Chain bookstores.

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Do chain bookstores make you angry? Has your favorite local book shop been driven out of business? Or do you worship at the altar of Borders, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon?

What do you think of the phenomenon of bookstores turning into gathering places?

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Answers

Chains don't bother me in the slightest. My general attitude is "the more books, the better," (except for Christian bookstores because they scare me).

A few years ago, the major independent bookstore in town (there are about six or seven) got all upset because a Borders was coming to town. They're still in business, as are most of the stores in town. The indie is a fairly good bookstore, I've bought stuff there, etc. But I think in general I prefer the Borders. Selection-wise, I've found rare books in each store that I haven't found in other places. The indie store has more of an atmosphere of dead quiet. You can read in there, sure, but I do get to the point where the silence bothers me, and I never have liked being the only person in a bookstore and the person behind the counter is bored and looking at you.

As for the Borders, I mainly like that if I feel like it, I can go look at other stuff, I can carry books around in a basket, there's plenty of seats, and enough people so it's not totally quiet. I don't really socialize in bookstores so that's not an issue, but it's a more "fun" place to hang out than the other store can be.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001


Chains bother me, basically, because they have too much power. They have overwhelming influence on publishing lists, it's hard to publish a book if neither B&N nor Borders puts in a substantial order.

Thing is, one chain bookstore will often have more books than one independent, but the next seventeen chain stores will have the exact same books, while the independents will often have different but overlapping selections.

Oh, there's a little bit of regional variation in terms of local authors and guidebooks, but not much. If I'm looking for a particular book I almost never can find it at a chain store; mall stores, never. I live in Boston, where the independents are still holding their own pretty well, but in Palo Alto, near where I used to live, the local SF&F bookstore just closed. Dammit.

Here's what I find creepy: there are no new bookstores opening except chains. Some used stores, a couple of new-and-used, but I literally cannot remember the last time a non-chain new bookstore opened.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001


The first place I go for a new book is Cody's in Berkeley, because if they ever go out of business it will be a national disaster. Generally they don't have what I want, though, and I get it at Borders instead.

There are plenty of well-read and cultured chain bookstore employees, I ought to know because I once was one. One of the workers at the Sacramento Borders is a woman from Padua -- she gave up living in Padua to work at the Sacto Borders store! Borders is the place where an employee put the "Schoolhouse Rock" tribute CD on the store stereo when I asked about it, even though it was way too rockin' for public consumption. When was the last time an independent bookstore played requests? I hope the chain vs. independent dilemma isn't an either- or situation, though.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001


I have no problems with chains although I can understand the push against them due to their influence.

I don't know about Barnes and Noble but the above post is correct about the knowledge of Borders staff. I worked in the music department of Borders and I had to take a test, and get 90%, before they would interview me; the book side did the same. It was a take home test so I was able to do research to score well. But that was part of the test - can you find the information, are you interested enough to look. Even if they don't know the book/CD you are looking for their employees have the ability and willingness to do great research for you.

I too have trouble finding some things I want at B&N or Borders. Generally I then either go to B&N's website or Amazon.com. This is where I think the online chains have it all over even the chain brick- n-morter stores. If it's in stock I can have it at my house within 2 to 3 days and placing an order at a store, indepent or chain, never has that kind of turn around.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001


Out of curiousity, what does B&N/Borders generally pay the folks it sends home with tests?

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001


I just read the article over at the Atlantic that Beth linked to, and I have to say I'm grateful. I do try to support independent bookstores, and I never leave Portland without giving Powells lots of my money. But I always find better selection, and more of the stuff I want, in the chains. The Atlantic article (and Beth's comments) made me feel less guilty about that. Barnes & Noble just opened a great big store here in Spokane, and though I'll continue to support Aunties and hope they don't go out of business, I'm becoming a B&N fan.

Recent example: Searching for a book about a particular health condition that is not terribly rare, I went to Aunties first. Guess how many books on the topic they had? None. After seeking assistance from a friendly and knowledgeable clerk, I found a book that included this condition with another (in other words, it was a topic in the book, not about about x). Then I went to B&N; guess how many books on the topic they had? That's right - 13!!

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001


I don't have any qualms about shopping at chain stores, and I've probably contributed $10,000 to Amazon's revenue stream. If they're not turning a profit, it's not because I didn't do my fair share.

