Just noticed how quiet the used bookstore on Main St is at 3pm on a Tuesday

I stopped into that old used bookstore on Main St in Portland last Tuesday around 3pm because I had 20 minutes to kill before a dentist appointment. Place has been there since like 1978, and I always figured it would be packed with people hunting for rare finds. But I was literally the only customer for the whole 15 minutes I was in there. The owner, this guy named Ray, was just sitting at the counter reading a worn copy of a Tom Clancy novel with a tiny desk fan blowing on his face. He told me that the foot traffic dropped off hard after 2016, and now most of his sales come from the $1 bargain bin outside, maybe 10 to 20 books a day. I grabbed a beat-up Stephen King paperback for $1.50 and asked him if he ever thought about closing. He just shrugged and said, "Where else would I put all these books?" It got me wondering if any other folks here have a local shop like that that is barely hanging on, and if you actually buy from it or just walk past. Has anyone else noticed their neighborhood bookstores turning into ghost towns? What keeps you going back when the selection is old and dusty?

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simonl115d ago

The owner, this guy named Ray" honestly sounds like the plot of a horror movie where I'm the only one who sees him, and the books are all cursed. My local shop is the same, I go in, sniff the old paper smell, buy a $2 paperback I'll never read, and convince myself I'm supporting a noble cause instead of just hoarding dust.