{"id":252,"date":"2008-10-07T13:30:09","date_gmt":"2008-10-07T17:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/?p=252"},"modified":"2008-10-07T16:25:39","modified_gmt":"2008-10-07T20:25:39","slug":"a-good-bookstore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/2008-10-07\/a-good-bookstore\/","title":{"rendered":"A Good Bookstore"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was sad to read about the closing<\/a> of Olsson’s Books and Records in Washington D.C. When I lived in D.C., I worked two blocks from the Olsson’s downtown; I would drop in frequently during lunch, and spent an impressive fraction of my salary there.<\/p>\n

While the prices and selection at Olsson’s were both competitive, most impressive and enjoyable was the staff: it was clear that everyone in the store loved books. They were able to provide relevant recommendations to me, after I became a “regular”, remembered my tastes and interests and were really good salesmen.<\/p>\n

I’m sure that the “new” Barnes and Noble on 12th street had something to do with Olsson’s decline. Olsson’s probably couldn’t compete with the extended hours and the caf\u00c3\u00a9. I don’t want to malign the huge chains: I enjoy spending a couple hours in a mega-super-duper Barnes and Noble. I’ve noticed that when a new store opens, the staff is really helpful and knowledgeable. But after a year or so, the quality of staff at the information desk starts dropping, sometimes dramatically. How can you be a really helpful bookseller if you’ve never heard of St. Augustine or<\/em> Orson Scott Card? Why can’t the mega-chains keep book-loving sales staff?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was sad to read about the closing of Olsson’s Books and Records in Washington D.C. When I lived in D.C., I worked two blocks from the Olsson’s downtown; I would drop in frequently during lunch, and spent an impressive fraction of my salary there. While the prices and selection at Olsson’s were both competitive, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[160,161],"class_list":["post-252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mozilla","category-untagged","tag-books","tag-sales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions\/260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}