What's the fundamental difference? They're stores with old books; someone makes a few cents. I honestly don't understand the question.
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Do charity bookshops drive out other second-hand bookshops?
21–30 of 87 posts
Re: Do charity bookshops drive out other second-hand bookshops?
#22They shelve by author; we shelve by likelihood the book causes déjà vu.
Re: Do charity bookshops drive out other second-hand bookshops?
#23What's the fundamental difference? They're stores with old books; someone makes a few cents. I honestly don't understand the question.
If you’re in the uk, I think you’d understand the question.
Charity shops have sprung up all over on high streets, even while businesses around them fall. It’s not hard to imagine that the economics are different and that non-charity shops can’t compete due to lack of special tax treatment.
Re: Do charity bookshops drive out other second-hand bookshops?
#24Interesting analysis. I'm somewhat confused by why anyone would think charity bookshops replacing secondhand bookshops would be a bad thing (if that were to actually be happening as the article suggests there isn't much evidence of this). Surely, to the shopper, they are exactly the same except one helps a charitable cause as a bonus.
I have found that second hand shops tend to have a more diverse and rich selection and charity shops can have very rare gems.
Support both, and I wouldn't want to give up one for the other.
Also a bit of an aside, but charity shops are also more often part of national or international orgs so a lot of the "gain" isn't localized as the article discusses. Good or bad on a case by case basis. Not sure how it edges out.
Re: Do charity bookshops drive out other second-hand bookshops?
#25Aren't brick-and-mortar bookshops, generally speaking, as viable as Apatosaurus today? Lately if I really must put hands on dead trees, the shelves of library sales, churches, and ordinary thrift stores are overflowing. Also — secondhand books are generally outdated, undesirable, and/or damaged — do collectors still find diamonds in the rough? No reason to waste real estate on any sort of dedicated seller. Goodness g…
> Also — secondhand books are generally outdated, undesirable, and/or damaged — do collectors still find diamonds in the rough? Secondhand stores offer in general "better" products because of the double curation: - someone found the good interesting enough to buy it in the first place (1st curation) - the store found it good enough to buy it again from the first owner (2nd curation) > Aren't brick-and-mortar bookshop…
> someone found the good interesting enough to buy it in the first place (1st curation)
I wonder how this is offset by someone finding an item not worth enough to keep. But maybe I underestimate the generosity (or need for income) of the typical person visiting secondhand stores to offload their stuff.
Re: Do charity bookshops drive out other second-hand bookshops?
#26Aren't brick-and-mortar bookshops, generally speaking, as viable as Apatosaurus today? Lately if I really must put hands on dead trees, the shelves of library sales, churches, and ordinary thrift stores are overflowing. Also — secondhand books are generally outdated, undesirable, and/or damaged — do collectors still find diamonds in the rough? No reason to waste real estate on any sort of dedicated seller. Goodness g…
> Also — secondhand books are generally outdated, undesirable, and/or damaged — do collectors still find diamonds in the rough?
Growing up poor, second hand book stores were how I found some of the best math books that I wouldn't have been able to afford. And they were often quite good or better (at least in offering diverse perspectives and angles) than the books I could have bought at the time.
I often liked the notes people left.
Re: Do charity bookshops drive out other second-hand bookshops?
#27My experience is that if one collects books they want as many stores as possible as close together as possible.
NYC in the 1990’s used to have a few neighborhoods full of bookstores. My favorite was just around 16th street in between 6th and Broadway.
Re: Do charity bookshops drive out other second-hand bookshops?
#28My experience has been that the second-hand bookshops have had thin times but nonetheless survive because of the internet. They tend to have a better selection compared to charity shops, i.e. not just cast-offs of holiday novels and celeb bios. Shout out to https://www.tillsbookshop.co.uk/ and https://www.armchairbooks.co.uk/ There has also been a growth in first-hand bookshops, especially specialists/curators (e.g.…
> only selling sci-fi
I distinctly recall getting a towel signed by Douglas Adams during one of his signings, I may have met Ellison there once.
Been a long time.
Re: Do charity bookshops drive out other second-hand bookshops?
#29Interesting analysis. I'm somewhat confused by why anyone would think charity bookshops replacing secondhand bookshops would be a bad thing (if that were to actually be happening as the article suggests there isn't much evidence of this). Surely, to the shopper, they are exactly the same except one helps a charitable cause as a bonus.
Charity bookshop workers in my experience know nothing about books and have no taste.
But charity bookshops have different motivations and appeal to different shoppers.
Essentially it’s only bad if you like reading good, hard to find books.
Or believe that others finding them when they might not particularly be looking for them is a common good.
Re: Do charity bookshops drive out other second-hand bookshops?
#30There's a subtext to this post that may not be obvious to non British people: UK High Streets (Main Streets) have in the last 20 years experienced an incredible explosion of charity shops (thrift stores) including many locations specific to books. Quite why this has occurred is a subject of occasional argument, but I've never heard a definitive theory on it, and it partly overlaps with the general decline motivated b…
I think a lot of people get the causal relationship the wrong way around when it comes to charity shops and the decline of the high street. It's not (IMO) that charity shops move into otherwise thriving areas and lead to a decline in local business by competing, but rather that they move into spaces that would otherwise lie empty, and therefore are more likely to be found on high streets that were already dying. Wher…
Very much the case in New Zealand as well.