I've been a shopkeeper a long time ago.
I sold books, in a really old fashion, now out of time, way. My shop was a small one, in the outskirt of town. People came in to have company, not only to actually shop.
Usually the book-buyer spent a couple of hours with me and my mother, talking about books, authors and themes, asking for advice ad getting suggestions.
In a few cases, I also offered "pay after you read" deals to promote authors I liked.
That kind of commerce died long before the rising of the digital market: it was replaced by the shopping mall ternd.
There you go, look at the shelves, you usually don't ask nothing to the staff, fill your trolley, go to the counter, give your credit card, a little smile and goodbye.
This kind of shopping can and will be replaced by Internet shopping. But that old white haired shopkeeper who's become your friend couldn't.
He's just been swept away by recession.
