9 ms·

I am shutting down my bookstore in New Delhi

166 points by devnonymous 11y ago

gregjwild 11y ago
As a member of the publishing world, I'm naturally sad to see book stores like this go. But I also know that most of our own sales are direct or via Amazon. As a customer, while I frequent book stores regularly I almost always find myself thinking "I can probably save a few pennies on Amazon".
- gamekathu 11y ago
  same situation here in India. Flipkart has changed the book business forever. Today people go to bookshops just to read / try out the book for free, then place an order in their mobile app!
  - mangamadaiyan 11y ago
    It depends upon what kind of book you're looking for. What you say is mostly true for textbooks, potboilers, and the like. If, on the other hand, you're looking for something like an affordable version of Galbraith's "The Emperor and the Wolf", you're better off asking at your friendly neighbourhood bookstore. If you're in Bangalore, I'd point you towards Blossom's, Select or Goobeys (all in the vicinity of Church Street). Not only is their selection fairly eclectic, but you get a good variety of used books as well. Pretty much nothing - Flipkart or Amazon - comes close.
- violentvinyl 11y ago
  I think most savvy internet shoppers think this when they see things on store shelves, and in some retail stores, its a much larger markup than just a few pennies. I thought the same thing after reading this article, but then wondered how much a posted policy in the store might help? Something clever about doing our best to match internet prices if you come over and have a chat at the counter (giving you the catalyst for a relationship that could lead to a loyal customer), and/or politely extolling the work that the bookshop does to curate it's collection, and that you may never have found it if it wasn't for your thoughtful local bookseller! I find it hard to sypathize with local businesses that I have no connection to, but the ones I do frequent, I feel at home in. I go to retail locations to browse, or because I know I'll get a level of service (and personal interaction) that can't be matched online (being able to try things on, asking for reccomendations, ordering off the menu, chitchat on similiar topics, etc.)
  - richmarr 11y ago
    > its a much larger markup than just a few pennies. I want to echo this. Anecdotally I find that markup to vary between 20% and 80%. Talking about that as pennies feels disingenuous to me.
  - ctdonath 11y ago
    I find this most dramatic with Barnes & Nobles. The store price is significantly higher than .com price, making it real hard to justify buying something of a shelf when the pricing differential makes it seem B&N is begging me to buy online instead. I'll often banter with the staff a la "this is $60, but you've got it for $40 on your website - I'd really rather buy it here to support the brick-and-mortar store, can't I get some discount like $10 off? No? Really?" and then end up ordering it from Amazon because it's cheaper still, free shipping, extra credit-card rewards points, a cut goes to a favorite charity (http://smile.amazon.com http://smile.amazon.com people!), and get some bonus back for opting for delayed delivery. Physical stores are increasingly just museums to me: a place to spend time looking at interesting things.
    - VLM 11y ago
      Our local Barnes and Noble has turned into a gift store. Flashy, inoffensive, stereotypical, light, current, topical, looks good on coffee table. If they're in/from a culture that likes books, and you forgot about the birthday party this afternoon, you go to B+N and as a punishment pay list price instead of online Amazon prices. Its just like if you stop at a gas station convenience store in an emergency, don't expect health store quality or discount supermarket prices, but you can expect to walk out the door with at least something more or less usable. If they don't like books, B+N now sells legacy music CDs, dvds, board games, legos, kids toys, chocolate bars, coffee, magazines, pretty much anything in the store can be wrapped up as a gift for someone else in a couple hours. But its all pretty bland inoffensive, send auntie to pick something up for her nephew, kind of shopping destination. They seem to have almost no competition as one of the very few stores left in the big suburban mall that isn't a womens clothes store or a food court. Its not like I can hang out in the Radio Shack anymore, LOL. Its sort of a more conformist "hot topic" but without the band tee shirts. Some folks predict the death of B+N because of the decline in book selling, but books are only about half the floor space so they can just shove out the books, public library style, then move in some cell phone accessories, americana home decorating novelties, maybe candy, posters, maybe candles, maybe housewares, and honestly rebrand it as a gift store. Or in summary B+N is not primarily a book store and has not been one for some time. Its a gift store that is currently, temporarily unusually heavy on physical book stock.
- adrianN 11y ago
  In Germany books on Amazon cost exactly the same as in the store by law. I still go to Amazon because it's much more convenient to get things delivered and because there is often a used version available that doesn't require killing trees (and is cheaper).
  - ido 11y ago
    ebooks are still often cheaper than physical books on German amazon.
    - teekert 11y ago
      They are often more expensive on Amazon as well: http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-version-expensive-paperback-dollar/forum/Fx1YVPLD6A2JUPU/Tx15JXOCDQNRKJF/12/ref=cm_cd_notf_message?_encoding=UTF8&asin=0545206782#Mx3JU5ML9HTXZ6X http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-version-expensive-paperback-dol...
