Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven Lake
Well, sadly, the cafe/lounge idea is what's hurting the big bookstores the most. You wouldn't believe the number of people I've talked to who stopped buying books when they realized that they could just come in, grab a cup of coffee, a book off the shelf, and then read it front to back for free! And I believe them. I go into B&N bookstores periodically and study people as I'm walking around, trying to get an idea of what they're doing/thinking/looking for. It's more to satisfy my own morbid curiosity. The one biggest thing I see is dozens and dozens of people who at most have bought a cup of coffee and are sitting down reading their favorite novel with absolutely no intention of buying it. Back when you couldn't just sit around and read books for free (essentially stealing them in a sense of the word) at the big chain stores, people actually bought books, and they bought a lot of them. But with no incentive to do so now, they're not. So why do they go to B&N and do this instead of the library? The library doesn't permit coffee, and it's less "classy".  |
Really? Wow, I wasn't aware of this. The Chapters bookstores in Canada have don't let you bring unpaid books into the coffee shop. At least the Chapters that I've been to. I'm trying to remember if the big Indigo on Bay and Bloor lets you bring books into the cafe area, but I don't think it does.