I like smaller, independent bookstores too, but I agree they usually have less of a selection except in the specific subjects the owners want to emphasize. When I lived in Mobile, there was a small store not far from my house that had an extensive inventory of books on sexuality, alternative lifestyles, New Age spirituality and parapsychology, and only token shelves for science fiction, literature, history and conventional religion.

I've actually always had a fondness for stores that sell used books. It's there that I can sometimes find an old out-of-print paperback or some obscure publication that I would never have known to look for otherwise.



-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

I rarely buy new books because I'm cheap.

Nevertheless, if I was going to buy a new book, I'd rather do it at a local store. I don't like the power that chain bookstores have, and I don't want to support that. I definitely don't shop at Amazon - I have a lot of issues with them.

I do buy a lot of magazines at Borders because they have such a good selection, but I'd patronize a big news stand if there were one around here.

I don't get the bookstore as gathering place thing, but then I don't get coffeehouses either. I'd rather hang out at my own house, and if i'm shopping for books I don't want to hear people talking and laughing. You see people sitting around reading books or magazines while they eat, then put them back on the shelf - do you want to buy that shopworn magazine? I guess the money they spend on food makes up for the spoiled merchandise.

on the other hand, friends have told me they really enjoy hearing readings or going to book groups at bookstores, chain and local. So it's fine, just not something I'm interested in.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001


I generally get my books at Left Bank Books, a local collectively owned and operated bookstore.

A few years ago Some Borders' workers were fed up with low pay and lousy job control so they decided to organize a union. One of the organizers was illegally fired. The drive was crushed with the normal captive meetings, antiunion propoganda and corporate scare tactics.

I'd sooner drink rudeboy's piss than give them a dime of my hard earned money.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001


Oh yeah, you know how lots of times little independent bookstores have cats in them, just kinda wandering around? Well this one bookstore in my new neighborhood has DOGS. Yup, three big happy dogs.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001


So, David, you're saying then that you support independant book stores because they pay their workers extremely well, embrace unions with open arms, and would never, ever think of illegally firing somebody?

There's something wrong with this picture.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001


Like I said Mr. Van, I support a collectively owned and run bookstore.

I'm not a huge fan of the simplistic "big=bad small=good" mentality, and I've been engaged in union struggles at small, local shops as well as large, national ones.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001


I'm so torn on this issue. There's a nice, big Barnes and Noble not too far from me and they have billions of books and good service. Then there's an independant bookstore also near me that never seems to have the books I want and the employees are surly and snobby (you should have seen the looks I got when I got my mother "Bridget Jones's Diary" for her birthday).

What's a girl to do?

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


I don't see much virtue in paying for obnoxious behavior, whether it's corporate or personally owned - if anything, a locally owned store owner should be far more aware of the service their employees are provided (and if it IS the owner being rude, then pfft! Maybe it's time for a different line of work.)

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

As a former employee of a very fine independent bookstore in Chicago, I try to support independent ones whenever I can. But because I used to work at one, I'm totally spoiled and demand my bookstore be a good one. Where I currently live, all the bookstores are sort of pathetic in one way or another, and that includes the campus Barnes and Noble (though its airconditioned and has a decent magazine rack). My solution is to buy online through the Powell's bookstore union website, thereby availing myself of a fantastic bookstore (and used books) and supporting the union of workers who work there. I also love going to the Gotham Book Mart and Saint Mark's Bookshops in NYC but it doesn't happen that often. I will admit to an occasional Amazon purchase. Its just so convenient that you can get CDs and Books there at once. However, I'm currently waiting on a package from them, and i think this might be it. Its taking too long.

But I miss the physical browsing a lot. I even miss the surly employees. One of the things about the local indie bookshop is that they are just too perky considering their store sucks so bad. I find that if you want something special, you usually have better luck ordering through independent stores. Many times Barnes and Noble simply wouldn't take a special order I wanted or said it would take months when it really shouldn't have.

The Borders in my hometown completely transformed the way my parents buy books. They are so happy about it. Since there was *nothing* before, who am I to complain? However, I can't believe people in major urban areas would shop at one of them since there are so many other options.

Then again, I prefer to do most of my shopping for most anything that I know about at independent places: little markets, smaller shoe stores, etc. I think I've been in a Wall-Mart once in my life.

