Best Place to Get Your Typewriter Fixed 2012 | Mesa Typewriter Exchange | Shopping & Services | Phoenix
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Best Place to Get Your Typewriter Fixed

Mesa Typewriter Exchange

Bill Wahl's happy to be disturbed at work. The local typophile and his stockpile of typewriters continue the tradition of the business that's occupied 30 South MacDonald in Mesa since 1949. Wahl’s surrounded by old, rusty machines that local diehards and newfound typewriting hipsters have dropped off at his shop for repairs. The walls are lined with Coronas, Smiths, Hermes, Remingtons, and Royals with enough carrying cases and musty typewriter smell to put any sucker for vintage stuff over the edge. It’s in Wahl’s shop where you’re likely to spend an afternoon plinking on old keys and warming up to the lack of a backspace button and real ink on paper (ah!). If you look carefully, you might catch a glimmer of Hipstamatic hope for the future of the typosphere.

Best Cheap Vinyl

Revolver Records

We recently decided we liked Sonny and Cher, and we knew just where to go to get a big pile of their super-groovy records for next to no money. Revolver Records never lets us down when we're on a musical whim. Whether we're stuck on Leonard Cohen or the 1910 Fruitgum Company, the nice boys at Revolver always have at least one slice of licorice pizza that we're looking for. That's probably because they stock more than 25,000 vintage vinyl record albums on any given day. We always make a beeline for the dollar-a-disc room, where we've been known to score cool platters by Sergio Mendez, Isaac Hayes, and even a whole album of songs by Chad Everett! Only at Revolver Records, which buys and sells albums, CDs, and music paraphernalia seven days a week.

Best CD Store

Stinkweeds

If you've spent any time identifying the indie songs you hear in hip coffee shops or in your even hipper friend's car with the help of iPhone's handy Shazam app, you can take that list straight to Stinkweeds, where employees can find the correlating albums and make a few suggestions. We love Stinkweeds because we don't have to surf through Flo-Rida's latest to get to the Freelance Whales, or Tina Turner classics to get to the latest killer sounds by Tennis. Stinkweeds specializes in indie labels — which, yes, means more than a thin leather headband and a V-neck shirt — and is home to more than 6,000 hard-to-find CDs and vinyl LPs . . . that we'll likely be using to create our own impressive playlists for as long as it's around.

Best Movie Posters

Victor Moreno's Cult Classics

Local designer Victor Moreno has had a lifelong love affair with movie posters. Gowing up in the 1980s, he was fascinated by legendary artist Drew Struzan's action-packed one-sheet for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, as well the iconic poster for Robocop. "I can always remember movie posters being something that stuck with me, even when I was little." Such arresting imagery still sticks with Moreno even today and has influenced the custom movie posters he creates for his Cult Classics film series. Much like such renowned indie repertory houses as Austin's Alamo Drafthouse commission limited-edition prints for special screenings, Moreno designs unique one-sheets influenced by the vintage sci-fi, fantasy, and horror flicks he's showcased every month at local cinemas, including Mill Avenue's MADCAP Theaters and Pollack Tempe Cinemas. For Army of Darkness, he reproduced the moment when badass protagonist Ash held his boomstick aloft, while Back to the Future's poster re-created the moment when the DeLorean was struck by lighting. And Moreno brought things full circle last year when he crafted his own Robocop poster for a showing of the 1987 cyberpunk film. It seems only fitting.

Best Costume Store

Easley's Fun Shop

If you buy into the theory that the end of the Mayan calendar will coincide with the end of the world this December, then it's about time you picked out your apocalypse ensemble. As it very well could be the last thing you ever wear, why not have a little science fiction-inspired fun along the way? Perhaps you'd like to outfit yourself as an uprising primate, à la Planet of the Apes, or embrace the end as a zombie from The Walking Dead. Goofy green aliens and Star Trek characters also could work just as well. For any of the above and, oh, so much more, Easley's Fun Shop is the place. Of course, they're your go-to costume emporium when it comes to Halloween, but the family-owned store is open to suit your dress-up needs year-round and, if that Mayan legend holds true, until the end of time.

