing. Honestly, I can understand to a point, people have bad days, but it was unfriendly to the point of near hostility. I want to support independent book stores, so I would have loved to give a good review, but they are not worth the negativity - I'll find another place to support.
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Review from Danielle C.
Brooklyn, NY
1/2/2010
I bought 10 books over the last 18 days, 6 for my mother. I had asked the store clerk for help with choosing the books for my mom, telling her they were going to be Xmas gifts. I returned one book 2 days later because, after flipping through it, it wasn't the genre the clerk and I thought it was (the store gives store credit rather than your money back, which is fine).
Anyway, after my mom unwrapped the 5 books for her, she realized she already owned 2 of them. When I tried to return the 2 books today (for store credit, mind you), the owner treated me like a criminal. "Have you returned books before? This isn't a lending library, you know." He was abrasive and I felt like he was trying to put me on the defensive. I stayed calm and I told him that I still had 7 books that I had purchased this month, including 2 I had purchased just yesterday and 3 at my mother's in another state, and none of which I planned on returning. That seemed to mollify him and he gave me my credit. Though I was a bit unsettled and repulsed by his behavior, I wished him a happy new year. He didn't respond.
The 2 stars are for the range of good books at fairly inexpensive prices. However, after my treatment today, I'm not sure if I will go back. -
Review from Casey M.
Brooklyn, NY
1/27/2011
I can't say enough great things about this place. If you read a lot and don't like to spend a lot this is the place to go. Amazing used books in great condition for cheap, friendly staff and it is always clean and well organized.
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Review from Becky M.
Brooklyn, NY
7/26/2009
I'm into Pranga. I walked by this place without investigating many times before going in. The name made me think it had some religious bent, but it doesn't seem to.
I head for the used books in the back which are all one price -- which is sometimes a deal and sometimes not, but it does make mental arithmetic easier. Some new books are marked down, some list price, so look around. You can occasionally find stuff way-marked down -- I got a $50 art photo book for 9.98.. and the Deptford Trilogy for 3.98, normally $21.
Upstairs are special categories -- I found some of the stuff I was looking for up here in the "classics" section, or it might be called "literature", not sure. But there's some nicely-bound classic children's books in this section as well which could be good for gifts.
I normally enjoy just browsing, but they can look up specific titles for you at the front. All in all, the place has a good feel to it, and I'll surely be back.
