bricks and mortar

[aamcnamara]

Today, my morning class got out early, so I walked over to the bookstore just across the street from campus. I was looking for matociquala's Chill, though not really expecting to find it. I did not find it. I approached the friendly woman at the desk, who looked it up for me in their database and said, Oh yes, we just put in our last order for the week, but we can have it for you by the middle of next week. It's this much. What's your name? Telephone number?

Just like that, next week, after I have finished my papers and exams, I will have a copy of Chill waiting for me.

So here is my question. It might be a silly question, but I am wholly serious in asking it.

Why don't more people order books through their bookstores?

Okay, yes, Amazon is helpful for small presses, for obscure books, for things which are out of print. And I get that a lot of people in rural areas, in places where there aren't any independent bookstores, etc., don't exactly have this option. That is understandable.

But I am under the impression that, a lot of the time, that is not what Amazon is used for.

Get this, O children of the 21st century: I am putting money into a local independent bookstore. It is just as handy, maybe even more so under my particular circumstances, than ordering it from Amazon or Borders or Barnes & Noble.

And? I did not even have to pay shipping.

Dear people of previous generations: what exactly is it which is so handy about ordering online? Is it just novelty? Do warehouses run out of books a lot? Did I just hit upon a book which happened to be available? What are the factors which made everyone converge suddenly on this option?

The confusion of my generation thanks you.

Comments

[jennygadget.livejournal.com]

Well, as far as going to independent rather than any old brick and mortar - you have to know where they are. And as mrissa says, it helps if they generally stock what you are looking for.

The Odyssey is super close by to where you live and while it may not have Chill or a lot of other scifi/fantasy, it has a decent generalized selection. Whereas the only indie bookstore that I'm aware of (that is anywhere near me and isn't exclusively a used bookstore) is the Frugal Frigate, which is 1/2 hour drive away and specializes in children's books.

Also, I think other two big factors (in terms of ppl forming habits) are that, back before Amazon and stuff:

1) It wasn't as easy for the indie's to order stuff either. The internet stuff that makes it easier for us to order online also makes it easier for brick and mortar stores to place online orders. Their ability to get Chill to you so quickly is related to the reason why Amazon can as well. I think the one time I looked into ordering something through a brick and mortar back in the dark ages before the internets, the turnout was a month or longer. (but I'll also admit that's a vaguish memory) So, ppl never formed the habit of doing that, and then when the internets came along we formed the habit of skipping the brick and mortar altogether.

2) It was harder to browse for titles before the internets. A lot of what I use amazon for is research. (What are ppl saying about this cookie sheet? Does it brown the cookies well? Warp easily? Is it likely to come scratched?) There was a period of time where I came close to not reading any scifi/fantasy altogether because I'd exhausted most of the kid/teenlit scifi/fantasy* and pretty much the only recommendations I got were for stuff like Piers Anthony novels, which I got sick of pretty quickly. For whatever reason, no one around me had ever heard of Tamora Pierce, Terri Windling, etc., and I'm not even sure the bookstores around me stocked them (at least not the extent to which they do now) - and so I never heard about/read them either.