Love the smell of old books? This bookseller would like you to leave

Re:Love the smell of old books? This bookseller would like y... by Lio on Thursday July 21, 2022 @01:56PM (#32182587)

Where ever you grew up sounds like a wonderful place. In my mind I'm constructing a sort of Twin Peaks[1] type town where I can take my newly acquired book to the good quality dinner.

I have a similar sort of relationship with bike shops. You can tell a good one straight away and it's nothing like a chain store.

My local one is in an ancient 4 story building with lots of back stairs and rooms. In the very top floor the owner keeps his own private collection, which if he's in the mood and you ask nicely he'll show you.

When you're a kid independent shops like that, book shops, computer shops, bike shops, are magic (and they're still pretty good as an adult).

1. Without the murders and other worldly shenanigans obviously.

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Re:Love the smell of old books? This bookseller would like y... by jqcoffey on Thursday July 21, 2022 @07:54PM (#32186768)

The value of benevolence of shopkeepers to their younger patrons cannot be understated. As a young kid I learned how PCs were put together from the local clone shop on San Pablo Ave in El Cerrito. I bought a 286 with 512k ram and two floppies and got to watch it be assembled and tested. Later (1989ish) I spent every moment I could at a Macintosh shop on Shattuck Ave in Berkeley playing SimCity on a then unheard of 20” color monitor (at least I recall it being that large). Today I’m at Google and just prior I was at Apple. The link is not direct, but the latter does not exist without the former (there was also a C64 prior to the 286, though without the shopkeeper story), at least in my case.

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Re:Love the smell of old books? This bookseller would like y... by pengaru on Thursday July 21, 2022 @09:20PM (#32187354)

> The value of benevolence of shopkeepers to their younger patrons cannot be understated.

nit: s/understated/overstated/

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Re:Love the smell of old books? This bookseller would like y... by jqcoffey on Thursday July 21, 2022 @09:24PM (#32187382)

oh my, yes, thank you!

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Re:Love the smell of old books? This bookseller would like y... by jacquesm on Thursday July 21, 2022 @03:17PM (#32183620)

I learned a ton about bikes in a store like that. Also how to quickly patch tires (this was my first 'real' job) and to spoke wheels. Great time and lots of respect for the old man and his son that kept that place alive for over 70 years. Unfortunately it's gone now.

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Re:Love the smell of old books? This bookseller would like y... by robbintt on Thursday July 21, 2022 @03:51PM (#32184060)

There was something like this in Clifton, Cincinnati, Ohio, in the aughts.

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Re:Love the smell of old books? This bookseller would like y... by elashri on Thursday July 21, 2022 @05:44PM (#32185548)

sad that it is no longer. I would have been there by now.

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Re:Love the smell of old books? This bookseller would like y... by SteveNuts on Thursday July 21, 2022 @02:48PM (#32183235)

I feel this way about baseball card shops! I loved going to those as a kid

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