Brick & Mortar Stamp Stores In Twin Cities, Minnesota??

I know there's a few Minnesotans here...

The only stamp store I've visited in recent history is Bel Aire in Roseville. I like it, but I've been through their inventory a few times (although I'm sure it changes). What other stores are there? Do they have stockbooks/card files you can search yourself? Boxes of stamps on paper you can pick from? I plan to be in town soon, and might have an hour or two to spare before heading back north.

Only that and Golden Valley stamps but I don't know if they actually have a store to view Stamps at. We're pretty thin here.

http://www.smartcart.com/gvstamps/welcome.htm

There is Gopher Supply and they may have unsold box lots, but Bel Aire is pretty much it these days. What are you looking for? I can give Tom at Bel Aire a heads up that you are coming and he may be able to pull some stuff together. They sell a lot on consignment these days and he can tell consigners that he is looking for something specific. When are you in town? There are various clubs that meet and you may be able to hit a meeting or auction.

Stallzer beat me to Golden Valley. They are the same as Gopher Supply. One end does the stamps the other does supplies.

Visited Gopher Supply today. They appear to be mail order only. Maybe I wasn't assertive enough, but I got the impression that they don't let you look through their stamps. The guy was polite, handed me a catalogue. I didn't ask, and he didn't invite me to look at the stock. So... I went across town and thumbed through some stamps at Bel Aire. Picked out a couple of bank notes that I wanted to be able to compare side-by-side for color difference. That's hard to do on ebay.

Hey, what time were you at Bel-Aire? I spent an hour chatting with Tom browsing through covers today.

Small world. I was there from around 1 pm to 2.

Missed you by 1-1/2 hours.

I just inherited my uncle's stamp collection (I was a stamp collector before he gave them to me), and most of it is loose, either on paper or off, and I'm just now trying to get them organized with my stamp collection. I have been using binders with loose pages in them, and since I grew up in Switzerland, I used what I could find there. However, now I live in Minnesota, and of course things are different in the US. I have decided to use the Lighthouse VARIO system, but was wondering if there was any brick & mortar stamp stores that would sell those? Obviously I could order them online, however it's expensive to ship from the manufacturer, and so I would have to guess as to how much I would need because I wouldn't want to pay multiple times for shipping. I came across this post, and saw that you mentioned Bel-Aire Collectibles in Roseville, but you guys are mainly talking about stamps themselves, so I was wondering if it would be worth my while to drive over there and see if they have what I need. That way I could just keep going back there every few months when I need more books and supplies. I did also see you guys mentioned Golden Valley Stamps, but I found their address online, and went over there one Saturday, and I ended up in a business district, and the address did not say Golden Valley Stamps on it, and didn't look to be open. When I first moved to Minnesota 13 years ago, I found a stamp store in South Minneapolis, but it seems to be long gone. Most things seem to have shifted online. I just wish I knew how much I would need in total, otherwise it gets very expensive with shipping. Thank you for your help.

For Vario pages I go to Scale model supplies on Lexington and University in St Paul, they sell them for less than a buck a sheet and usually have decent stock.


http://www.scalemodelsupplies.com/

Plus this place is a Man cave nirvana if you ever built models or had Lionel Trains.

Thanks for telling me about this place, I'll have to go check it out. Any other suggestions where to locally find stamp supplies would be greatly appreciated.

You can order from here and during the week (Mon - Friday) they don't mind if you walk in and purchase items although it's a bit strange since it's basically an office not a store.

http://www.smartcart.com/gvstamps/welcome.htm

If you are in the Twin Cities I highly suggest giving the Maplewood Stamp Club a try. Our next meeting is NEXT Thursday the 26!. The location is First Lutheran Church, 4000 Linden Street at Hwy 61 and County Road F, White Bear Lake. Doors are open at 6:30 p.m. for conversation and informal trading. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. Program and Auction follows the meeting. we usually get from 30-50 people attending. Sometimes there are Vario stock sheets in auctions.

Bel Aire Stamps is open from Wednesday to Friday (Saturdays in fall-Spring) 2589 Hamline Ave N Roseville, MN 55113 http://www.belairestamp.com/
(651) 633-8553

Our club is having its show in October, I'm not sure how many supplies will be there, but I can ask.

Oops! our club meeting is NEXT Thursday!