[tbrake]

These other goods you keep comparing it to definitely seem to fall more on the utility side as opposed to the entertainment - possibly art? intellectual?luxury? - side, which I think is a large distinction.

There's a romantic aspect to being in bookstores that just isn't found with stores of other types of merchandise.

People don't flock to knife stores for knife signings. They don't sit down with a cup of coffee inside the knife store with other knife enthusiasts and talk about the latest knife they sharpened. They don't take one knife off the shelf, sit in an overstuffed chair and flip it a few times then put it back and take down another, all with no expectation of purchase or pressure. etc. etc.

[mc32]

I think you might have hit it with the "intellectual" aspect. Which is curious, in some respects because booksellers are mere merchants rather than producers (artists) one might stretch it and say they are curators (but any merchant is a curator).

With regard to knives, there are some people who do sit down and discuss process and knifemaker and tradition, history of a particular blade, provenance, etc. So it does happen. Chefs tend to have favorites. Swordspeople tend to have favorites.

But I have to admit, I think your point about perceived "intellectualism" might have merit (and explains the book part, but not the bookstore part but perhaps it's social aspect of the bookstore as you imply.