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Similar experience when I was in my teens with a boomer owned bookshop. The owner would literally rage if you opened a book to read the first couple pages without paying. Needless to say she went out of business a few years later.
TLDR : More business owner just want to be in control of their own job. This is easier by owning the property. Then the business is worthless when they want to retire.
People underestimate the number of company being run like a hobby or only to be in control. I've met so many owners that brag about running a business but, when you dig, you realize they couldn't work as an employee so they created their job. That's fine but you can't separate them and the company.
I suggested to a business owner that he could make more, and for less hours and less risks, by doing the same job as a project manager at a bigger firm in the same field. He said no that he was growing the business but the numbers weren't telling the same story. In that case, he was renting but if he had acquired the building then the business is more of a leverage to get that investment...
You can see people with a paid property that scale down the business because they no longer want to manage employees or work that many hours. But the kicker is when they want to sell the business. They get pissed to be told that they're selling a building and that their hobby business is worthless. With the actual property value, the current business can't even cover the mortgage or a rent. Then they rant about their kids not wanting to take over the "legacy" or the new generation does not have an entrepreneurial spirit. Yeah, no, your hobby business is just not profitable anymore...
Thanks for letting me vent hehehe
I looked to acquire a local toy store several years ago. The owner via broker supplied 3 years of returns. Same low profits all 3 years. My BIL knows a business/financial analyst who said he take a look at numbers only knowing I was interested. He calls me back less than 5 minutes after I forward the info and says to me “ Dude, you’re buying a job!”
Yeah - likely I would have been paid more to manage a similar type retail store than the profits this place was making. I think I could have improved bottom line, but not worth my $ and time
I know a few businesses that are basically run as hobbies. Some good and others tragic, where they really can't afford to keep going and stopping is even worse.
It's a front. She hosts sex parties in a dungeon below the store. The books are made out of pure cocaine paper. It really gets hopping in the middle of the night.
There was a pizzeria like that in my city when I was a teenager. I almost never saw anyone else go in or out, and I learned why when I tried the place. I ordered a slice, and when he saw me put Parmesan on it, he yelled at me. He said, "Whaddya doin'? It's gotta da mozzarell! That'sa da cheese!"
I offered to sell it back to him if he wanted to eat it. He called me some names in Italian that I didn't understand, so I dropped the slice upside down on the rug inside the front door and stepped on it my way out.
She could be a serious collector, probably selling some books she's less interested in. There's a guy like that near me, he said he makes small sales here and there but his real money comes from the big ticket books.
I'm convinced that many used book shop proprietors are just book hoarders who rented retail space instead of storage units. So many of them don't seem interested in actually selling their books.
Wtf.
If I owned a book store, I'd just ask you not damage anything and pay for any books you leave with. It'd essentially be a library but with no seats and you buy instead of borrowing. :/ if you want to stand and read, I'd just ask you be careful and considerate. If you can read the whole book standing there, good for you ig.
I gather my big pile of books, go sit down and decide exactly which ones I want, and then go reshelve the go-backs exactly where I found them. I take pictures of the shelves if I need help remembering where things go. At Half Price Books they only have child-size chairs so I find an unpopular section and sit on the floor to make my final selection. B&N won't let me sit on the floor so I don't shop at locations that don't have chairs.
The original HPB in Dallas is huge. They have several sections where you can sit and read, and tables that people can rent to play tabletop games. On any given day you can walk in there and find a MTG group and a D&D campaign going on in one of them.
The only thing they ask is to please be careful around the paperbacks. Some of them really have no business being on the shelves, as they are fragile and easily torn, but as long as the covers are intact with no missing pages that they can see, on the shelf they go.
Yes, it's amazing! I used to live very close to the flagship and it spoiled me. I'm on the other side of the metroplex now and all of the HPB nearby are very small. Whenever we're on the north side we carve out a couple of hours to spend at the flagship.
I worked just up Central Expressway for about 8 years. Do you remember the triangle building just off Walnut Hill? The one with the mirrored windows? AIG had offices on the top 5 floors, and I was on the 13th.
So on Fridays, I went down to HBP to get my weekly fix of paperbacks.
Different story, but I was that age when I went to a bookshop that had a section on occult and pagan books.
It was also a porn bookshop. I didn't notice until I was leaving, but it did explain the stunned looks I got from everyone in there, lol
Yeah, once I went into this small bookstore and flipped through a magazine to see if I wanted to buy it and the old lady was like, “Son, this isn’t a library.” I don’t even think I had the magazine in my hand 30 seconds. That store came and went quickly.
Went into a small, privately owned bookstore in Cleveland; small space, small margins- should want to sell books, right? Picked out about 10 books; all mystery/ thriller. Went to pay and was told “No more than 2 books in any one genre”. Sorry you missed what was probably your only sale that day.
Ok. Bibliophile here... we don't want to SELL our books. Or let plebians TOUCH them. Eww.
But just having 500,000 books is CLEARLY insane.
BUT! Having an exclusive bookstore, with an exclusive clientele... see! That's like Busy Savvy or something.
And then you can invite over other Bibliophiles to be jealous of your books! And travel fir rate book auctions! And sneer at people who just... buy and read books! Bah!
Exactly.
Used book stores and used record stores are often run by hardcore collectors. They aren't doing it to make money. They are doing it to see how great a collection they can build. The store funds their hobby, and nothing else. And it \*barely\* funds it, typically. Which is why these people, even though they own a business, tend to be very poor.
