Book store thread

Book store thread.

What'd be your perfect book store? Anyone work in a book store or even own/manage one? Who are the people you usually get visiting your stores? Got any stories/experiences worth sharing?

I would make a bookstore that's also like a library. It would also have a nice cafe with some small snacks and coffee. Basically the way it works is you need a (free) membership to buy stuff, or else there's a 15% markup. But you're also able to borrow books, like it were a library. If you want to buy a book, you present one of the display books, and they bring you a sealed copy from the back of the store. It would also serve more of a socializing purpose, and would allow Veeky Forums people to talk to each other; unlike the silence requirements of libraries. I think a lot of people are secretly turned off by reading at a bookstore like they would at a library, so this is a good way to give them a sense of entitlement.

Also we'd have a fully stocked classics, philosophy, history, and science section. There would still be some of those trashy books for teenage girls and middle-age women, but it wouldn't encompass the entire store like at your typical Barnes and Noble.

We would also have recommended reading lists linked to your membership. So one could have a good order to read philosophy and science in, instead of jumping in and flopping around like a fish out of water. -- I think the cafe area will be separated from the bulk of the store, though. Here's a quick drawing of the floorplan.

I shouldn't get too excited about the idea, since no one would be interested in going to such a place.

>visit chain bookstore
>employee hands me a complimentary latte
>hear that the string quartet is playing my favourite Beethoven piece
>get in roller coaster and ride to the poetry section
>see the poet of the day is William Blake
>Blake impersonator is really entertaining
>audience is enraptured and really into it
>everyone gets free copies of his collected work
>get into roller coaster and ride to exit
>notice there's a literary trivia contest going on
>use my experience on Veeky Forums to win a complete set of William T. Vollmann books
>man walks up to me, says he was really impressed and that he would like to publish some of my work
>ask him who he works for
>"Penguin Classics"
dont ever try to start a busniess

Tfw plan to open an accountancy firm

Perfect bookstore is one that I have all to myself.

>get given birthday money
>buy books
>am 12, don't understand they're overpriced bc retail in NZ
>get yelled at for wasting money
>years later trade books in at 2nd hand place for credit
>leave with 30 odd books, some of which are valuable
>didn't cost me anything

I don't care what artsy hipster shit you put there as long as it has an actual selection of books instead of a single 2x1 m shelf dedicated to Classics.
It's especially infuriating to see 6 of the same bookshelves dedicated to "romance", another 4 for "pop psychology/self help" and another 2 for "biographies".
Biggest bookstore in the country my ass.

I just want one where the bookshelves are spaced far enough apart from one another that more than one person can fit in the aisle when they pass

I hate that I and other people have to squeeze by each other and make physical contact in the process

Also what this guy said

"keep in the sunlight" ?

perfect bookstore = Strand Bookstore New York, Union Square

- 18 miles of books
- potential to get lost for hours
- at every corner a new opportunity to get lost in a story and find a new book that let me forget time
- cramped & crowded
- extraordinary book categories on the ground floor ensuring that one does not only stick to his/her favorite genre

I just love it! No better place in New York for being stuck during pour downs... =D