    - germanier 11y ago
      For books published in Germany, the ebook price is the same for every shop as well (but doesn't need to be the printed price).
      - vollmond 11y ago
        What's the government's rationale here? How can you have market competition if they ban competition?
        adrianN 11y ago
        It's controversial: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_book_price_agreement#Assessment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_book_price_agreement#Ass... Some people think it improves availability of less popular books.
        germanier 11y ago
        The law (BuchPrG) provides a rationale to restrict the free market in this particular case in it's first section (translation by me): > This law provides protection for books as a cultural heritage. Fixing prices for customers ensures availability of a wide range of books. Additionally, this law ensures that this offer is available to the broad public by encouraging the existence of a large number of stores. Fixing the prices makes books more expensive but ensures that even small niches are filled that would otherwise be unprofitable and bookstores sell those. It's supposed to be a cross-subsidy by buyers of popular books. Additionally, almost every book store will sell you almost any book (if it isn't in stock they get them overnight). I think around half of the EU members have such laws in place. It is widely debated whether the law has the predicted effects.
- jane_is_here 11y ago
  In addition, the indifferent service at most book shops ( I refer to Dymocks, Barnes and Nobles, Borders and various independent local bookshops that I have visited over the years ) has meant that the interaction with Amazon is actually more pleasant. Dealing with bored, uninterested counter staff at bookshops is about as rewarding as dealing with bored,uninterested counter staff at any other shop.
  - ovulator 11y ago
    I avoid Barnes and Noble like the plague because the ONLY interaction I get from the staff is them trying to sell me on some yearly club at check out. The other local bookstores also have bored uninterested staff, but at least I don't have to suffer their sales pitches.
  - kwhitefoot 11y ago
    Borders was never a book-SHOP, it was a book-SUPERMARKET. Barnes and Noble was slightly better but not much.
- kmfrk 11y ago
  I am totally okay with spending extra for not-Amazon (especially after they started paying sales tax), and I usually do, but it’s still sad that it feels like a charity surcharge at this point.
- jchomali 11y ago
  EBooks are much cheaper in South america
anon5446372 11y ago
TLDR the internet killed the bookshop industry
- anta40 11y ago
  Nowadays most people (including myself) prefer the convenience of digital books (EPUB, PDF, etc). I still do buy and read physical books, but then again I can easily put dozens or even hundreds of digital books on my iPad for reading while travelling. Can't do the same thing with physical books :(
  - devnonymous 11y ago
    You could easily put dozens or even hundreds of digital book on your iPad ...but do you really read them ? Personally, I have completed reading more dead-tree books than ebooks. I don't really know why, maybe it's just the habit and the 'feel' of actually 'moving' through the book. I used to be a huge proponent of ebooks and I still maintain a digital copy, if possible, of all the dead-tree books I own and have read but I now prefer doing my 'primary' serious reading on dead-tree.
    - jane_is_here 11y ago
      To a serious reader, the physical manifestation of the book melts away, leaving only the communion between the mind and the abstract book. If you like books for the"feel", you are missing the point of reading.
      - kagamine 11y ago
        Poppycock. Your experience doesn't define me. Just as the author's tools for writing don't define my interpretation of the narrative.
      - egil 11y ago
        I concur. I was quite late to jump on the e-book wagon (mostly due to DRM), but I am quite happy "renting" books on my Kindle, being aware of its limitations. When I read, I don't feel the pages turn, either with a dead tree book or e-book. I simply read the streams of characters, and my hand does some sort of strictly irrelevant gesture to move the stream ahead. From a more practical standpoint, the possibility of storing loads of books on my Kindle is greatly appreciated. I recently spent a week at a hospital, and the Kindle entertained me through days of idle time.
nsns 11y ago
I remember when I visited Delhi and found out that Bookworm in CP has closed, I was devastated. But of course, you can always travel to Daryaganj, where the supply of books seems endless, if not too friendly to normal customers
jensen123 11y ago
I still prefer to buy my books from physical book stores. Having all the books I read listed in a few central databases owned by companies like Amazon makes me uncomfortable. However, if anyone comes up with a way to sell/rent ebooks while preserving my privacy, that would be nice, since I'm not always in a big city where there are any decent bookshops.
- codecamper 11y ago
  You could use a fake identity,amazon lockers, and pay with a visa gift card -- if you want to jump through the hoops.
- LargeWu 11y ago
  Are you equally as uncomfortable with libraries?
  - sleepyhead 11y ago
    Well there is a significant difference between a public library and a private company.
    - witty_username 11y ago
      Both store your personal data in databases.
    - pbhjpbhj 11y ago
      TBH in the UK I wouldn't put it past my local council (who run the public library) to be selling library user data (and probably getting a low price for it too).
