In my opinion, the sales being made by bookstores has constantly been declining for the past decade. This is due to the reason that the online sales of books have increased enormously. And people have also shifted over to the use of e-books. All these reasons have resulted in the declining number of bookstores. I, personally, shop for my books on the internet but there are some people who still like the experience of buying books at brick and mortar bookstores.
Yes, definitely! As a matter of fact, book stores are a great source of undervalued literature which you can purchase on the cheap. I frequented a used book store in my home town a few years ago and bought a number of amazing books at very low prices.
Although I'm doing most of my book shopping online, I like visiting a bookstore first. I do this in order to first take a look at the book that I'm planning to buy, to check the quality of the paper and also to check for price discounts. Still, it happens that while skimming through the books I would find something that I like and buy it from there even though it's not the cheapest option.
I love going to bookstores. I like used ones and new ones. Unfortunately where I live, I have yet to find a used book store. The only new bookstore is Barnes and Noble. For me, I can hang out in hours in a book store. In used ones, the smell of the old books, well I am not sure what it is, but I just love the smell of old books. The Barnes and Noble here is very small compared to the one where I used to live. Still, it has a cafe to make the entire building smell like heaven. Not that I buy anything in the cafe, well, maybe just once or twice, but I just love searching through books with the smell of coffee. I definitely think bookstores are worth going to. I love to see what's new and whats on the bargain isle. My kids love playing the train set and finding a new book. Book stores make feel good, they make me feel relaxed. I can totally de-stress when browsing through the shelves.
I think it is worth it. There are some books that you just have to read on paper. I generally prefer the real books instead of the ebooks.
I stopped buying books from bookstores because now I prefer ebooks more. I think it's more practical and I get better chances of finding newly released titles right away. Also, it does not give me problems on storage. I used to buy a lot of books and my shelves are now full, so I do not really want to buy anything more. Ebooks are easier to manage. I just save them all in an external drive and save them to my devices when I want to read them.
Normally I would say do both, support your local bookstores to keep them going and balance your time with exploring the vast plethora of books that are available online. Considering there aren't many bookstores where you live though I would say go for buying eBooks online. It's definitely the way to go as you won't have to deal with exorbitant shipping costs and I think you will greatly enjoy the selection. Is Amazon an option in your country?
I seriously miss traditional, high quality bookstores where you get a good selection of paperback and hardcover books. I particularly miss the smell of old books. These days I have to order everything on-line, which I is ok, I get what I want. But I am a person who used to spend many rainy afternoons happily browsing second-hand bookshops, chatting with the owner, sitting in a quiet corner perusing whatever interested me. That is all more or less gone now here in Australia because the competition from the internet is too big and many can't make enough profit anymore to keep their business going.
I love bookstores. I personally hate ebooks for my own reasons and I have bookstores everywhere where I live and I enjoy supporting them.
The feeling of going to a bookstore is like walking into a very imaginative place. You always think in bookstores. You think about what you want to read next and you read the plot on the back of books and you think whether it would be a good book to read or not. Walking into a bookstore is like walking into a whole new world, and there are many different worlds inside a bookstore. Each book has it's own world, and the fact that there are a wide range of books with different genres makes bookstores perfect for people who want to think more creatively and broadly. People also become more open minded from reading books because they put themselves in the perspective of the protagonist in the books they are reading. Bookstores are magical places, so a stroll around a bookstore is definitely worth my time.
No. I do not believe that going to Bookstores is worth it. Simply because there are so many better options. Such as e-books, and audio-books. You can simply download the book to your device, and enjoy it from there. You can not beat that kind of convenience. As opposed to carrying around heavy books all the time.
Why not? Despite the assault of ebooks and audiobooks, a classical book that you can smell and taste, hasn`t lost its magic. I like to say books have their own souls, I hope I won`t be wrong someday
Personally I could happily live in a bookstore. I always find something new that I would love to read and spend hours browsing. In fact bookstores are pretty terrible for my wallet lol. This may be because I am an avid reader, and could happily sit with a book and a cup of coffee for days on end.
I can see this coming in the near future. I see people going to lose their book store businesses to online eBooks. It is much cheaper and you can also buy a hard copy and it will be delivered to your doorstep at an even cheaper price than what you buy in your local bookstore. I would say that more and more people are going for online shopping which is not shocking as we know how tech has revolutionized our lives.
I live in L.A. and I was really mad when they closed the indie bookstores like Midnight Special in Santa Monica. Closing Borders was like a blow to the gut because the layout was far more user-friendly than Barnes and Noble. These days, I buy a lot of Kindle books. If I can get a textbook as an e-book or load it to Kindle, I will in a heartbeat because the savings are up to 60% compared to what my school charges. I'll still visit a B&N once in a while. Their desserts smell great though the stores do not have that "airy" feel that Borders had.
I "buy" mostly ebooks now, but going to the book store was my very favorite thing when I was a kid! They've closed pretty much every book store in my area, and the closest one is an hours drive away. (There is a old bookshop on a corner in town, but the owner is kind of...nuts, so I don't shop there.) I've also stopped buying psychical copies of books, because I've run out of room!
I still go to bookstores, particularly the ones selling used books. My sons and I have a weekly date to the bookstore where we each get to choose a book to buy and bring home for our reading pleasure. The thrill is in the act of searching for a real good bargain. I feel a sense of fulfillment just browsing through the dozens of titles and reading through most of the introductions. I do collect ebooks as well, but the trips to the bookstore are priceless. I know that someday soon, this activity will come to its end. I'm enjoying it while it lasts.
Okay not so much a place to buy books, but there are other items for purchase that will interest you. In addition to that is the overall experience to the bookstore. One you can preview books in greater detail before you buy them. Two Everyone is reading and out to enjoy themselves without too crazy of a time. Three, nothing like hot flavorful coffee or tea and some tempting pastry or specially made sandwich. It is one of my favorite places to go during winter, just to get out the house, and you don't have to spend money.
I like going to bookstores for the experience more than anything. I rarely buy anything as books can be pricey, but occasionally I'll pick one up. It's also a great place to do your Christmas shopping over the holidays.
I used to live at my local Border's when it was around, particularly in the cafe section, with my laptop. Some of my friends/co-workers and I would hang out there after work. I had a really noisy neighbor from hell in my apartment, so I would use any excuse to stay out for as long as possible. I built up quite a large collection of books, CD's and DVDs in the process. In hindsight I kind of regret spending so much money on all of that stuff, particularly the books, because they were so quickly outdated and useless (most of the books I bought were stuff on HTML, CSS, Flash, Photoshop, etc...). Plus they weighed a ton and took up a bunch of space on my shelves and just sat there collecting dust. The only types of books I would buy were mainly training stuff, and books of photography from famous artists. The later is more or less useless as an eBook, you really need to see physical prints to get the proper effect. But for training books, I am more than happy to use eBooks. While I kind of miss the book stores, I do recall towards the end they were starting to look like dumps. Their CD's cost more than other stores, their books were outdated and picked over, and their DVD selections were limited compared to what I could find online.
