I’ve been saving up a list of books that have been recommended by people I know from various places on the net. So, tonight I went down to the fairly large Chapters store at Chinook to buy some of them, and I could not find a single one of the titles.
It’s not like they’re obscure, out-of-print books either; I jumped on amazon.ca and found every one of them available new, and that’s where I’ll be getting them from. No, in most cases their major fault was simply being more than five or ten years old, or being earlier in a series. That last one in particular baffles me; they’ll stock the latest and greatest book in a long-running series or world, but not the early ones that someone new to it might like to start off at?
I also took a look at the technical books, and although there were a couple interesting ones, the standard prices are still a lot higher than what I can get online.
Instead, I just picked up a few popular classics that I’d been meaning to get around to eventually, but still left without a single one of the books I’d intended to get there. Amazon, here I come (again).
I’m wondering when stores are going to clue in about those kinds of things…
I totally agree, Cam. I don’t even bother going to book stores anymore. Even Powell’s, which seems to have everything, didn’t have what I wanted the last time I went there looking for something specific. I think that many retailers have decided that they can’t compete on the “long tail” customers, so they’ve given up on carrying anything even slightly obscure. If the bookstores were smart, they would be pushing the publishers to move to an on-demand printing model. Instead of producing physical copies, the publishers would only publish electronic copies of their entire catalog. The bookstores could then print up copies to put on their shelves or, even better, print up an on-demand copy of The Principia in large type with a neon orange cover.
Jenn, remember our experience trying to buy the Supersize Me DVD from Circuit City? It’s not like it was even an old movie.
They still seem to be doing well with that casual crowd, who aren’t looking for specific books but just want to browse, but yeah, they’re just not for us picky bastards anymore. They still have the special order desks, but if you’re going to that much trouble, you may as well get it online yourself anyway…
On-demand publishing would be ideal, but I haven’t done or seen any research on the practicality of it yet. I’d be happy if just more of those obscure and out-of-print titles were at least available as e-books.
Yeah, Matt. That was nuts.
Matt and I had gone into Circuit City to try and find “Super Size Me,” which was a fairly popular movie you could get anywhere, really, and it just turned into a mess.
Btw, Cam – do you have that little office set up I got you at your office? :-)
That is indeed where that photo below is from. (I don’t have a whiteboard in my living room… :-P)
Sounds like a lot of the mainstream music outlets (like A&B Sound). They never have a damn thing I want, no matter how old / new / obscure / mainstream it may be.
And whaddya mean, no whiteboard in your living room? How are you supposed to act nervous and try and hide your EVIL PLANS when the pizza guy shows? :-)