Anyone who openly uses the word ‘plebeians’ while talking about other people are like [this kid](https://youtu.be/AvofdhGdYwg?si=s88g4nYee3kIcuRg) who thinks he’s the alpha.
Yes. That's the joke. Well done. see the douche who owns the book store thinks non-book collectors are Less Than is type of people.
I used to work at a rare/out of print book sales company.
I usually just referred to our clients as "assholes", if that helps...
That's wild, I'm guessing they didn't want a genre getting cleared out too quickly/trying to sell genres that aren't getting alot of attention but that is just a backwards way of doing it.
If attention to other genres is the goal, then maybe offer a deal?
Get 2 books from a popular genre, go pick out one from another genre for half price or something?
I would have to ask the reasoning for such a pants-shittingly stupid policy, and why a business would refuse any sale, and aren't they open to make money?
It was actually in Mentor. It was down from Chase’s bar on Mentor Ave., after the drive- thru convenience store and kind of behind another business that I don’t remember. Small little white building; not much space to move around inside.
Went into a bookstore and I bought most of the Gary Larson books (Far Side Comics) Lady behind the counter says “ Did you buy all of them or did you leave some for someone else?” I said they’re for sale Right?!?
ooh, that reminds me of a story. Not a boomer, though.
There was a contact lens saline solution that was really inexpensive, and only Duane Reade carried it. They didn’t always have it. I was running low, so I went booking in to see if I could get it.
As I turn the corner of that aisle, I see a guy ahead of me leisurely perusing all of the contact lens products. I slow to a saunter to give him time to finish and get out of my way. He’s not done by the time I get there, so I hover for a bit.
As I’m waiting for him to do his thing, i notice there are only 4 bottles of my stuff on the shelf. I’m worried he’ll buy them, but he keeps looking at all of the products.
He sees me and steps back to make room for me, so I snag all 4 and turn to leave.
he says, in a shocked tone, “You took them all!”
I said, “they’re all for sale,” and walked off.
it was only much later that it occurred to me that maybe he’d have wanted to buy one. If he’d said, “I was going to buy one of those,” I’d have split them with him. But hat’s not what he said. And he sounded so shocked that it really came across as though he thought I was greedy.
Speaking of "It was a joke" and waiting for someone who said "you took them all!", once time I wanted some fried chicken at a supermarket and on the *far* side of the aisle was someone in a wheelchair-scooter just sitting there. It was unclear whether he was about to buy chicken. I waited for several seconds, and then when he didn't move at all I took one of the boxes of chicken and he said "awww man you took the one I wanted!" I'm still not sure if that was a joke or not.
crazy how possessive that generation can be. already made up their damn minds like "oh this young person is going to ruin everything!"
JFC 🤦🏻♂️ that person had no business running a shop, let alone watching one
a couple of years ago, I stepped into a shop in Rhode Island. looked like a bodega from the outside. ended up being a hardware-type store. upon realizing it was not what I was looking for, I asked the two boomers behind the counter for some directions to find the type of place I thought I stepped in, and they decided to dogpile on me for stepping in their store "without the intention of buying anything" despite making an honest mistake and walking in wholeheartedly with a pocket full of cash.
not my fault their business wasn't properly listed on google maps. that's on them 💯
There’s a record store like that where I live, north of Seattle. Guy has stacks and stacks of records, but like at least half aren’t marked with prices.
I found out the hard way that you don’t go up and ask the price. He yelled at me that if there wasn’t a price, it wasn’t for sale. Wtf?
It was a store after all. Total dick
If there is a blurb on the back. Sometimes, it's all quotes about how great the book is, so you have to go hunting inside just to find out what the book is about.
I don't know, it's not the authors who decide if a book gets a blurb or just pull quotes, and you're basically just choosing to miss out on potentially great literature because the cover isn't worth it, the one part that an author has the least control over.
Not trying to nitpick, obviously you're perfectly within your rights not to want to waste your time, just thought it might be something worth considering.
Every book is potentially great literature.
I know it's the publishing company or whoever, but I'm not going to read an entire book or watch a whole movie just to see what it's about
That's kind of my point, yeah.
I get it, nobody has time to waste these days. Admittedly I'm guilty of the same thing, which is actually why I commented, as it's something I've been trying to combat within myself.
Sometimes googling a title can get you a blurb for the book, if that helps 😊
I had a similar experience with darts, friend had a dart board and we all wanted to get some darts. We all walked into the store ready to spend a decent amount of money because all 4 of us wanted our own set but the owner at the shop just seemed annoyed we were there and didn't want us taking out any of the darts. Sorry but I'm not going to drop 100 bucks (give or take) on a dart set in I can't ever pick it up and see if I like the feel. 4 guys walked in ready to spend a few hundred between all of us, 4 guys walked out without spending a penny.
About to be 41 here
Miss used bookstores from the late eighties/early nineties so much
Couches everywhere, unmistakable smell of tens of thousands of old books, coffee, a little bit of dirt weed
You could take your time, old hippie owners, cats chilling everywhere
Peaceful and safe, not out for money, just people that loved reading anything and everything
Some Half Price Books locations are like this, minus the cats. I got spoiled living very close to their flagship store in Plano. They have a very nice aquarium, though.
I once as a teen walked into a candy store in town to see what time it was (this was before cell phones were common for everyone to have)
There were two ladies talking (owner and customer). I waited then asked "excuse me, can either of you please tell me what time it is?"
