I’ve come up with a super easy litmus test to determine if what you’re visiting is a legit bookstore. Do they have books in piles on the floor?
If so, go in. If not, beware.
You’ve been to the perfectly curated bookstore. Clean shelves, nothing out of place, sterile, joyless, soul-killing. You won’t find a treasure there. You’ll find books the owner thinks you ought to read based upon their viewpoint, favorite genre, or author type. These bookstores do not have books in piles on the floor.
When you enter a bookstore with books in piles on the floor, the bookseller will likely be so engaged in the book they are reading that they’ll probably forget to welcome you in. Their point of sale system will date from the early 1800s and the smell will be that of rich mahogany and old books. There will be books in unreachable places with no ladder in sight.
The average customer will not pick through those books in piles on the floor. This greatly increases your chances of finding a hidden treasure. The bookseller places more value on cramming as many books in the store as possible than offering walkable paths through the aisles. This is the utmost level of respect the owner can show to you the book lover.
The only trouble with bookstores that have books in piles on the floor is that visiting them leads to a house filled with books in piles on the floor.
Our local used bookshop worked very hard to remove the piles of books from the floor so that one could walk around the labyrinthine store. The most expensive and/or rarest/oldest books are kept in a locked vault (bookshop used to be a bank and also a speakeasy). He will lock you in the vault while you peruse those particular shelves and I believe that is the only place in the store now that still has piles on the floor. Every single surface though is dedicated to books and now the piles are indicative of books the customers are buying. I pile on the floor as I peruse and then carry it to the front. There are so many rooms and passageways though that nearly everything is a hidden treasure and that is half the fun.
I dunno, does Landmark know about this post?