there's a big bookstore nearby that does a few things right: (1)the staff know a lot. It's not just about 'I liked this book give me something like it', it's ab

there's a big bookstore nearby that does a few things right: (1)the staff know a lot. It's not just about 'I liked this book give me something like it', it's about where you don't even know where to start. I've walked in there a dozen times looking for gifts for people aged 4 through ~60, with mostly a vague description of what they're like and what interests them and they know a bunch of choices that fit. Amazon, Google, etc can build profiles on you and figure you out, but they cant figure your friends and gifts out (or even more out of the box recs, or have a more thorough look at what does or doesn't interest. (2) they have coffee. Yay. (3) they have two sections of interesting sales: books that are soon to be out of store (but still on the website) that are on clearance, prices going from €80 to ~€10 or whatever. Great sales. Or just old secondhand things, with books in there that are unique, rare etc, and you would be hard pressed to find online, or if you could you're mostly back at the discoverability issue IMO. So they know their strengths for meatspace stores, and supplement that with a good online presence (e.g. same day delivery in this city). This is Scheltema in Amsterdam btw