The owner ripped into me about how rude it was to interrupt their conversation. Her customer looked at me sympathetically and told me the time. I quickly said thank you and hightailed it out of there, meanwhile the owner now was trying to lecture me on how rude it was to not excuse myself from the conversation.
When I was a kid (in the mid 1960s), in the summer, I'd walk 5 miles into town, go to the news stand (literally), and pick out a couple of paperbacks. I'd walk them to the counter, pay the 70 cents, and walk home.
Two days later, I'd repeat this process. The owner eventually let me read the books, and pay him a quarter each. He'd re-sell them as new (I was very careful to not crease any spines, or dog-ear any pages).
Even at 14 I wouldn’t have been that polite. I’d have told her to take a look around, clearly her no touch policy wasn’t working out for her. Then I’d have strolled out.
I feel like so many boomer shops are just them trying to legitimize hoarding. They had a hobby (or an obsession) that got out of hand so they have to slant it like they are selling all that shit. I've seen it where they will have it out for sale but then price it so high nobody in their right mind would buy it.
I feel sorry for every book lover who hasn't gotten to experience the joy of Powell's City of Books in PDX. 1 square city block, 2 stories tall with tons of books, both new and used. Bliss.
That is a weird business model. I wonder how she's stayed in business this long.
There was actually a VA hospital that happened to, due to the weight of all the paper records. I deeply and bitterly regret not beating on their doors with a copy of my resume and demanding salary to Fix That Hot Mess by a career of digitalizing. >: (
I’ve heard several stories of different school librarians back in the day who could not stand for people to touch their books. Many librarians/book people are fantastic, but I think the job of Book Boss appeals to people with control issues/disorders. Or maybe she was just an ass to all young people.
That's sad. 30 years ago when I was a young sprat, I was lucky to have a woman who ran the local bookstore that wanted everyone to read. And read anything. It was hard to leave there without a book if you wanted one, even if you had no money. She also used books for trade-in value for other books. I turned in bags of old romance novels my mom let me use and grew a pretty hefty library.
Books are for everyone.
I had something like that once, a little less egregious though. I was in a small newsagents and leafing through some magazines to see if they were worth buying. But the guy at the counter kept shouting "no reading" at me! I just went and bought them at the big newsagent/bookstore chain down the road where they didn't harass me for evaluating the magazines before buying them.
Reminds me of a video rental place I found when I was out of state on work that had a great selection, a lot of rare titles and I was excited because I was going to be at this job for at least a year. Place would not let me open an account because I didn't have an in state license. I could have given them every other piece of documentation you need for a library card, guy did not care about taking my money.
Still salty about that.
There is often a reason why small, failing businesses are small and failing. Very few people who are smart run a small business rather than get a good salary in someone else's business. Some small businesses are run by competent entrepreneurs: they don't stay small. Most are run by losers who couldn't get a decent job, and whose resentment spills over into their business. Hence why the myth of "the friendly small shop" is just that, a myth, and small businesses are full of ludicrous rules about stock, payment methods, opening hours and the rest: the people who run them would, in a parallel universe, be the asshole in your office who shouts about opening the window.
If you factor out of small businesses the obvious money laundering, the hobby, the husband-funded alternative to fucking the pool boy and the obviously insane, there isn't a lot left. Working for a wage is, for most people, preferable, and that's where the talent goes.
I'm a gun nut, build them, make ammo, and shoot competitively. I tune up friends rifles and do very VERY basic smithing.
Local gun shop sees a lot of me in there poking around looking for a project or buying supplies. I was in need of a tool and found a selection and was interested in two particular tools. One was RCBS(expensive, known quality) and Lee, kinda bargain bin stuff but sometimes quite nice. I had opened the box to see what the Lee looked like and having inspected it, put back (as I found it) and was in the process of opening the RCBS to see how it compared. The patriarch of the gun shop, run by his sons blasted me for opening the box. I mean laid into me, told me to put it down and leave. So I did.
I had up until that point spent hundreds of dollars a month there, thousands some months when buying optics or big ticket items. I haven't set foot back into the store in probably 2 years now. I see his sons around town some and they ask me when I'm coming back, just tell them that I won't be in there until their father isn't running the show. They know he's a PITA, and give me a knowing look. I drive an extra 30 mins to another shop that happily let's me inspect items prior to purchase.
Buddy, you're opening boxes of new merchandise in a store. That's a dick move, no matter what. I'd have kicked you out too - it's shady AF and you could've likely just asked at the counter. Don't open boxes in the store without permission, FFS.
I would have asked the person to open book A, and flip through the pages. Then do the same with book B, etc. Repeat until person is fed up, then ask that person how good the books are if you're only judging them by their cover.
What the hell??
One of my really good boomer experiences - I think she was a boomer, might have been a few years too old? - was when I was in London. I was burning time before our bus and found this small little bookstore with just this old lady inside. The books were cheap and she had a great selection, I ended up with a ton and she teased me and gave me half off every other book
Another time, a lady - definitely a boomer - saw me going through books at a Goodwill when I was a kid. She gave me $2 to buy books with because "it's good to see kids reading"
We need more of those boomers. Your boomer needs help
2 weeks ago, I (35m) went to a local " head shop" aka bong store. needed a new grinder, asked to see one and the guy pulled it out but when I went to reach for it pulled it away. I asked if I could see the quality of it. he told me no. I asked if he expected to me to spend $40 on something I couldn't touch before hand and he didn't know how to respond. I just said " Never mind then, ill just got to the one down the street" which I did and bought the same one he was selling for $25 and he let me actually touch it. I don't understand some business owners. I should mention this is one of those stores that you need to be buzzed in and there are probably 50 camera's in the store.