    - ersii 11y ago
      For one, libraries takes your privacy seriously. At least here in Sweden. If I recall correctly, it's because of The Library Act/Law, which stipulates that lender/reader privacy must be protected. (AFAIK It's not something that needs to be regulated, as it's generally well respected by libraries and librarians)
codecamper 11y ago
Interesting read. It made me realize that the big "value add" for a bookstore is essentially expert human curation. Too bad that the Internet has not fostered a way to monetarily reward curation. Not doing so means that we lose our curation experts. Or??
- alizaki 11y ago
  the like/share/repin/rate/review buttons are a form of natural curation built into the fabric of the social web.
  - sdoering 11y ago
    If I look at my algorithmically optimized feed, I obviously do not see the things most of my contacts like/share/read/click/dislike/pin/and so on. I see the things the algo decides are fitting for me to optimize for ad-value. If I could filter the raw feeds of my contacts and could weight them (ideally regarding the topic, as some people are weighted more on privacy matters and lower on food matters), I would be able to use the social knowledge within my contacts to create a curated list of (hopefully) interesting (at least for me) things. These would be weighted, so that the more time I had, the more I could go down that list. If then I had a way to tell this curation mechanism, that I did like this piece more then that, and the third one was bullshit, over time, it could learn even better. And then I would finally end up within my own echo chamber. At least if I would not do the hard work of curating my contacts in a way, that counters this. This social web might be good for nice pictures of cat, but the more I have to do with it, the less it really seems to deliver on its promises. Just my 2 cents.
- robryan 11y ago
  I think goodreads is good enough. If a website gets popular enough there are no shortage of people that are willing to share their thoughts on books for free.
  - codecamper 11y ago
    The trouble is how do you find the needle in the haystack? If there isn't financial reward you won't have experts who can devote their lives to finding & sharing the good stuff. Maybe it will work like this: Before there would be people who's full time job was to find great books. Now there are tens of thousands of people who, on their spare time, find those books & report back online. The reality though is that any sort of review system gets hacked. Amazon, yelp, & trip advisor are good examples.
trendroid 11y ago
" The art of browsing and the serendipity of finding unconnected books are hard to emulate in the virtual world. " I am not so sure about this. I always felt internet made this experience seamless and super convenient. Also, the higher confidence(with more data) with which I buy a book has decreased the regret value in case it turned out to be not so good. Of course, if their was a highly interactive bookstore which had best of both the worlds, I would always prefer it over the virtual one. Maybe someone should focus on making those.
- GFischer 11y ago
  An Oculus Rift use case? :) I mostly agree with your statement... Goodreads has made me discover a lot of books. On the other hand, there are many good books I wouldn't have read if I had the selection available over the Internet (of course, many bad ones too, but I think everyone needs to read a few of those)... it makes it very easy to stay on your comfort zone.
  - trendroid 11y ago
    >An Oculus Rift use case? Funny that you said that. That's exactly what I was imagining few minutes ago. People walking in virtual bookstores, meeting and discussing books with their friends in other countries, instantly exploring and accessing related articles, essays and research papers etc. The ability to touch and feel the book should eventually be integrated in this whole experience. The design decisions for making these interactive virtual shops are fascinating to ponder upon. I wonder if meetup.com is considering investing money in VR considering most meetups would be online 20-30 years from now.
    - eterm 11y ago
      No one wants virtual worlds like that. A lot of the convenience of the internet is that it removes the need for such interaction. This leads to better information density online which leads to more buying confidence. People were saying the same thing about Second Life, about how stores would need SL equivalents. VR bookstores which try to model real bookstores will fall flat for the same reason Second Life ultimately failed to provide mainstream experiences.
Sven7 11y ago
I think I need to leave this here - http://www.polkacafe.com/iconic-independent-bookstores-across-india-1606.html http://www.polkacafe.com/iconic-independent-bookstores-acros...
- listic 11y ago
  Great! Is there a similar list for other countries? Is India special in this regard?
jpatokal 11y ago
Bittersweet: seeing a whole wall of the unmistakable blue spines of Lonely Planet guides behind him, another venerable publishing institution that's having a hard time transitioning to the digital age.
- listic 11y ago
  What problem do they face, exactly?
  - selimthegrim 11y ago
    Why buy some travel guide that's out of date as soon as it's published when you can go to the LP Thorn Tree forums?
    - listic 11y ago
      Hm, never been there. I thought travel guide is a convenient format, and they do sell their books as pdf's, per-chapter if desired, so I thought they are doing well?
    - toomuchtodo 11y ago
      Or use trip advisor and /r/travel.
arihant 11y ago
