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Originally Posted by alucarda
The difference in prices doesn't have to be huge because a physical shop has to pay a rent and online one doesn't.
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Actually, it kinda does.
The store has to pay rent, it has a lot of employees, it needs liability insurance, it has lots of overhead. Amazon basically needs servers and a few warehouses, and it's infamously demanding on its warehouse staffers. And if they don't have the book in their warehouse, they can usually get it shipped directly from distributors like Baker & Taylor, in a process that's invisible to the buyer.
As so often happens, people underestimate how much it actually costs to run a business.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by alucarda
That is why I added that physical shop should have something that online doesn't.
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That's why lots of bookstores have added cafés, non-book items and do author signings.
It doesn't seem to have changed the fundamental dynamic of the shift to online sales.