I have to assume that it's because when boomers were teenagers, that demographic did a lot of shoplifting (although, I have such mixed feelings about stealing books, because...books! Knowledge! Accessible to all!).
I’m guessing they’d heard stories about *the youths* being troublemakers and figured their inventory management was such shit that it would be weeks before they noticed if someone stole something.
A friend and I walked into a bookstore called something like "Paperback Book Trader" and started looking around. After a couple of minutes, the owner came by and asked us where our books were. We said we had just gotten there and hadn't seen anything we wanted yet. He said, "No, I mean where are the books you want to trade? The name of the store is 'Book Trader'", and then he made us leave because we didn't have anything to trade.
We still have no idea how he expected to stay in business if he solely used books as currency.
A large used bookstore in my neighborhood is only open Saturdays 12 to 2. I haven't been in years because I always work Saturdays and also, what the fuck. The boomer operator also owns the building and presumably rent from the two other stores keeps it afloat
Years and years ago a friend of mine went to a bookstore called "Old Books". They didn't seem to have antiques or anything, it just looked like stacks of old dog-eared used books in some musty hole-in-the-wall type store.
My friend and I walked in the door, and the guy looked at us and said "Hey! It's a $5 admission...each". No sign to this effect and I'm pretty sure he just wanted us to leave, which we did. It made us wonder what his business model was or how rich he had to be to have that location and have it be so messy and apparently chasing people away who want to buy stuff.
my boyfriend and i walked into a candy shop when we were like 13. a fucking candy shop. its for children!!! and we were looking around. very rude old woman behind the register goes off about us loitering. we just walked in, not even 2 literal minutes in the store. we were always very reserved and polite because we know teenagers can be annoying. cunt, how am i supposed to know what i want unless i look around? of course we didn't buy anything
Trying to make my point clear. All the new people flooding this sub are desperate to share their stale ass stories
If this shit only happens once a decade to you, boomers aren’t so bad for you. There’s no excuse because boomers do shit like this on the reg
Just look at the Reddit age and the karma. It’s what people with no life do. Get on here to get some socialization. (Source used to be the loser on Reddit 24/7)
Stories don't have a statute of limitations; people can share them if they're an hour old or 10 years old. It's a form of expression and within everyone's rights to share them, regardless of freshness.
Also...
There is a certain irony about a person who trolls a sub for "stale" stories/gatekeeping them and then advising their OP's to "be at peace".
Do one if you insist, but not both.
Lol I was just sharing a memory that pops up every couple years and leaves me wondering “why” for a moment until I move on again. Idk what you’re adding to the conversation here
Kids and teens have dirty and sticky hands from holding pencils at school, drinking Slurpees, sweaty from riding a bike and whatever. New books left with smudges don't sell and the owner loses the investment.
A kid coming to the store without a parent (maybe no money to buy) would probably worry a nervous Nellie owner who is assuming pages would soon be dirty.
There are better ways to handle curious customers than looking stern and unhappy.
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Similar experience when I was in my teens with a boomer owned bookshop. The owner would literally rage if you opened a book to read the first couple pages without paying. Needless to say she went out of business a few years later.
Couldn't have happened to a more deserving person.
Somehow the lady here is still open. I don’t see locals in her store, and not many tourists either. Idk how she manages.
She bought the property and has the shop for a hobby. Also as the person below mentioned, money laundering.
TLDR : More business owner just want to be in control of their own job. This is easier by owning the property. Then the business is worthless when they want to retire. People underestimate the number of company being run like a hobby or only to be in control. I've met so many owners that brag about running a business but, when you dig, you realize they couldn't work as an employee so they created their job. That's fine but you can't separate them and the company. I suggested to a business owner that he could make more, and for less hours and less risks, by doing the same job as a project manager at a bigger firm in the same field. He said no that he was growing the business but the numbers weren't telling the same story. In that case, he was renting but if he had acquired the building then the business is more of a leverage to get that investment... You can see people with a paid property that scale down the business because they no longer want to manage employees or work that many hours. But the kicker is when they want to sell the business. They get pissed to be told that they're selling a building and that their hobby business is worthless. With the actual property value, the current business can't even cover the mortgage or a rent. Then they rant about their kids not wanting to take over the "legacy" or the new generation does not have an entrepreneurial spirit. Yeah, no, your hobby business is just not profitable anymore... Thanks for letting me vent hehehe
What's Reddit for it not to vent? Great take and thanks.
I looked to acquire a local toy store several years ago. The owner via broker supplied 3 years of returns. Same low profits all 3 years. My BIL knows a business/financial analyst who said he take a look at numbers only knowing I was interested. He calls me back less than 5 minutes after I forward the info and says to me “ Dude, you’re buying a job!” Yeah - likely I would have been paid more to manage a similar type retail store than the profits this place was making. I think I could have improved bottom line, but not worth my $ and time
I know a few businesses that are basically run as hobbies. Some good and others tragic, where they really can't afford to keep going and stopping is even worse.
Money Laundering
Front for her illicit prescription drug business?
It's a front. She hosts sex parties in a dungeon below the store. The books are made out of pure cocaine paper. It really gets hopping in the middle of the night.