Within a year, this is the third out of the four bookstores I frequented as a child, that have gone out of business. Those are Bookworm CP, Landmark in Lucknow, Fact & Fiction. Only one remains, and that guy refuses to give a single rupee as discount, so I don't know how long will he last. That's not all. Most Landmark stores are reducing in size, if not shutting down. Same is happening with Crossword.
Paul_S 11y ago
Nostalgia aside (I spent my childhood in a library) I don't see any value in high street bookstores. Stories like this are sad on a personal level for people involved but they are trying to suggest that we are losing something when we're anything but. My book consumption has quadrupled because of how easy it is to find new books and recommendations online. I am never in a situation where I don't have a book I want to read or I can't get it within 10 minutes.
- signal11 11y ago
  A criticism of online bookshops like Amazon is that they destroy serendipity by encouraging you to look at related books. For example, someone who usually buys engineering textbooks and SF may never see a travelogue. Offline recommendations from friends are good to have, but no substitute for self-discovery. One example I like to give is -- if I wander through the Daunt bookshop in Marylebone St (which despite the press doesn't only stock travel books), I can always lots of books to buy about stuff I would never have dreamed of entering into a Google or Amazon search box.
  - gluelogic 11y ago
    To me, this seems to imply that an important function of a bookstore is to provide a serendipitous experience.
    - harperlee 11y ago
      Yes; an important function of a physical bookstore is a physical meeting point, shared with others, where you can see books randomly, ask the staff, open a book and read for a while...
  - norea-armozel 11y ago
    I feel like there's a need to recreate that then on the web because in some ways my early experiences on the web were just that: going from link to (sometimes unrelated) link. I think the way things are setup on the web are not inherent to the web itself, but to the idea that every web page or site has to fit a template rather than being just as messy and subjective as a small book store.
PSeitz 11y ago
I read much more than in the past, because I have instant access to all books I own or want to buy with my kindle.
m52go 11y ago
I made an attempt at digitally replicating the bookstore-browsing experience. What I learned: while there is no shortage of people who appreciate the idea, the number who would appreciate the same experience made virtual is exceedingly small. Small enough to not make an attempt like this worth it. For those interested: http://bookshopcrawl.meteor.com/ http://bookshopcrawl.meteor.com/ I haven't completely abandoned it...but I am now tweaking it to make something more widely appreciable [ with a new name and new site, so no shameless plug here ;) ].
27182818284 11y ago
He should pivot to more of a rare-book, specialty shop if he can. I mean I see a shelf full of travel books to Canada. That's like selling paper maps when I have GPS.
YogeeKnows 11y ago
Most business shut down because they don't reinvent themselves. If you continue to do what you have been doing you will become obsolete. Bookstores need to find new model of keeping their customers. Also its not the online competition but also the pirated books market, where you can find all the NY best sellers at a very cheap price on the streets of India. Students don't buy textbooks but xerox them from seniors or infact there are some shops where they offer to create copies of such highly recommended textbooks for a fraction of the price. I have purchased 100's of books most of them because while flipping them I happen to stumble upon a paragraph or quite which reasonated with me or the table of contents seem to contain what I was eager to learn. Amazon offers that with their quick look feature. Only thing I hated about offline bookstores was that I had to tilt my neck sideways to read the title of these books.
- Kluny 11y ago
  I propose this business model for bookshops: - Have one copy of each book, like a library, with the option of ordering a copy in, available for browsing. - People can pay $10 for a day pass to come in and enjoy the facilities: unlimited books, coffee on tap in reusable mugs, soup on tap in reusable bowls, showers, free wi-fi, lockers (lockers are pay-for-time), inexpensive sandwiches, comfy seats all in a convenient walkable location. - Option to buy the book you were reading for Kindle or order a physical copy, to be delivered in two days (pay for shipping) or pickup at the bookshop (free shipping). Money comes from: $10 facility fee Physical book sales Amazon commissions Sandwich sales
  - awa 11y ago
    The problem would be such a facility will have a hard time competing with a... 1.Libraries without being subsidized from tax payers (free to enter and borrow books) 2.Big stores like B&N which have coffee and sandwich shops now and allow browsing and are free to enter.
  - paimpozhil 11y ago
    This needs a large initial investment that small bookshops can only dream.
arjn 11y ago
This makes me sad. It feels like the slow passing of a loved age. I had the same feeling when an old bookstore called "Premier" closed in Bangalore may years ago. I doubt algorithms and AI can replace the feel of a quiet bookstore where you can browse old, new and unrelated books. Maybe meet someone else with a passion for reading and strike up a conversation, perhaps a friendship. Bookstores are much more than merely bookstores.
thebiglebrewski 11y ago
This would've been better if it was like a cliched startup closing. "It's been a wild ride", "privileged to get to go on such a journey", etc.

