This might just be my perception since I spent a lot of time in college towns in the US, but book shops are kind of like coffee houses in that many people seem

This might just be my perception since I spent a lot of time in college towns in the US, but book shops are kind of like coffee houses in that many people seem to get the idea that they'd be successful in running one, and often enough you see a bookshop pop-up for a few months then just vanish after it fails to gain traction and sustain. Bookshops in the US, however, tend to be way different than you're describing and instead are pretty much just a repository for dumping books. Most (unsurprisingly) double up on the dream and also become coffee houses, and they also try to act as an arts hub for the community, doing like talks, workshops, etc. So that's mostly what people are commenting on I would assume.