What? This doesn't make any sense. You think bookstores are populated primarily by intelligent employees, while other businesses are filled with morons? I don't have the data to prove you wrong by any means, but this seems absurd. Is there any objective reason why this should be the case?

Also, I wasn't trying to say that ALL brick and mortar stores have good customer service, just that such service is one of the advantages inherent to physical store locations. I was just trying to point out that your post didn't discuss anything specific to bookstores, it just highlighted the pros and cons of the online and physical location business models.









You said that big bookstores were an anachronism because of their high overhead and poor selection. You said they'd work better as online stores, with smaller, physical, customer-service-focused locations co-existing. All I'm trying to say is that this is also true for the VAST majority of products that consumers buy, and so I don't see why you're targeting bookstores in particular. It's true that there are some things that don't lend themselves well to the online model, but not many. A few of your specific arguments showcase these weaknesses (clothing, weightlifting equipment, big appliances), but the ones related to shipping are way off the mark. Costs are low, electronics rarely break, most food/drink is non-perishable, etc.

Anyway, this is a silly argument; I'm not trying to prove some grand point that I feel strongly about, I just thought your post was obvious, in a "...that's also true for most other products" kind of way.