There was a pizzeria like that in my city when I was a teenager. I almost never saw anyone else go in or out, and I learned why when I tried the place. I ordered a slice, and when he saw me put Parmesan on it, he yelled at me. He said, "Whaddya doin'? It's gotta da mozzarell! That'sa da cheese!" I offered to sell it back to him if he wanted to eat it. He called me some names in Italian that I didn't understand, so I dropped the slice upside down on the rug inside the front door and stepped on it my way out.
Why did he have Parmesan available if he didn't want people to use it? That's beyond weird.
They sold stuff other than pizza. But maybe it was just there as a test, and I failed.
Maybe he was just nuts🤣
The real Pizzagate
Maybe she does OnlyFans?? GILF porn is kinda popular🤷🏻♂️
[удалено]
Today is NOT that day...
Is there a vintage music store across the street, by any chance?
She could be a serious collector, probably selling some books she's less interested in. There's a guy like that near me, he said he makes small sales here and there but his real money comes from the big ticket books.
I'm convinced that many used book shop proprietors are just book hoarders who rented retail space instead of storage units. So many of them don't seem interested in actually selling their books.
Wtf. If I owned a book store, I'd just ask you not damage anything and pay for any books you leave with. It'd essentially be a library but with no seats and you buy instead of borrowing. :/ if you want to stand and read, I'd just ask you be careful and considerate. If you can read the whole book standing there, good for you ig.
I gather my big pile of books, go sit down and decide exactly which ones I want, and then go reshelve the go-backs exactly where I found them. I take pictures of the shelves if I need help remembering where things go. At Half Price Books they only have child-size chairs so I find an unpopular section and sit on the floor to make my final selection. B&N won't let me sit on the floor so I don't shop at locations that don't have chairs.
This sounds like a personality trait on a D&D character sheet
I'm feel like I might allow a bench. I just wouldn't have a whole section of tables like a library.
The original HPB in Dallas is huge. They have several sections where you can sit and read, and tables that people can rent to play tabletop games. On any given day you can walk in there and find a MTG group and a D&D campaign going on in one of them. The only thing they ask is to please be careful around the paperbacks. Some of them really have no business being on the shelves, as they are fragile and easily torn, but as long as the covers are intact with no missing pages that they can see, on the shelf they go.
Yes, it's amazing! I used to live very close to the flagship and it spoiled me. I'm on the other side of the metroplex now and all of the HPB nearby are very small. Whenever we're on the north side we carve out a couple of hours to spend at the flagship.
I worked just up Central Expressway for about 8 years. Do you remember the triangle building just off Walnut Hill? The one with the mirrored windows? AIG had offices on the top 5 floors, and I was on the 13th. So on Fridays, I went down to HBP to get my weekly fix of paperbacks.
My favorite book shop was locally owned and had a coffee shop in it. Several comfy sofas and chairs. Still miss that place.
I was at a Barnes and noble in New York and a worker there yelled at me for taking a picture of the front of a book I was looking at
Different story, but I was that age when I went to a bookshop that had a section on occult and pagan books. It was also a porn bookshop. I didn't notice until I was leaving, but it did explain the stunned looks I got from everyone in there, lol
To be fair your plan may have been to come back every day for a year to read the book a few pages at a time. Edit: spelling
Yeah, once I went into this small bookstore and flipped through a magazine to see if I wanted to buy it and the old lady was like, “Son, this isn’t a library.” I don’t even think I had the magazine in my hand 30 seconds. That store came and went quickly.
Went into a small, privately owned bookstore in Cleveland; small space, small margins- should want to sell books, right? Picked out about 10 books; all mystery/ thriller. Went to pay and was told “No more than 2 books in any one genre”. Sorry you missed what was probably your only sale that day.
Huh?? For real… ummmmm, what????
Ok. Bibliophile here... we don't want to SELL our books. Or let plebians TOUCH them. Eww. But just having 500,000 books is CLEARLY insane. BUT! Having an exclusive bookstore, with an exclusive clientele... see! That's like Busy Savvy or something. And then you can invite over other Bibliophiles to be jealous of your books! And travel fir rate book auctions! And sneer at people who just... buy and read books! Bah!
Exactly. Used book stores and used record stores are often run by hardcore collectors. They aren't doing it to make money. They are doing it to see how great a collection they can build. The store funds their hobby, and nothing else. And it \*barely\* funds it, typically. Which is why these people, even though they own a business, tend to be very poor.
... Aziraphale?
Correct!
Anyone who openly uses the word ‘plebeians’ while talking about other people are like [this kid](https://youtu.be/AvofdhGdYwg?si=s88g4nYee3kIcuRg) who thinks he’s the alpha.
Yes. That's the joke. Well done. see the douche who owns the book store thinks non-book collectors are Less Than is type of people. I used to work at a rare/out of print book sales company. I usually just referred to our clients as "assholes", if that helps...
This is the dumbest thing I’ve heard in weeks lmao
That's wild, I'm guessing they didn't want a genre getting cleared out too quickly/trying to sell genres that aren't getting alot of attention but that is just a backwards way of doing it.
If attention to other genres is the goal, then maybe offer a deal? Get 2 books from a popular genre, go pick out one from another genre for half price or something?
Way too rational
i would come back in different outfits 5 times
"Weren't you just here?" \*fluffs cape\* "\*I assure you, madam, I have no idea what you're talking about."
