I was tooling around IMHO and found this thread about what store you like to dawdle in to kill some time.
One of the most popular choices was used bookstores. There were some shout outs to Barns and Noble’s as well, but there were more on the used side. So I’m curious as to why.
Is is a cost thing? A charity thing? A I-can-seem-more-cultured-and-better-than-you hipstery thing?
Why do you prefer a used bookstore to a a new one?
often times more variety of books
Can’t overlook the charm of reading a book that someone else read, years ago, on the crapper. :eek:
(I kid, I like used bookstores and old books.)
They are cheaper and easier than building a new bookstore yourself.
You never know what you’ll find. New bookstores, you know there’s not a lot of back catalog, but you can find out-of-print and hard-to-find books in used book stores. There’s also the smell of old books.
Lower prices for recent books.
Much wider selection especially of individual authors.
Finding books that are long out of print you didn’t know existed.
Finding books from your youth that you had (almost) forgotten.
Not only is there a greater variety, but it’s a more eclectic variety. You never know what you’ll find in a used bookstore, and that makes it an adventure.
Plus, of course, they’re cheaper, so you can buy twice as many books.
There are so many great books that have long been out of print. And then there’s the occasional First Edition. A used bookstore can be somewhat of a treasure hunt.
And I’m more likely to buy a book that I don’t really know anything about if it’s cheaper.
Inexpensive books on subjects you didn’t realize you were interested in. Discovering new books and authors.
My favorite find was as set of the original Ace paperback editions of Lord of the Rings
Got to repeat what so many have already said. You find stuff in used bookstores that you never knew existed. It is exactly like finding hidden treasure. And you can look at it, open it, read it, study it, examine it in ways impossible to do online. The tangibility of books is part of their charm. I have a Nook, a Kindle, and a tablet, so I don’t disdain e-books, but they are inferior in almost every way to print books. (Which is why I keep upgrading to get something closer to the print experience.)
If you love books, you love used bookstores. I love books. I can get a large bundle of used books for the price of one new book. How is that not wonderful? It’s not just the price, which is of course nice when you’re buying used books all the time, but the fact that you now have all sorts of books that last you much longer than the one limited new book. Last year’s books are still readable. So are most books from 25, 50, 75, and 100 years ago. Not all, but you’re not buying all.
Even if I buy nothing I can spend endless time in a bookstore, new or used. It’s definitely my preferred place to dawdle. Always has, always will be.
This. Brooklyn in da house, yo.
Also, everything everyone else said above, including many of my all-time favorite SDMB people.
They’re so restful.
I worked in a used bookstore for several years, and it was one of the best jobs I’ve ever had (except for the pay). Used bookstores have a certain shabby charm, like a flea market. You can find wonderful bargains and amazing oddities, and you can meet some fascinating people there. Often a used bookstore will have resident cats. Whenever I’m in a new city, I head for the used bookstores, and I’ve never been disappointed.
Funny you should ask. I spent about $20 (BOC album Fire of Unknown Origin on vinyl, vol 2 of the Arpeggio of Blue Steel manga, and a 2017 wall calendar for my cube at work) at the Half Price Books in McKinney this morning.
If I really must have a specific book/movie/CD, I can just order it from Amazon. With HPB, it’s akin to the excitement of prospecting in the dank underhive of Necromunda… you might come home with only a few handfuls of edible moss or salvageable metal that you can sell, or you might stumble across an unusual find (“hey, how long has that Archaeotech Dome been there? I never noticed it before …”) you didn’t know you needed.
I gave the first B&N answer in the “Browsing” thread, but I’m pick a used book store over it. I just haven’t come across a dedicated physical used book store in ages; the ones I used to know all went out of business or changed to an online-only model.
Otherwise, agreed on the browsing benefits of a ‘semi-random’ selection of books from across the years versus primarily the most marketable titles (although both can be fun).
I enjoy hitting them, but most suffer from what I call “stock stagnation”. But do like going into stores that are outside my “beaten path”. I have a want list and enjoy finding them in “the wild” as opposed to just getting from Amazon.
Jophiel, you don’t even have a Half-Priced Books near you? Granted, they don’t have nearly the charm of an independent (I’ve never even seen one with a cat), but they’re still better than nothing.
I’m getting that a lot of it is more of the “aura of the used book store” moreso than the actual saving of money or finding something different. Those other two are still definitely there, but am I correct in thinking that this reason is the primary?
It’s fun to sift through the stacks, with nothing particular in mind that you’re searching for and viola you find something you’ve never seen before. A hardcover copy of Tokology - a book for every woman by Alice Stockham. She was an OBGYN at the turn of the century. I sent this copy that was in excellent condition to a good friend as a graduation gift when she became a OB nurse. Another find was a gift to my daughter, vintage copy of Down the Bright Stream by B.B. , she already had a new reprint of The Little Grey Men but finding the sequel was proving difficult. Until it appeared in the used bookstore, some years later just like that!