Jeff Deutsch, In Praise of Good Bookstores
For those who enjoy shopping, is it the buying that is most pleasing or is it the search for something to buy?
Unlike women, most of whom seem to enjoy looking at new clothing whether they purchase anything or not, most men enter a clothing store thinking only about what they want to buy, whether it's a new shirt or a new belt. They find what they want as quickly as possible, then leave without looking at anything else. Yet in a hardware store or an electronics store, men may be the ones who like to look around at what's new.
Bookstores have both kinds of customers. Some people are looking for a particular book, a best-seller perhaps, but others just want to look at books, whether they find anything they want to buy or not. What's interesting about Jeff Deutsch's comment above is that a "good bookstore" prefers the second kind of customer, the one who comes just to look around rather than the one who comes to buy something and then leaves.
In the long run, the browser probably buys more books. I am a browser, and I buy a lot of books, yet I rarely enter a bookstore with a specific book in mind.
I doubt that many browsers leave a bookstore empty-handed.
Bookstores need to cater to browsers just as most department stores cater to their female customers.
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