I do think its great that bookstores are gathering places, but relieved I don't have to work in one anymore. By the way, the Portland, OR library does sell coffee in its library (starbucks, which is controversial, I guess), and I think its a bit of a trend in public libraries. Which is funny because many college libraries have coffee shops attached. There are lots of reasons people like to spend time at bookstores rather than libraries and the number one reason is that there *is* something to buy. It has that frisson of capitalism, the sexiness of spending money and possessing that is part of our culture. Or something like that. maybe "Postmodernism for Beginners" has a chapter about it?

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001



I have a few more thoughts

There are lots of reasons to hang around a bookstore and lots of ways to do it. B & N for example, is great for bathrooms and airconditioning, and big chairs. But Powells, for those who've been there, isn't really like that. Its a browing bookstore. You don't really sit with your choices and peruse them. You sit because you are totally exhausted and overwhelmed by how many PG Wodehouse books they have or whatever. The joy is in the search. At a store like Cody's in Berkeley, I think the fun is seeing what they have that reflects the community. I went to a teeny bookstore in Marquette Michigan that rents out hardcovers! and at a place like the Gotham Book Mart in NY or some of the smaller San Francisco stores, its fun to see what books they put where, what seredipitous encounters you can make.

Thats another reason bookstores are sort of more fun than the library: books in the library are *meant* to be in a specific order, just for easy (hopefully) finding. Bookstores are much more magical, in some ways. And that's really the problem with Borders and B &N. You sort of know what you are going to find, mostly. its just a matter of size. I hope it hasn't got to the point like Banana Republic where they tell you what to put on the front tables, but it wouldn't surprise me.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


There is a great independent children's book store in the next town over from where I live, on the Main Line in the Philly suburbs. The selection is amazing. They often have author visits, and as a result I got to meet Lloyd Alexander.

Unfortunately, the staff seems fairly surly and snotty, at least to adults who come in shopping with no kids. Hey, lady, guess what? My as-yet unborn kids are the future of your store. Be nice to them and I will come back again and again. But if you're mean and look at me askance when I ask where the L'Engle books are kept when someone has mis-shelved them in *E* where no one would ever think to look, I am probably going to go up the street to Borders where I know they can spell AND they have all the Betsy-Tacy books.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


I've heard that more libraries are serving coffee and the like these days. I hate to say it but I haven't been into a library since college. I do, however, read librarian.net. I never knew so many librarians are anarchists.

I've rarely gotten very angry at rude employees, unless they do something really offensive (like when a female friend and I went to buy a cell phone and the guy spent the entire time talking to me). I find it creepy how perky and phony service workers are expected to be.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


When I worked at Borders, in '94, I was paid $1.50 an hour over whatever the minimum wage was at the time. (I don't remember my actual salary, I just remember being impressed at being paid over minimum.) Since it was a second job the salary was fine and the employee discount was what I really wanted anyway.

I would love to support independent bookstores, coffee shops, bagel shops, etc.. Hell, I would love to own an independent bookstore/coffee shop. But I live in the suburbs. I've yet to see an independent bookstore out here. (New that is, plenty of great used ones.) I'm sure there are great independents in Boston. But given that I'm at the bookstore at least once a week, with a list of books I'm looking for, I really don't want to drive 30 miles one way, pay the insane Boston parking garage fees, not to mention the tolls, just to find out they don't have what I want anyway.

I do support locally owned stores when I can. My weekend bagels always come from Brianna's if I'm not going out. They aren't as good as Einstein's but the workers are nicer. If I could find a single locally owned coffee shop around here that made a decent espresso drink I'd be all over it. But they all taste like dirty water, I'll stick with Starbucks.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


I've worked for a number of small businesses and I don't buy the idea that they're necessarily better employers. I hate the idea of any sector getting so monopolized that it's impossible for an independent to enter, but OTOH it's not necessarily true that the independent business gives its employees better working conditions or pay - some can't afford to pay well and some don't want to because they see the business as being primarily to profit their own family.

I only get to visit good English-language bookstores on my trips out of Finland, and then I mainly care about getting the books on my list, some of which are pretty obscure, without paying shipping charges. Since my time is limited, chain stores that have enormous selections and are open long hours are a help in this; and I like the coffeehouse culture that seems to go along with them. There are worse ideas than a mini-mall built around books. I also find amazon.com enormously useful. If I lived in a place where there were good non-chain bookstores that I had a personal relationship with, I might think differently about this.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


I find it creepy how perky and phony service workers are expected to be.

