Quote:
Originally Posted by nnyhav
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This really pisses me off. I've been having a rather heated debate elsewhere about 'The Market' and how the market is not the answer to everything. The discussion involved (amongst other things) the passing of a second-hand, academic, remaindered and antiquarian bookshop opposite the British Library in London early this year – after the landlord took the opportunity to hike the rent through the roof (another business was similarly finished). I had also mentioned how, with the passing of the Net Book Agreement in the UK, many independent bookshops have been forced to close, while choice has been reduced.
I have been assured by apologists for 'The Market' that I'm just being a book snob; that choice has not reduced because we have Amazon and that, if people in general really cared about such things as small, independent bookshops, they'd use them.
Oh well ... perhaps they'll feel happy when the whole world has become homogenised, with every street having exactly the same shops, selling exactly the same products.
More cheerfully –
this is my local bookshop, which opened within the last five years. It's a tiny space, with a small but interesting selection of books.