166 points by devnonymous 11y ago

As a member of the publishing world, I'm naturally sad to see book stores like this go. But I also know that most of our own sales are direct or via Amazon. As a customer, while I frequent book stores regularly I almost always find myself thinking "I can probably save a few pennies on Amazon".

gamekathu 11y ago
same situation here in India. Flipkart has changed the book business forever. Today people go to bookshops just to read / try out the book for free, then place an order in their mobile app!
- mangamadaiyan 11y ago
  It depends upon what kind of book you're looking for. What you say is mostly true for textbooks, potboilers, and the like. If, on the other hand, you're looking for something like an affordable version of Galbraith's "The Emperor and the Wolf", you're better off asking at your friendly neighbourhood bookstore. If you're in Bangalore, I'd point you towards Blossom's, Select or Goobeys (all in the vicinity of Church Street). Not only is their selection fairly eclectic, but you get a good variety of used books as well. Pretty much nothing - Flipkart or Amazon - comes close.
violentvinyl 11y ago
I think most savvy internet shoppers think this when they see things on store shelves, and in some retail stores, its a much larger markup than just a few pennies. I thought the same thing after reading this article, but then wondered how much a posted policy in the store might help? Something clever about doing our best to match internet prices if you come over and have a chat at the counter (giving you the catalyst for a relationship that could lead to a loyal customer), and/or politely extolling the work that the bookshop does to curate it's collection, and that you may never have found it if it wasn't for your thoughtful local bookseller! I find it hard to sypathize with local businesses that I have no connection to, but the ones I do frequent, I feel at home in. I go to retail locations to browse, or because I know I'll get a level of service (and personal interaction) that can't be matched online (being able to try things on, asking for reccomendations, ordering off the menu, chitchat on similiar topics, etc.)
- richmarr 11y ago
  > its a much larger markup than just a few pennies. I want to echo this. Anecdotally I find that markup to vary between 20% and 80%. Talking about that as pennies feels disingenuous to me.
- ctdonath 11y ago
  I find this most dramatic with Barnes & Nobles. The store price is significantly higher than .com price, making it real hard to justify buying something of a shelf when the pricing differential makes it seem B&N is begging me to buy online instead. I'll often banter with the staff a la "this is $60, but you've got it for $40 on your website - I'd really rather buy it here to support the brick-and-mortar store, can't I get some discount like $10 off? No? Really?" and then end up ordering it from Amazon because it's cheaper still, free shipping, extra credit-card rewards points, a cut goes to a favorite charity (http://smile.amazon.com http://smile.amazon.com people!), and get some bonus back for opting for delayed delivery. Physical stores are increasingly just museums to me: a place to spend time looking at interesting things.
  - VLM 11y ago
    Our local Barnes and Noble has turned into a gift store. Flashy, inoffensive, stereotypical, light, current, topical, looks good on coffee table. If they're in/from a culture that likes books, and you forgot about the birthday party this afternoon, you go to B+N and as a punishment pay list price instead of online Amazon prices. Its just like if you stop at a gas station convenience store in an emergency, don't expect health store quality or discount supermarket prices, but you can expect to walk out the door with at least something more or less usable. If they don't like books, B+N now sells legacy music CDs, dvds, board games, legos, kids toys, chocolate bars, coffee, magazines, pretty much anything in the store can be wrapped up as a gift for someone else in a couple hours. But its all pretty bland inoffensive, send auntie to pick something up for her nephew, kind of shopping destination. They seem to have almost no competition as one of the very few stores left in the big suburban mall that isn't a womens clothes store or a food court. Its not like I can hang out in the Radio Shack anymore, LOL. Its sort of a more conformist "hot topic" but without the band tee shirts. Some folks predict the death of B+N because of the decline in book selling, but books are only about half the floor space so they can just shove out the books, public library style, then move in some cell phone accessories, americana home decorating novelties, maybe candy, posters, maybe candles, maybe housewares, and honestly rebrand it as a gift store. Or in summary B+N is not primarily a book store and has not been one for some time. Its a gift store that is currently, temporarily unusually heavy on physical book stock.
adrianN 11y ago
In Germany books on Amazon cost exactly the same as in the store by law. I still go to Amazon because it's much more convenient to get things delivered and because there is often a used version available that doesn't require killing trees (and is cheaper).
- ido 11y ago
  ebooks are still often cheaper than physical books on German amazon.
  - teekert 11y ago
    They are often more expensive on Amazon as well: http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-version-expensive-paperback-dollar/forum/Fx1YVPLD6A2JUPU/Tx15JXOCDQNRKJF/12/ref=cm_cd_notf_message?_encoding=UTF8&asin=0545206782#Mx3JU5ML9HTXZ6X http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-version-expensive-paperback-dol...
  - germanier 11y ago
    For books published in Germany, the ebook price is the same for every shop as well (but doesn't need to be the printed price).
    - vollmond 11y ago
      What's the government's rationale here? How can you have market competition if they ban competition?
      - adrianN 11y ago
        It's controversial: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_book_price_agreement#Assessment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_book_price_agreement#Ass... Some people think it improves availability of less popular books.
      - germanier 11y ago
        The law (BuchPrG) provides a rationale to restrict the free market in this particular case in it's first section (translation by me): > This law provides protection for books as a cultural heritage. Fixing prices for customers ensures availability of a wide range of books. Additionally, this law ensures that this offer is available to the broad public by encouraging the existence of a large number of stores. Fixing the prices makes books more expensive but ensures that even small niches are filled that would otherwise be unprofitable and bookstores sell those. It's supposed to be a cross-subsidy by buyers of popular books. Additionally, almost every book store will sell you almost any book (if it isn't in stock they get them overnight). I think around half of the EU members have such laws in place. It is widely debated whether the law has the predicted effects.
jane_is_here 11y ago
In addition, the indifferent service at most book shops ( I refer to Dymocks, Barnes and Nobles, Borders and various independent local bookshops that I have visited over the years ) has meant that the interaction with Amazon is actually more pleasant. Dealing with bored, uninterested counter staff at bookshops is about as rewarding as dealing with bored,uninterested counter staff at any other shop.
- ovulator 11y ago
  I avoid Barnes and Noble like the plague because the ONLY interaction I get from the staff is them trying to sell me on some yearly club at check out. The other local bookstores also have bored uninterested staff, but at least I don't have to suffer their sales pitches.
- kwhitefoot 11y ago
  Borders was never a book-SHOP, it was a book-SUPERMARKET. Barnes and Noble was slightly better but not much.
kmfrk 11y ago
I am totally okay with spending extra for not-Amazon (especially after they started paying sales tax), and I usually do, but it’s still sad that it feels like a charity surcharge at this point.
jchomali 11y ago
EBooks are much cheaper in South america

