I love second-hand bookshops, but you can see the death spiral. The neighborhood in which I live used to have about 7 bookshops; they are down to about 3.5 and

I love second-hand bookshops, but you can see the death spiral. The neighborhood in which I live used to have about 7 bookshops; they are down to about 3.5 and some of the remaining ones look none too healthy. One problem with a lot of 2nd hand bookstores is that they have stuffed their shelves with remainders - these are not a interesting stock choice as they are really just "what was selling - or more likely not selling - on mainstream shelves a few months ago". They can't compete on price moving those remainders compared to "Downtown Book Barn" places, and it crowds out genuine used stock (which will provide more surprises).