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sthetic t1_ja0jbzy wrote

Reply to comment by lucysucks in What Is It That Makes Used Bookstores So Wonderful? by zsreport

Agreed. Occasionally I purge my bookshelf and try to sell the books at my local used bookstore. They always say, "We are pretty overflowing with books right now, so we aren't looking for anything new, but we'll take a look anyway while you go browse our shelves."

After about 10 minutes, I go back. I am always lucky if they take about half the books. Sometimes I'm bewildered by what they choose and what they reject ("just because you BOUGHT the book here doesn't mean we'll buy it back!"). But that's the reason the shelves are full of treasure.

Once I ordered a new book through them (Les Chants de Maldoror), a service they also provide. A few months later I saw a few copies on the New shelf. "Oh yeah, sometimes we do decide to stock books our customers order, if we see them and like them. Or maybe a bunch of other people besides you started ordering it."

The curation is the best part.

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PrivacyPlease-_- t1_ja1i4ow wrote

This speaks to me. I used to manage a small bookstore and although our order forms were sometimes more limited than I would have like, I chose what we sold.

Every month I went through and hand picked what I thought would be appreciated by the community. I got to chose things I thought nobody but me would read and always found myself delighted by the kinship of other readers who saw in that obscure title what I did.

It's been a few years since I left (I'm sure the new manager has a new vision all her own) but I can still remember what shelves held the best reads. It was a privilege to be able to run a bookstore. I hope I'm able to return to the booksellers world in the future, the best vocation!

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