anon5446372 11y ago

TLDR the internet killed the bookshop industry

anta40 11y ago
Nowadays most people (including myself) prefer the convenience of digital books (EPUB, PDF, etc). I still do buy and read physical books, but then again I can easily put dozens or even hundreds of digital books on my iPad for reading while travelling. Can't do the same thing with physical books :(
- devnonymous 11y ago
  You could easily put dozens or even hundreds of digital book on your iPad ...but do you really read them ? Personally, I have completed reading more dead-tree books than ebooks. I don't really know why, maybe it's just the habit and the 'feel' of actually 'moving' through the book. I used to be a huge proponent of ebooks and I still maintain a digital copy, if possible, of all the dead-tree books I own and have read but I now prefer doing my 'primary' serious reading on dead-tree.
  - jane_is_here 11y ago
    To a serious reader, the physical manifestation of the book melts away, leaving only the communion between the mind and the abstract book. If you like books for the"feel", you are missing the point of reading.
    - kagamine 11y ago
      Poppycock. Your experience doesn't define me. Just as the author's tools for writing don't define my interpretation of the narrative.
    - egil 11y ago
      I concur. I was quite late to jump on the e-book wagon (mostly due to DRM), but I am quite happy "renting" books on my Kindle, being aware of its limitations. When I read, I don't feel the pages turn, either with a dead tree book or e-book. I simply read the streams of characters, and my hand does some sort of strictly irrelevant gesture to move the stream ahead. From a more practical standpoint, the possibility of storing loads of books on my Kindle is greatly appreciated. I recently spent a week at a hospital, and the Kindle entertained me through days of idle time.

nsns 11y ago

I remember when I visited Delhi and found out that Bookworm in CP has closed, I was devastated. But of course, you can always travel to Daryaganj, where the supply of books seems endless, if not too friendly to normal customers

jensen123 11y ago

I still prefer to buy my books from physical book stores. Having all the books I read listed in a few central databases owned by companies like Amazon makes me uncomfortable. However, if anyone comes up with a way to sell/rent ebooks while preserving my privacy, that would be nice, since I'm not always in a big city where there are any decent bookshops.