Best Place to Buy Vinyl Toys

Lulubell Toy Bodega

You don't see many of Fuei Shokai's eerie Slender Man dolls selling alongside other vinyl playthings at chain stores like Urban Outfitters or Zia Record Exchange. In fact, the sought-after collectible is so scarce that they can't be purchased anywhere in Arizona, except at Lulubell Toy Bodega. The quirky emporium, which moved to downtown Mesa from Tucson last winter, focuses on selling ultra-rare figures and obscurities imported from Japan, particularly Kaiju monsters and custom rarities made by little-known and micro-size manufactures. Co-owner Luke Rook frequently visits the Asian nation to search through boutiques and toy shows and scoop up these gems while partner Amy Del Castillo minds the store. Though you can also purchase cutesy works created by local artists or popular designer favorites from Frank Kozik and Kid Robot at the shop, it's a niche operation geared toward hardcore collectors. That's a toy story with a happy ending.

Best Comic Book Shop

Gotham City Comics & Coffee

With all the geekery that's found a home in downtown Mesa, it's no surprise the main drag is also home to a comic shop that's busy with Daredevil, Wolverine, and Joker fans alike. Store owners Kevin Johnson and Miguel Vega and have played host to video game tournaments, book-signings, action figure showdowns, late-night Wi-Fi sessions, and plenty of good-hearted debate on the latest Marvel masterpiece. It's been called the next best thing to a geek mall, and with the buzz served up behind the counter, we could stay well past curfew.

Best Bookstore

Changing Hands Bookstore

It's funny. As reports of the demise of the bookstore — and, indeed, the paper-and-ink book itself — increase, hipsters are embracing the book as an art form. Not as something to read, but something to carve — literally. Really, we've seen skulls carved from old books, art stamped on their pages, shelves built on their backs. A coffee bar made of books; a rug, for crying out loud. We love art, but we'll be honest: Book art makes us cringe. Is it really time to call it a day when it comes to the book? Have we forgotten what books are actually for?

There’s one place (two, if CHB’s plans for a Central Phoenix spot come to fruition) where the book still is alive and well — and flying off the shelves, thank you very much. It’s not for lack of a lot of hard work on the part of the owners, staff, and community that loves Changing Hands, and it’s not for nothing that this bookstore embodies all the best qualities of our favorite book shops across the country. Not only will you find an educated staff and a wide selection, this spot serves as a community gathering place for metropolitan Phoenix, with readings from nationally acclaimed, famous authors, as well as first-time locals. And, hey, before you decide to arrange those old books by color in a decorative (and never-to-be-disturbed) artistic display, or make them into shelves for your Kindle, iPad, and Nook, consider selling them back to Changing Hands and buying new ones. The paper-and-ink kind. A novel idea.

Best Used Bookstore

Bookmans

Really, we should give this local micro-chain a Best of for "Best Place to Kill an Entire Summer Afternoon," because we've done that more than once at Bookmans. Or "Best Place to Do All Your Christmas Shopping" — because we've done that, too. In short, this is our favorite place to browse, to buy, and to sell back gently used books, movies, and gaming electronics. The magazine rack alone is reason to come — for a fraction of the cost, you can pick up the latest issues of your favorites if you're lucky. And you'll always be in luck when it comes to finding just the right book — the selection is giant and if they don't have it at one store, chances are they'll have it the other.

Best Specialty Bookstore

The Poisoned Pen

When bookworms find themselves craving a literary thrill, we point them toward The Poisoned Pen. There are shelves of novels in the bookstore that will sate their appetite. But that's nothing new. Since 1989, the specialty store has offered up tales, some of which its sister press publishes, in niche genres such as mystery and thriller. But don't let that (or the unpleasant origins of its name) scare you off. The bound-paper purveyor provides a cordial place that's free of plot twists where you can read and explore. Weekly book-signings featuring nationally acclaimed writers and such hyper-talented locals as James Sallis, an annual authors' conference, and the staff's eagerness to share their latest crime, noir, and other fictional faves will leave you feeling poisoned in the best possible way.

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