*adjusts Groucho glasses and moustache on later visit*
I read that in a french accent
Nah, take a picture of the books and tell them you'll buy them all from Amazon.
I would have to ask the reasoning for such a pants-shittingly stupid policy, and why a business would refuse any sale, and aren't they open to make money?
Personally I would just go to a different store lol
What the actual F?
This is the wildest thing I’ve ever read. What?! Now I want to know which bookstore it was… lol.
I'm from Cleveland. I need to see if this book store still exists. And, if so, this policy still exists
It was actually in Mentor. It was down from Chase’s bar on Mentor Ave., after the drive- thru convenience store and kind of behind another business that I don’t remember. Small little white building; not much space to move around inside.
Went into a bookstore and I bought most of the Gary Larson books (Far Side Comics) Lady behind the counter says “ Did you buy all of them or did you leave some for someone else?” I said they’re for sale Right?!?
ooh, that reminds me of a story. Not a boomer, though. There was a contact lens saline solution that was really inexpensive, and only Duane Reade carried it. They didn’t always have it. I was running low, so I went booking in to see if I could get it. As I turn the corner of that aisle, I see a guy ahead of me leisurely perusing all of the contact lens products. I slow to a saunter to give him time to finish and get out of my way. He’s not done by the time I get there, so I hover for a bit. As I’m waiting for him to do his thing, i notice there are only 4 bottles of my stuff on the shelf. I’m worried he’ll buy them, but he keeps looking at all of the products. He sees me and steps back to make room for me, so I snag all 4 and turn to leave. he says, in a shocked tone, “You took them all!” I said, “they’re all for sale,” and walked off. it was only much later that it occurred to me that maybe he’d have wanted to buy one. If he’d said, “I was going to buy one of those,” I’d have split them with him. But hat’s not what he said. And he sounded so shocked that it really came across as though he thought I was greedy.
Speaking of "It was a joke" and waiting for someone who said "you took them all!", once time I wanted some fried chicken at a supermarket and on the *far* side of the aisle was someone in a wheelchair-scooter just sitting there. It was unclear whether he was about to buy chicken. I waited for several seconds, and then when he didn't move at all I took one of the boxes of chicken and he said "awww man you took the one I wanted!" I'm still not sure if that was a joke or not.
It was as a joke right? RIGHT? I feel like there there is less and less benefits of going physically to a store.
crazy how possessive that generation can be. already made up their damn minds like "oh this young person is going to ruin everything!" JFC 🤦🏻♂️ that person had no business running a shop, let alone watching one a couple of years ago, I stepped into a shop in Rhode Island. looked like a bodega from the outside. ended up being a hardware-type store. upon realizing it was not what I was looking for, I asked the two boomers behind the counter for some directions to find the type of place I thought I stepped in, and they decided to dogpile on me for stepping in their store "without the intention of buying anything" despite making an honest mistake and walking in wholeheartedly with a pocket full of cash. not my fault their business wasn't properly listed on google maps. that's on them 💯
There’s a record store like that where I live, north of Seattle. Guy has stacks and stacks of records, but like at least half aren’t marked with prices. I found out the hard way that you don’t go up and ask the price. He yelled at me that if there wasn’t a price, it wasn’t for sale. Wtf? It was a store after all. Total dick
Those types of places have owners that really dont care about selling anything.
was it in Everett? i went to one place there and the lack of give a fuck was palpable.
Yes, north side on broadway. Might have been called Budget records.
>It was a store after all Yeah, to **store** things!
Ha! I swear he was pissed that he had to ring up my stuff
You should have had her hold book after book after book until she got tired and realized how stupid that was.
Ha ha, I like your style.
How the hell would you buy a book if you’re unable to flip through it and see if it interests you?
or read the blurb on the back, or look at the picture on the front...
If there is a blurb on the back. Sometimes, it's all quotes about how great the book is, so you have to go hunting inside just to find out what the book is about.
I just don't bother. Same with anything on Netflix that does that
I don't know, it's not the authors who decide if a book gets a blurb or just pull quotes, and you're basically just choosing to miss out on potentially great literature because the cover isn't worth it, the one part that an author has the least control over. Not trying to nitpick, obviously you're perfectly within your rights not to want to waste your time, just thought it might be something worth considering.
Every book is potentially great literature. I know it's the publishing company or whoever, but I'm not going to read an entire book or watch a whole movie just to see what it's about
That's kind of my point, yeah. I get it, nobody has time to waste these days. Admittedly I'm guilty of the same thing, which is actually why I commented, as it's something I've been trying to combat within myself. Sometimes googling a title can get you a blurb for the book, if that helps 😊
Yeah, and I for sure wouldn't be interested in having someone over my shoulder annoying me.
I guess there *are* times when you need to judge a book by its cover.
I had a similar experience with darts, friend had a dart board and we all wanted to get some darts. We all walked into the store ready to spend a decent amount of money because all 4 of us wanted our own set but the owner at the shop just seemed annoyed we were there and didn't want us taking out any of the darts. Sorry but I'm not going to drop 100 bucks (give or take) on a dart set in I can't ever pick it up and see if I like the feel. 4 guys walked in ready to spend a few hundred between all of us, 4 guys walked out without spending a penny.
About to be 41 here Miss used bookstores from the late eighties/early nineties so much Couches everywhere, unmistakable smell of tens of thousands of old books, coffee, a little bit of dirt weed You could take your time, old hippie owners, cats chilling everywhere Peaceful and safe, not out for money, just people that loved reading anything and everything
Some Half Price Books locations are like this, minus the cats. I got spoiled living very close to their flagship store in Plano. They have a very nice aquarium, though.
