They also host philosophical society there on a quasi-weekly basis, and great people show up for quality discussion. The last time I went was for the machine intelligence chat, and who did I see across from me? Richard Stallman, ready to share his take on AI.
Harvard Bookstore is quality, that's why they're thriving.
(One more tip, they don't carry technical books, which are the ever-changing ones that I would normally order on Amazon. Good move on their part.)
WordsWorth had similarly prime location and a relatively early online bookstore, IIRC. They also tried things like the Curious George tie-in. Didn't save them. The Harvard Book Store's survival is more unusual than you think.
P.S. They didn't pick the location to compete with Amazon. They were there (under previous ownership) since before Jeff Bezos was born, I believe.
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that they picked the location to compete with Amazon. In this case, I mean "beat Amazon" to be synonymous with "surviving." Perhaps "coexist with Amazon" would have been a better way to put it.
I was immediately skeptical about the "printing press" mentioned in the article. Amazon has a ton of free, out of copyright books available directly for download on their site. No printing required and I don't have to leave my house.
But, I will agree, I don't think I know anybody else who ever has.
Really? You did? How was it? And could you get a feel while doing it for how popular the option was?
Yes, I did. For an out-of-print math manuscript from Cornell. It was quick, easy, and it's sitting on my bookshelf as we speak.
To be honest, it didn't seem that popular, but I heard about it from a friend (hence how I found it, though he'd never used it), so it wasn't unknown either.
P.S. I miss you, boy.
It's a great place to bring a date, b/c you can get there early and look through the books (which are wonderfully curated, I agree!). Plus, your date will think you are smart and sophisticated!
P&P has a cafe. Yet with $5 in caffeine & sugar giving one 45 minutes table rent, I doubt that brings much in.
What they are doing, and which the article really skims over, is constantly offering things that you simply can't find at Amazon. They have a comprehensive, well curated staff review section. Their "New Fiction" and "New Non-fiction" is filled with carefully selected books that people wouldn't be able to find just from looking at the NYT Best Sellers list. (Indeed, their NYT Best Sellers rack is given less than prime real estate.) They're constantly holding book signings, poetry readings and other such things to engage the community (which the article mentions quickly, in fairness). And they also have a floor dedicated entirely to used books - the only general used book store in all of Harvard Square.
The competition that Amazon crushed, B&N, Borders, and the like - they tried none of those things.
This bookstore didn't do anything more special than actually work hard to beat Amazon. Oh, and they also picked a location literally across from Harvard Yard, filled with a constantly rotating customer base with a penchant for reading. That helped too.
I'd like to see a chain really try to differentiate itself from Amazon through similar hard work - picking places where people obviously want to buy books, and offering them a great bookstore that differs from Amazon in scalable, consistent ways.