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I actually like going to Barnes N Nobel sometimes just to look around. Sometimes I will find books that I didn't know existed. That's kinda hard to do online. If I know exactly what I'm looking for than I will buy off Ebay before Amazon because I can find it cheaper new there.
I go to Barnes and Noble often here in NYC and I see lines of people about to purchase books. Books on Amazon are far cheaper and Barnes and Noble don't match prices. Barnes and Noble member discounts are pretty laughable as well. The way Barnes and Noble run their business is strange because they don't try to reach out to the customers. They have a very corporate structure and they operate their business like it's still 1999.
Why would anyone chose Barnes and Noble over Amazon.com?
If you are just in the market for a certain title, online is certainly easier.
But if you love bookstores and the browsing & considering part of book purchasing, then no online experience, no matter how good the search engine, can completely replicate that experience.
Location: Finally the house is done and we are in Port St. Lucie!
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Thanks for this thread. I just got home from Barnes and Noble. 4 books purchased. YES! I have new reading material while hubby watches the Red Zone.
I didn't realize how much I missed just browsing the shelves. Lord, I spent an hour in there just looking. Lines were long but not impossibly so. Plus there are more books to peruse while in line.
$90 later, I am ready to settle in with a cup of tea and a book.
I've enjoyed my trips to B&N over many yrs and if I want a book now, it's online...but with online shopping now stores are closing due to lack of business. We had a wonderful B&N right here on our Promenade and it's closed.
So many companies large and small are going under due to online shopping. Some of this I find sad.
If it's only a few bucks difference and I want it NOW, then why not? Plus I like the experience of browsing a book store and don't mind paying a few bucks extra to help try and keep it alive.
some people don't want their financial info out there in the scary spaces of the Intertubes.... so they would rather write a check and hand it to some underpaid clerk, with all your bank info right there for everyone to see.
Or they could, you know, pay CASH? I only write checks to my landlord, individuals (like friends/family members) if I owe them money, and maybe a few other situations - otherwise it's cash or debit card, and definitely cash if I were worried about my info being stolen. How many people these days pay by check at a store? Not many.
As for the original question, I think most folks still enjoy browsing at a bookstore... there's something less satisfying and often overwhelming to browse online, plus I (like many) prefer to hold a book in my hand before deciding to buy it. Of course, I'm a librarian, so I don't pay for books too often anyway. LOL
Bookstores and libraries need our support. Amazon doesn't.
Apart from academic libraries and the New York Public Library (although I live far from New York), I'd rather lose both common government libraries and physical bookstores than Amazon. I have complaints aplenty about Amazon, but it's still the best source of books.
Libraries are one of the most, if not THE most, underrated things in our society in my opinion. It will be a sad day if/when they go away. Bookstores, not quite as much, but I will also be extremely sad when they go away. I have lots of great memories browsing bookstores.
Maybe also some people don't want Amazon to know what they are reading.
For example, someone who is in a position of public safety reading about alcoholism or drug addiction.
It's a pretty simple matter to subpoena Amazon for their sales records. If you buy a book or magazine for cash at a bookstore, it's darn near impossible to find out a year later what it was.
Would I order a book on collectible items - let's say silver hollow ware - from Amazon? What if someone finds out about it and makes a note of my address - to visit later and see if some of those collectible items are in my house?
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