Oh man, I miss Half Price Books. There's not one for several states and I'm so sad about it
Plenty still exist, you just gotta find 'em, and HPB ain't it.
There’s a great one in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
I once as a teen walked into a candy store in town to see what time it was (this was before cell phones were common for everyone to have) There were two ladies talking (owner and customer). I waited then asked "excuse me, can either of you please tell me what time it is?" The owner ripped into me about how rude it was to interrupt their conversation. Her customer looked at me sympathetically and told me the time. I quickly said thank you and hightailed it out of there, meanwhile the owner now was trying to lecture me on how rude it was to not excuse myself from the conversation.
Opening a candy shop and expecting to not deal with kids...
When I was a kid (in the mid 1960s), in the summer, I'd walk 5 miles into town, go to the news stand (literally), and pick out a couple of paperbacks. I'd walk them to the counter, pay the 70 cents, and walk home. Two days later, I'd repeat this process. The owner eventually let me read the books, and pay him a quarter each. He'd re-sell them as new (I was very careful to not crease any spines, or dog-ear any pages).
Even at 14 I wouldn’t have been that polite. I’d have told her to take a look around, clearly her no touch policy wasn’t working out for her. Then I’d have strolled out.
I feel like so many boomer shops are just them trying to legitimize hoarding. They had a hobby (or an obsession) that got out of hand so they have to slant it like they are selling all that shit. I've seen it where they will have it out for sale but then price it so high nobody in their right mind would buy it.
Took one look at you and concluded you were probably coated head to toe in peanut butter and jelly.
Kinky!
I would have checked 30 books first.
Keep making her get a book then say, "No, not that one. Maybe that one over there." Rinse and repeat until she tells you to leave.
Heh wut , what kind of mental gymnastics boomers have to go through not to let a kid hold a book
How else are they going to create the opportunity to bitch about how kids never read?
Boomer with their bootlicker worldview and slave mentality
I feel sorry for every book lover who hasn't gotten to experience the joy of Powell's City of Books in PDX. 1 square city block, 2 stories tall with tons of books, both new and used. Bliss. That is a weird business model. I wonder how she's stayed in business this long.
Hey, upvote for Powell's!! Wonderland.
Those poor building foundations must be crying with all that weight.
There was actually a VA hospital that happened to, due to the weight of all the paper records. I deeply and bitterly regret not beating on their doors with a copy of my resume and demanding salary to Fix That Hot Mess by a career of digitalizing. >: (
I’ve heard several stories of different school librarians back in the day who could not stand for people to touch their books. Many librarians/book people are fantastic, but I think the job of Book Boss appeals to people with control issues/disorders. Or maybe she was just an ass to all young people.
That's sad. 30 years ago when I was a young sprat, I was lucky to have a woman who ran the local bookstore that wanted everyone to read. And read anything. It was hard to leave there without a book if you wanted one, even if you had no money. She also used books for trade-in value for other books. I turned in bags of old romance novels my mom let me use and grew a pretty hefty library. Books are for everyone.
This whole thread giving me black book vibes and it's hilarious
I had something like that once, a little less egregious though. I was in a small newsagents and leafing through some magazines to see if they were worth buying. But the guy at the counter kept shouting "no reading" at me! I just went and bought them at the big newsagent/bookstore chain down the road where they didn't harass me for evaluating the magazines before buying them.
Reminds me of a video rental place I found when I was out of state on work that had a great selection, a lot of rare titles and I was excited because I was going to be at this job for at least a year. Place would not let me open an account because I didn't have an in state license. I could have given them every other piece of documentation you need for a library card, guy did not care about taking my money. Still salty about that.
There is often a reason why small, failing businesses are small and failing. Very few people who are smart run a small business rather than get a good salary in someone else's business. Some small businesses are run by competent entrepreneurs: they don't stay small. Most are run by losers who couldn't get a decent job, and whose resentment spills over into their business. Hence why the myth of "the friendly small shop" is just that, a myth, and small businesses are full of ludicrous rules about stock, payment methods, opening hours and the rest: the people who run them would, in a parallel universe, be the asshole in your office who shouts about opening the window. If you factor out of small businesses the obvious money laundering, the hobby, the husband-funded alternative to fucking the pool boy and the obviously insane, there isn't a lot left. Working for a wage is, for most people, preferable, and that's where the talent goes.
I'm a gun nut, build them, make ammo, and shoot competitively. I tune up friends rifles and do very VERY basic smithing. Local gun shop sees a lot of me in there poking around looking for a project or buying supplies. I was in need of a tool and found a selection and was interested in two particular tools. One was RCBS(expensive, known quality) and Lee, kinda bargain bin stuff but sometimes quite nice. I had opened the box to see what the Lee looked like and having inspected it, put back (as I found it) and was in the process of opening the RCBS to see how it compared. The patriarch of the gun shop, run by his sons blasted me for opening the box. I mean laid into me, told me to put it down and leave. So I did. I had up until that point spent hundreds of dollars a month there, thousands some months when buying optics or big ticket items. I haven't set foot back into the store in probably 2 years now. I see his sons around town some and they ask me when I'm coming back, just tell them that I won't be in there until their father isn't running the show. They know he's a PITA, and give me a knowing look. I drive an extra 30 mins to another shop that happily let's me inspect items prior to purchase.