codecamper 11y ago
You could use a fake identity,amazon lockers, and pay with a visa gift card -- if you want to jump through the hoops.
LargeWu 11y ago
Are you equally as uncomfortable with libraries?
- sleepyhead 11y ago
  Well there is a significant difference between a public library and a private company.
  - witty_username 11y ago
    Both store your personal data in databases.
  - pbhjpbhj 11y ago
    TBH in the UK I wouldn't put it past my local council (who run the public library) to be selling library user data (and probably getting a low price for it too).
  - ersii 11y ago
    For one, libraries takes your privacy seriously. At least here in Sweden. If I recall correctly, it's because of The Library Act/Law, which stipulates that lender/reader privacy must be protected. (AFAIK It's not something that needs to be regulated, as it's generally well respected by libraries and librarians)

codecamper 11y ago

Interesting read. It made me realize that the big "value add" for a bookstore is essentially expert human curation. Too bad that the Internet has not fostered a way to monetarily reward curation. Not doing so means that we lose our curation experts. Or??

alizaki 11y ago
the like/share/repin/rate/review buttons are a form of natural curation built into the fabric of the social web.
- sdoering 11y ago
  If I look at my algorithmically optimized feed, I obviously do not see the things most of my contacts like/share/read/click/dislike/pin/and so on. I see the things the algo decides are fitting for me to optimize for ad-value. If I could filter the raw feeds of my contacts and could weight them (ideally regarding the topic, as some people are weighted more on privacy matters and lower on food matters), I would be able to use the social knowledge within my contacts to create a curated list of (hopefully) interesting (at least for me) things. These would be weighted, so that the more time I had, the more I could go down that list. If then I had a way to tell this curation mechanism, that I did like this piece more then that, and the third one was bullshit, over time, it could learn even better. And then I would finally end up within my own echo chamber. At least if I would not do the hard work of curating my contacts in a way, that counters this. This social web might be good for nice pictures of cat, but the more I have to do with it, the less it really seems to deliver on its promises. Just my 2 cents.
robryan 11y ago
I think goodreads is good enough. If a website gets popular enough there are no shortage of people that are willing to share their thoughts on books for free.
- codecamper 11y ago
  The trouble is how do you find the needle in the haystack? If there isn't financial reward you won't have experts who can devote their lives to finding & sharing the good stuff. Maybe it will work like this: Before there would be people who's full time job was to find great books. Now there are tens of thousands of people who, on their spare time, find those books & report back online. The reality though is that any sort of review system gets hacked. Amazon, yelp, & trip advisor are good examples.

trendroid 11y ago

" The art of browsing and the serendipity of finding unconnected books are hard to emulate in the virtual world. " I am not so sure about this. I always felt internet made this experience seamless and super convenient. Also, the higher confidence(with more data) with which I buy a book has decreased the regret value in case it turned out to be not so good. Of course, if their was a highly interactive bookstore which had best of both the worlds, I would always prefer it over the virtual one. Maybe someone should focus on making those.

GFischer 11y ago
An Oculus Rift use case? :) I mostly agree with your statement... Goodreads has made me discover a lot of books. On the other hand, there are many good books I wouldn't have read if I had the selection available over the Internet (of course, many bad ones too, but I think everyone needs to read a few of those)... it makes it very easy to stay on your comfort zone.
- trendroid 11y ago
  >An Oculus Rift use case? Funny that you said that. That's exactly what I was imagining few minutes ago. People walking in virtual bookstores, meeting and discussing books with their friends in other countries, instantly exploring and accessing related articles, essays and research papers etc. The ability to touch and feel the book should eventually be integrated in this whole experience. The design decisions for making these interactive virtual shops are fascinating to ponder upon. I wonder if meetup.com is considering investing money in VR considering most meetups would be online 20-30 years from now.
  - eterm 11y ago
    No one wants virtual worlds like that. A lot of the convenience of the internet is that it removes the need for such interaction. This leads to better information density online which leads to more buying confidence. People were saying the same thing about Second Life, about how stores would need SL equivalents. VR bookstores which try to model real bookstores will fall flat for the same reason Second Life ultimately failed to provide mainstream experiences.

Sven7 11y ago

I think I need to leave this here - http://www.polkacafe.com/iconic-independent-bookstores-across-india-1606.html http://www.polkacafe.com/iconic-independent-bookstores-acros...

listic 11y ago
Great! Is there a similar list for other countries? Is India special in this regard?

jpatokal 11y ago

Bittersweet: seeing a whole wall of the unmistakable blue spines of Lonely Planet guides behind him, another venerable publishing institution that's having a hard time transitioning to the digital age.

listic 11y ago
What problem do they face, exactly?
- selimthegrim 11y ago
  Why buy some travel guide that's out of date as soon as it's published when you can go to the LP Thorn Tree forums?
  - listic 11y ago
    Hm, never been there. I thought travel guide is a convenient format, and they do sell their books as pdf's, per-chapter if desired, so I thought they are doing well?
  - toomuchtodo 11y ago
    Or use trip advisor and /r/travel.

arihant 11y ago

Within a year, this is the third out of the four bookstores I frequented as a child, that have gone out of business. Those are Bookworm CP, Landmark in Lucknow, Fact & Fiction. Only one remains, and that guy refuses to give a single rupee as discount, so I don't know how long will he last. That's not all. Most Landmark stores are reducing in size, if not shutting down. Same is happening with Crossword.

