How are you supposed to know if you’ll like a book if you can’t read some of it.

It had a nice little cafe too, its not like they won’t make money on people buying a few coffees and snacks as they read a book they might not buy.

  • lechekaflan@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    Yeah, that bookstore looks pretty upscale, nearly a boutique, especially in a developing country. Not unlike others built for bookworms where browsers are free to read almost anything.

    In such a bookstore, the customer is not always right.

    Asides from the protection from humidity and dirt, I feel they also don’t want to sell a frayed damaged book or magazine – I feel that would count for them as a loss – unless the customer paid for it, so they put limits on casual browsing. This, RFID tags and CCTV cameras to deter shoplifters.

    Otherwise and in some places they put out a selection of open unwrapped publications and let anyone, provided they also pay for the coffee or hang around and pay by the hour, to read at their leisure in a dedicated cafe.

    Only sure way for you to know a new book is to scope out the copy online if it has an ebook equivalent.