So wait wait wait, are we complaining about surly employees or are we complaining about creepily cheerful employees? Where's the acceptable middle ground?

I come at this from the perspective of having been the Manager of the music store in a Barnes & Noble, so I'm aware of the Giant Evil Company's Secret Cyborg policy of perky, phony customer service. First you get the Chipper Chip installed for electronically re-inforced perkiness, then...

Good customer service isn't about being phony. If you create a working environment where your employees are happy and feel valued for their knowledge, then that's reflected in how they come across to the customer. It's sort of a no-shitter.

The people who work in big chain stores are like anyone else. I worked in two different stores, and they were the same mix of good employees, bad employess, fun people and assmonkeys that you get in any work environment. Working for the Giant Corporate Monster didn't change that in the least...

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


David Grenier, put down the $14 paperback and head directly to the gorgeous Seattle Public Library. Seriously. Isn't it right near Left Bank Books? You of all people have no excuse! Plus don't you work at the U Dub? Please! They have a gorgeous library with a fabulous view. I'm surprised you haven't taken a few naps there.

Seriously people, check out the library sometime. Sure the books might not be pretty but they are all free. You can reserve the hot new Dave Eggers book if you want. I guarantee most of those Modern Library list books will be there. And most librarians are very smart, or can at least help *you* be smart, though they may not be sugar-sweet nice. And hey, while you are there, you can surf the web, hopefully for all the porn you want (that was a joke)or at least, the voting records of your congressmen. The librarian will help you find out who they are.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


Rob... you ever been to TGI Fridays? That's what I mean by creepy and phony. I've only worked retail a bit (and when I did it was usually backroom stuff like receiving or framing) but I've worked a ton of food service in my day. Perhaps it's not so bad in retail where people aren't working for tips... but hearing customers complain that the waitress only refilled their water glass eight times instead of nine, hearing the way waitstaff talked to customers and how they talked to other people... it's just a little creepy to me.

I think this differed though, depending on where I was working. The big suburban chain restaurants tended to be worse for this than smaller urban places. That's probably not related to the management as much as it is related to the customers expectations in those types of places, as well as the employees who work there.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


Oh yeah, and Jen, I work at Seattle U, not UDub.

Plus, left bank isn't just a bookstore, it's by default a bit of a community space. I can go down there and find out what's going on, who punched the mayor, where the parties are, who the cops shot, etc.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


Jen -- "The gorgeous Seattle Public Library"? Are you maybe thinking of a different Seattle? The Central branch on 4th Ave. was a depressing monstrosity with horrible lighting and suspiciously stained carpet. It always gave me a headache within twenty minutes of entering. Thankfully, they're finally tearing the place down. A new building on the same spot, designed by Rem Koolhaas, is scheduled to open in 2003.

But I'm intensely jealous that you worked at the Seminary Co-op. I swear there are books that only exist in that store.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


OK, I'll admit I've only been to the SPL once. It seemed OK to me. I like central branches. I guess I was exaggerating. I admire the new SPL's adventurous architecture. And I apologize for not realizing there was more than one university in Seattle.

I didn't mean to make it sound like I was attacking you, David. Sorry about that.

And I've been to left bank books. it won't be replaced by any library anytime soon.

The point still stands: libraries save you money and are good for napping.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


Yeah, but Jen, I don't know if you remember this, but our first year of college, someone was going around stealing the shoes of people who fell asleep at the Regenstein! It happened to my friend Meilee, and there was snow on the ground so campus security had to drive her home.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

Libraries do save you money and I frequent them when I'm looking for information on a subject I don't necessarily want to own books on. When I got married, I checked out the planning books, why own them if I'm only doing it once? When I started gardening, I checked out a ton of books and then went and bought those I thought would be good references in the future.

