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.
Nice post. However, I have been in some perfectly curated bookshops that have a ton of treasures on the shelves. Albiet, most of those are antiquarian bookshops that will not leave old books lying around on the floor for people to accidently kick or knock over. But in those bookshops I have visited where there are piles everywhere, if I have the time, I do tend to find hidden treasures. So I emphatically agree with your remark: "The average customer will not pick through those books in piles on the floor. This greatly increases your chances of finding a hidden treasure." I've never been the average customer in a bookshop. :-)