Paul_S 11y ago

Nostalgia aside (I spent my childhood in a library) I don't see any value in high street bookstores. Stories like this are sad on a personal level for people involved but they are trying to suggest that we are losing something when we're anything but. My book consumption has quadrupled because of how easy it is to find new books and recommendations online. I am never in a situation where I don't have a book I want to read or I can't get it within 10 minutes.

signal11 11y ago
A criticism of online bookshops like Amazon is that they destroy serendipity by encouraging you to look at related books. For example, someone who usually buys engineering textbooks and SF may never see a travelogue. Offline recommendations from friends are good to have, but no substitute for self-discovery. One example I like to give is -- if I wander through the Daunt bookshop in Marylebone St (which despite the press doesn't only stock travel books), I can always lots of books to buy about stuff I would never have dreamed of entering into a Google or Amazon search box.
- gluelogic 11y ago
  To me, this seems to imply that an important function of a bookstore is to provide a serendipitous experience.
  - harperlee 11y ago
    Yes; an important function of a physical bookstore is a physical meeting point, shared with others, where you can see books randomly, ask the staff, open a book and read for a while...
- norea-armozel 11y ago
  I feel like there's a need to recreate that then on the web because in some ways my early experiences on the web were just that: going from link to (sometimes unrelated) link. I think the way things are setup on the web are not inherent to the web itself, but to the idea that every web page or site has to fit a template rather than being just as messy and subjective as a small book store.

PSeitz 11y ago

I read much more than in the past, because I have instant access to all books I own or want to buy with my kindle.

m52go 11y ago

I made an attempt at digitally replicating the bookstore-browsing experience. What I learned: while there is no shortage of people who appreciate the idea, the number who would appreciate the same experience made virtual is exceedingly small. Small enough to not make an attempt like this worth it. For those interested: http://bookshopcrawl.meteor.com/ http://bookshopcrawl.meteor.com/ I haven't completely abandoned it...but I am now tweaking it to make something more widely appreciable [ with a new name and new site, so no shameless plug here ;) ].

27182818284 11y ago

He should pivot to more of a rare-book, specialty shop if he can. I mean I see a shelf full of travel books to Canada. That's like selling paper maps when I have GPS.

YogeeKnows 11y ago

Most business shut down because they don't reinvent themselves. If you continue to do what you have been doing you will become obsolete. Bookstores need to find new model of keeping their customers. Also its not the online competition but also the pirated books market, where you can find all the NY best sellers at a very cheap price on the streets of India. Students don't buy textbooks but xerox them from seniors or infact there are some shops where they offer to create copies of such highly recommended textbooks for a fraction of the price. I have purchased 100's of books most of them because while flipping them I happen to stumble upon a paragraph or quite which reasonated with me or the table of contents seem to contain what I was eager to learn. Amazon offers that with their quick look feature. Only thing I hated about offline bookstores was that I had to tilt my neck sideways to read the title of these books.

Kluny 11y ago
I propose this business model for bookshops: - Have one copy of each book, like a library, with the option of ordering a copy in, available for browsing. - People can pay $10 for a day pass to come in and enjoy the facilities: unlimited books, coffee on tap in reusable mugs, soup on tap in reusable bowls, showers, free wi-fi, lockers (lockers are pay-for-time), inexpensive sandwiches, comfy seats all in a convenient walkable location. - Option to buy the book you were reading for Kindle or order a physical copy, to be delivered in two days (pay for shipping) or pickup at the bookshop (free shipping). Money comes from: $10 facility fee Physical book sales Amazon commissions Sandwich sales
- awa 11y ago
  The problem would be such a facility will have a hard time competing with a... 1.Libraries without being subsidized from tax payers (free to enter and borrow books) 2.Big stores like B&N which have coffee and sandwich shops now and allow browsing and are free to enter.
- paimpozhil 11y ago
  This needs a large initial investment that small bookshops can only dream.

arjn 11y ago

This makes me sad. It feels like the slow passing of a loved age. I had the same feeling when an old bookstore called "Premier" closed in Bangalore may years ago. I doubt algorithms and AI can replace the feel of a quiet bookstore where you can browse old, new and unrelated books. Maybe meet someone else with a passion for reading and strike up a conversation, perhaps a friendship. Bookstores are much more than merely bookstores.

thebiglebrewski 11y ago

This would've been better if it was like a cliched startup closing. "It's been a wild ride", "privileged to get to go on such a journey", etc.