But I almost never check out books for pleasure reading. Maybe it's Framingham, but the libraries here never have the stuff I'm looking for. It's frustrating. Plus if I like a book I want to keep it for re-reading. Finding it at the library, checking it out, remembering to return it (a biggie for me), then going to find it at a bookstore so I can have a copy is a lot more time consuming than I think book buying should be. Also, the library, not a great source for all the extra crap I can't resist at B&N - bookmarks, pens of a silly natures, stationary I'll never use, Harry Potter paraphanalia, etc.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


Jen W.,

That story is ridiculously funny... well, in hindsight it is. It kinda bugs me when people do things to be funny that are really just mean.

I remember in Providence hearing this rumor that every year during finals week at Brown some students would get boxes of donuts and walk naked through the library handing out donuts to people.

We had a flasher in our library when I was at the University of Arizona (I think we had one a Pitt, too). It was this Really Big Deal, although being a dude I found it funny rather than threatening.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


I have a confession to make.

I hate libraries.

I don't hate them in theory -- I'm all in favor of increasing library funding wherever possible -- but I don't like to go to them. I worked in a library for three years, so I think of them as places where gross, scary people hang out in the stacks waiting to look up women's skirts. (We had flashers ALL THE TIME. About once a month on one of my shifts.) No romance there.

The central branch here in town is always closed when I want to go there. I've only been there long enough to get a library card just before they closed one day; every other time I've gone they've been closed. The branch that's three blocks from my house? Forget it. I went in there a few months ago with a list of about twenty five books -- nothing terribly obscure -- and not one of them was available.

When I was a kid, our local library was tiny and awful -- one room, with a mean librarian who sometimes made me stop looking at books because I didn't have a library card of my own (my mother checked out all of my books).

There was a nice big shiny brand new library in Roseville that I loved, though, and my mom used to leave me there for entire afternoons. It was clean and well-stocked and well-lit and had nice places to sit. Libraries never feel like that anymore -- now they always feel dingy and dusty and moldy, probably because they're all so poorly funded.

The only place I know that feels like that shiny new (well, new in the 70s) library I remember? Borders. I just can't help it.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


I'd sooner drink rudeboy's piss than give them a dime of my hard earned money.

Are you sure? I've been told that my piss tastes like sweet cherry wine with a dash of peppermint. If you change your mind -- urine luck! I usually have a couple jugs fermenting in the pantry.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


Melissa---have you checked out the used mystery bookstore in Bryn Mawr? I love that place. When I was moving and had to cull the collection, I took a lot of books there and made some money.

I don't know of any independent bookstores in my immediate home area. I go to the Barnes and Noble. The staff there has usually been helpful and polite.

When I have time, I do go into the city and get books from two independent book stores, one mystery-specific and the other more general.

The only time I was ever pissed at a chain was when Barnes and Noble took over the Penn Bookstore. I found some really great, not-best- seller-type books at the Penn Bookstore. It's gone now, and I miss it. B&N has removed the esoteric stuff and replaced it with popular fiction.

My addiction is such that I have forgiven B&N.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001


I used to forget that the local library existed. I'd ride by it everyday, but never thought about going in. But then I started to make a list of books I wanted to read because I was getting frustrated that I would hear about a great book and then forget about it. The list was huge, more than I could buy, but then I remembered the library. And they had just updated their website, which makes it incredibly easy to order books online and have them all sent to the library of your choics. Two weeks ago, on a Sunday, I just sat at home and checked out nine books from the library, and within the next week, they all arrived, except for one that hasn't been published yet and I'm fourth on the list for. I love that it's so easy to check out and renew books. I come home with huge piles.

Also, discovered this amazing thing there called a copy machine. I can pick up tons of magazines, find articles I like, copy them, and take them home much cheaper than individual issues or subscriptions. All these years I've been avoiding the library, I just feel silly now.

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001


I love Borders. Damnit. It hurts me to admit it, but I do.

When I lived in Minnesota I'd give my love to The Ruminator (Hungry Mind Books while I lived there, but they sold their old name). The literature and poetry sections were to die for. But their technology, sci fi, and home-related sections were like those in a Waldenbooks.

One of the ones close to us has an excellent staff. Pleasant even when they're overwhelmed. They'll actually _look_ for stuff when I ask them to do so, even if a customer has tried to squirrel it away in a hiding place.

We use Borders as a bit of a library too. Flipping through huge piles of books on the same subject. Frankly, the selection is a lot more up to date than normal libraries-especially technology subjects, and the hours are better too.