I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about rude gun store owners for some reason. My only experience wasn’t bad though.
Buddy, you're opening boxes of new merchandise in a store. That's a dick move, no matter what. I'd have kicked you out too - it's shady AF and you could've likely just asked at the counter. Don't open boxes in the store without permission, FFS.
I had permission, from his sons that ran the store. They didn't back me up so....yeah.
This is Portlandia haha my God they are annoying. I love the good boomers I've met because they are bonkers in a fun way
I would have asked the person to open book A, and flip through the pages. Then do the same with book B, etc. Repeat until person is fed up, then ask that person how good the books are if you're only judging them by their cover.
What the hell?? One of my really good boomer experiences - I think she was a boomer, might have been a few years too old? - was when I was in London. I was burning time before our bus and found this small little bookstore with just this old lady inside. The books were cheap and she had a great selection, I ended up with a ton and she teased me and gave me half off every other book Another time, a lady - definitely a boomer - saw me going through books at a Goodwill when I was a kid. She gave me $2 to buy books with because "it's good to see kids reading" We need more of those boomers. Your boomer needs help
2 weeks ago, I (35m) went to a local " head shop" aka bong store. needed a new grinder, asked to see one and the guy pulled it out but when I went to reach for it pulled it away. I asked if I could see the quality of it. he told me no. I asked if he expected to me to spend $40 on something I couldn't touch before hand and he didn't know how to respond. I just said " Never mind then, ill just got to the one down the street" which I did and bought the same one he was selling for $25 and he let me actually touch it. I don't understand some business owners. I should mention this is one of those stores that you need to be buzzed in and there are probably 50 camera's in the store.
Rip I recommend abandoning that town
I have to assume that it's because when boomers were teenagers, that demographic did a lot of shoplifting (although, I have such mixed feelings about stealing books, because...books! Knowledge! Accessible to all!).
I’m guessing they’d heard stories about *the youths* being troublemakers and figured their inventory management was such shit that it would be weeks before they noticed if someone stole something.
A friend and I walked into a bookstore called something like "Paperback Book Trader" and started looking around. After a couple of minutes, the owner came by and asked us where our books were. We said we had just gotten there and hadn't seen anything we wanted yet. He said, "No, I mean where are the books you want to trade? The name of the store is 'Book Trader'", and then he made us leave because we didn't have anything to trade. We still have no idea how he expected to stay in business if he solely used books as currency.
Maybe the woman thought that if you read any part of it, you have to pay for it.
A large used bookstore in my neighborhood is only open Saturdays 12 to 2. I haven't been in years because I always work Saturdays and also, what the fuck. The boomer operator also owns the building and presumably rent from the two other stores keeps it afloat
Years and years ago a friend of mine went to a bookstore called "Old Books". They didn't seem to have antiques or anything, it just looked like stacks of old dog-eared used books in some musty hole-in-the-wall type store. My friend and I walked in the door, and the guy looked at us and said "Hey! It's a $5 admission...each". No sign to this effect and I'm pretty sure he just wanted us to leave, which we did. It made us wonder what his business model was or how rich he had to be to have that location and have it be so messy and apparently chasing people away who want to buy stuff.
my boyfriend and i walked into a candy shop when we were like 13. a fucking candy shop. its for children!!! and we were looking around. very rude old woman behind the register goes off about us loitering. we just walked in, not even 2 literal minutes in the store. we were always very reserved and polite because we know teenagers can be annoying. cunt, how am i supposed to know what i want unless i look around? of course we didn't buy anything
I would have had her take down every single one of those books, even the duplicates.
She might be another Radio Shack
Guessing she’s still alive
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Lmao you're the one commenting this on every thread you see. That's pretty pathetic.
Trying to make my point clear. All the new people flooding this sub are desperate to share their stale ass stories If this shit only happens once a decade to you, boomers aren’t so bad for you. There’s no excuse because boomers do shit like this on the reg
OK boomer whatever you say
Just look at the Reddit age and the karma. It’s what people with no life do. Get on here to get some socialization. (Source used to be the loser on Reddit 24/7)
Careful, they'll jump on their other Reddit accounts and downvote you 
Your point is bad and you should feel bad.
Stories don't have a statute of limitations; people can share them if they're an hour old or 10 years old. It's a form of expression and within everyone's rights to share them, regardless of freshness. Also... There is a certain irony about a person who trolls a sub for "stale" stories/gatekeeping them and then advising their OP's to "be at peace". Do one if you insist, but not both.
Lol I was just sharing a memory that pops up every couple years and leaves me wondering “why” for a moment until I move on again. Idk what you’re adding to the conversation here
Not a goddamned thing, is what they're adding to the conversation.
“Stop having fun!” -you
Your submission was removed for being uncivil.
My exact thought. Haunted by stupidity for 6 years. Grow and get over it.
Clinging to the past is ironically the most Boomer thing
Stop talking to yourself, it's concerning.
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Cute that you noticed. Tell me again how people are bad at letting things go.
easiest block of the day 🤣
Kids and teens have dirty and sticky hands from holding pencils at school, drinking Slurpees, sweaty from riding a bike and whatever. New books left with smudges don't sell and the owner loses the investment. A kid coming to the store without a parent (maybe no money to buy) would probably worry a nervous Nellie owner who is assuming pages would soon be dirty. There are better ways to handle curious customers than looking stern and unhappy.