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Favourite bookshop?

For discussion about particular book sellers (brick-and-mortar bookstores, online book sellers, auction sites, swap sites, etc.)
Chatterbox
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Location: New York

Post by Chatterbox » Sun August 2nd, 2009, 9:06 pm

It does seem very random as to what flourishes and what doesn't survive when the mega chains move in. There's a little bookstore down on court Street in Brooklyn Heights that has survived despite being 3 blocks from a big Barnes & Noble for five or six years. And Sleuth of Baker Street in Toronto does well -- partly because they have superlative client service, in addition to a specialized market. People don't mind paying full retail price because that's where they learn about their books. It's like a family.

I did spend a couple of years working part time for "The World's Biggest Bookstore" in Toronto. It occupies about 1/2 a city block in downtown Toronto, and was once a two-story bowling alley! I ran the literature section, and got a 30% discount on everything -- including the periodic 99 cent Penguin book sales (we would get first dibs on them...) But books, to the management, were just commodities. It was us folks on the floor that were passionate about them.

Sounds as if Powell's, on its own, would make a Portland trip worthwhile!! There's nothing to beat serendipity....

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zsigandr
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Joined: April 2009
Location: Ontario, Canada

Post by zsigandr » Mon August 3rd, 2009, 12:45 am

My favourite bookstore is a second hand little shop called Sunrise Books. The store is so full of books they are piled up on the floors as well as the shelves. They actually have a pretty good selection of HF, so I enjoy browsing in there every couple of weeks. I have found some great books there and some of the old covers give me a good chuckle too!

If I am buying new and really hard to find books, I often use Amazon via the Internet. Their prices are better than buying them in our local Chapters/Indigo store.
Andrea

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sweetpotatoboy
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Joined: August 2008
Location: London, UK

Post by sweetpotatoboy » Mon August 3rd, 2009, 10:20 am

In terms of physical bookshops, most of my favourite secondhand ones seem to have closed over the years unfortunately. I very much like the secondhand and remainders floor on Waterstones on Gower Street (formerly Dillons); always worth visiting.

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LoveHistory
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Location: Wisconsin, USA
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Post by LoveHistory » Mon August 3rd, 2009, 1:35 pm

It's always a shame when a small bookstore goes out of business. There used to be one in my town. It was one of those I was going to visit "one of these days." Of course that day never came. :(

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red805
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Posts: 303
Joined: August 2008
Preferred HF: I like a series the best - more to look forward to after one book ends. Masters of Rome, The Century Trilogy, & the Outlander series are some of my favorites.
Location: Southern California

Post by red805 » Mon August 3rd, 2009, 9:02 pm

This is a great thread. Powells in Portland immediately springs to mind. I used to get to Portland on business each year, & always looked forward to a visit there. Casa de Libro is Madrid kept me in English books way back when I was a student, & I spent too much of my financial aid money there. The Tattered Cover in Denver at the end of the 16th St mall was a great vacation find. The late great Duttons in North Hollywood was a place I spent many lunch hours years ago - definitely miss it. I sure miss the pre-chain era, but I guess I'm helping to keep Borders going now, since it is right next door to my office, & part of my paycheck seems to find its way there each month!

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princess garnet
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Location: Maryland

Post by princess garnet » Tue August 4th, 2009, 12:22 am

When I was in college and library school, there was an independent bookstore in that respective town. I bought a few books from the first place. Nothing from the 2nd.

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Margaret
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Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
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Post by Margaret » Tue August 4th, 2009, 12:44 am

People don't mind paying full retail price because that's where they learn about their books.
That's a good point! It's a waste of money to buy a book and have it turn out to be a wallbanger. Much more economical to buy books at full price if a good, full-service bookstore can steer you to the ones you'll really like.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

Ash
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Location: Arizona, USA

Post by Ash » Tue August 4th, 2009, 1:44 am

[quote=""Margaret""]That's a good point! It's a waste of money to buy a book and have it turn out to be a wallbanger. Much more economical to buy books at full price if a good, full-service bookstore can steer you to the ones you'll really like.[/quote]

I don't think many can, I certainly don't depend on them to do so. And I won't buy full price, not when most hardback are $30 now. There's got to be some discount or incentive (like the frequent buyer card my indie uses)

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Margaret
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2440
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
Contact:

Post by Margaret » Tue August 4th, 2009, 4:37 am

The bookstores that do steer customers to books they'll like tend to be small specialty bookstores, I think, where the owner or a devoted employee gets to know certain regular customers and their tastes. I have to admit, I have never personally patronized a bookstore of this type.

The novels I buy are usually ones I've already checked out of the library and read, and loved so much I wanted my own copy to keep and re-read over the years. I read so many novels, I'd go broke if I bought them all! But I do feel it's a personal point of honor to buy some novels new, if not necessarily at full price - if no one did, the authors would starve, and then what would we read?
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

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Veronica
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Location: NT, Australia

Post by Veronica » Tue August 4th, 2009, 4:53 am

Ah yes it is a bit of a bad circle not to buy full price when considering the authors. I however are not willing to pay full price unless I really really want it and even then I prefer to buy it second hand. If not only to get it cheaper but also for the fun shopping experince that gives me.
"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted"

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