| > Also — secondhand books are generally outdated, undesirable, and/or damaged — do collectors still find diamonds in the rough? Secondhand stores offer in general "better" products because of the double curation: - someone found the good interesting enough to buy it in the first place (1st curation) - the store found it good enough to buy it again from the first owner (2nd curation) > Aren't brick-and-mortar bookshops, generally speaking, as viable as Apatosaurus today? No, it's even better because of the limited space they have to display the goods they want to sell: while online stores can show their full inventory, brick-and-mortar need to select what's most likely to sell. This adds yet another level of curation: the store found the good valuable enough to be exposed to buyers, instead of keeping it in the back (3rd curation) I find great music by randomly buying second-hand CDs from brick-and-mortar secondhand stores, thanks to this triple-curation, |
I wonder how this is offset by someone finding an item not worth enough to keep. But maybe I underestimate the generosity (or need for income) of the typical person visiting secondhand stores to offload their stuff.