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0 pointscromwellian4y ago0 comments

> You seem to forget about the public that wants (demands) a book retail warehouse. The median shopper does not exhaust the market.

But do they demand a brick and mortar physical book retail warehouse that they have to commute to? I mean if I were to say "Gamers demand a brick-and-mortar retail 'app store' like Gamestop" you'd think it was absurd. Of course people want to just download games from app stores and not have to physically go to a store to get games.

The vast majority of the public doesn't go to libraries and doesn't want a big box bookstore. It's why Borders and Barnes-n-Nobles failed. In most of the bookstores I've been to, their value has been communal, as a place to hang out, chill with your laptop, study for school, or meet authors or speakers, but they've never been about the need to shop, because inherently their selection is inferior and their convenience low.

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mdp20214y ago

> But do they demand a brick and mortar physical book retail warehouse that they have to commute to?

Yes, absolutely so. Correctly. The physical collection offers qualities that cannot be found otherwise; the direct contact is one, the browsing the mass of material is another, the environment (when properly created) another. We will reach to the other side of the world occasionally, and travel hundreds of miles normally.

It is very different from obtaining computer code, and in some ways more similar to purchasing cloth (which pretty much requires contact, properly and irregardless of custom).

> The vast majority of the public doesn't go to libraries

Just for this, first of all, there is a problem. You cannot drop a bit like "the vast majority don't wash" like an idle remark about the weather in front of a tsunami.

And to the point, in fact I was referring to «the public that wants (demands) a book retail warehouse». Those who are properly interested in the matter, not the casual user.

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