Quote:
Originally Posted by DawnFalcon
Oxfam run a /lot/ of very successful second-hand Charity bookshops in the UK.
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... which, as charities, are exempt from having to pay rates (business taxes), hence which are very difficult for "normal" businesses to compete with.
They are certainly a major problem for second-hand bookshops, but I don't think they really affect the business of shops selling "new" books. It's online sales and the rise to domination of Waterstones that tends to do that. Really these days the only way for a small independent bookshop to survive is in a specialist market, where they can compete in terms of knowledge rather than on price.