The Borders stores near us host a lot of local artists--and from talking with the artists, we found out that booking events with them is an amazingly low-hassle deal. Borders and a local chain, Chapter 11, have author readings and appearances of both the hugely popular authors and of local folks.

Borders is a lot more accessible than our local libraries as well-- it's closer to our home and has better hours.

Every now and then I'll go through a stint during which I'll try to get back in the library habit. Unfortunately, the hours at any of the marginally convenient branches are so horrible it's difficult to get there and pick up the books they have on hold for me. And forget using it as a meeting space--there's a lot of hassle on top of the limited hours. The local chain bookstores are a lot happier to have us.

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001


gawd! I love libraries! how can you not love libraries? especially university ones with their lovely Library of Congress system! (down with the DDS) ... I actually contribute to the Friends of the Library association at my alma mater so I can still check books out there. it's lovely. the inevitable "rapists in the stacks" (which where I am, generally turn out to be urban legends) just spice up the trip to the 9th tower floor. or whereever.

I think amazon and borders/bn are not quite the same thing. I think amazon, without the problem of controlling what ends up on shelves, is basically a democratic institution bringing whatever the hell books you want to the masses. it's really opened up a lot of people in my acquaintance to new things, and I've found it an invaluable service for cool books the other stores around here don't carry.

as for independents, used is where it's at; seems like most independents have crappy selection, mean employees, and are woefully disorganized. disorganization is ok at used, I think - it's all spice. all of this is not true for the lovely Little Professor's in charlotte, nc.

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001


It's true that a lot of libraries are woefully underfunded, but I think it also depends on how much community support/usage there is, too. Too little money and it's hard to keep a library open and full; too much money and no one needs it. When I lived in Palo Alto they were *proud* that something like 30% of their books were out all the time. It was weird.

On the other hand, the Somerville library is open late four nights a week, and you can request books, for free, from any of the fifty or so libraries in the Minuteman network. They send you email, you go pick them up, life is freakin' awesome. The selection isn't absolutely comprehensive, but it's pretty damn good.

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001


My city's library (Appleton, WI) has coffeeshop. And it isn't even a lame one. And I'm with Nels, there is something purely magical about reserving my books online from home, and having them contact me when they have them ready for me to come pick up. I can never get over how great that is.

I do love spending time at our Barnes and Noble, though. I'd be so sad if we didn't have one. One thing about the book industry, though, is that books don't stay in print that long unless they are bestsellers. So I find great books at the library that are only a few years old and yet already out of print and long gone from the shelves of B&N. The library is essential for my reading addiction if only for that reason.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001


I love the campus library -- it's huge, there are great places to lounge and read and you can find damn near anything. That said, now that I'm not a student, the damn thing just isn't as convenient to get to as the B & N, which I love. (Okay, I'm only a little ashamed.) There's a wonderful local bookstore and I think the owner is a terrific person -- he'll order anything I want and it's usually there as fast as Amazon's, so I try to give him my business. But for those browsing days, when I just don't know what I want, and I want access to a large selection -- you just can't beat the B & N. (I don't think we have a Borders here. We've been snubbed!)

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

Here is my problem with chain stores: they order TONS of books, yes. But then they send most or a great deal of them right back to the publisher in 3 weeks or whatever when all the copies they overordered haven't sold yet. Which, among other annoyances, drives up prices. I suppose I should see that as a good thing, since I work at a *used and sale* bookstore and so the fact that publishers can't deal with the sheer volume of returns means that they sell their unprocessed returns off as 'hurts' and we can acquire tons of books (literally!) for cheap enough to sell them at half price or less. But as a reader, I find it extremely annoying that prices are being driven up in this fashion.
I mean, I don't really have a problem with any individual bookstore chain, nor do I hesitate from sending people there if, say, we don't have any copies of the latest Robert Jordan in stock (peril of not carrying new books) and Mediaplay has it deep discounted. And I guess if I needed something I didn't find somewhere else I would try them (and I do cave over Mediaplays occasional 99 cent university press clearance racks). But if I can't find it used at my store (rare, if I'm willing to wait), there is a great (helpful, knowledgeable service, large selection) independent right around the park, and a decent one near my chiropractor. And if they don't have the book Right Then, they will order it for me and it'll show up pretty damn quick. I guess I'm just not in a big hurry.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2001

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