Independent bookstores often advertise their services the same way a crusader would advertise a crusade. They compare their family-type business with the warm customer service and care for the customer with the unprofessional staff at big bookstore chains. Would you jump on any wagon that says “independent bookstore : 100% non-capitalist”, or would your decision be based on not only the idea of having an independent bookstore, but also on the analysis of each independent bookstore itself?

This was obvious in San Francisco and nearby areas, where smaller bookstores next to bigger chains told students that they should shop at the smaller store, since the bigger bookstores on campus was part of big companies that cared nothing about communities. In Berkeley, this was very obvious with the advertising done by Ned’s Bookstore, competing directly with the Berkeley campus bookstore. For a while, I saw a lot of advertising around the former bookstore saying that they cared about giving back to the students, and that the students should support the small stores and not the big businesses.

It turns out, however, that Ned’s Bookstores is now owned by Nebraska Book Company, a bigger company that can be classified in the same category that Ned’s Bookstores and other independent bookstores criticism focuses upon. Even then, the small bookstore says that it acts individually and still maintains the same unique appeal that draws students who’re frustrated with the rising book prices and “capitalist” stores, even after being bought by the bigger chain.

Here, in Orange County, I ran into an interesting situation with independent bookstores too. A few days ago, I bought 3 books from Little Professor, an independent bookstore in the area that competes directly with the main campus bookstores nearby. The books were all new and weren’t sealed, and I paid around $60 for all of them. I put the books in a plastic bag and went home. The same day, I found better deals for those books online and ordered them.

I didn’t take the books out of the plastic bag, and kept them inside the plastic bag. I went back to the bookstore with the books the next morning to get a refund. The cashier looked at the books and then started analyzing them for over 30 seconds. I started wondering if she was trying to find a reason not to buy the books back. She told me that she couldn’t take those books back as they had to be in the exact same condition as when I bought them. I told her that the books were in perfect condition and I hadn’t even opened any of them to read anything.

She showed me the cover for one of the books; the cover, paperback, wouldn’t close all the way, the way a book would be completely closed, including the cover, if you put something heavy on it. She also pointed out a thumbprint on one of the books, which was clearly visible even in low light, saying that book covers needed to be clean in order to be returned. I told her that it was normal to have a book like that since when you pick it up from the shelves, it starts opening up unless it was shrink-wrapped. As for the fingerprints, I told her that she could easily rub it off with a tissue paper, and that such a thing was very weird to be analyzed and was normal unless Michael Jackson was buying the books.

She made a weird face, as if I’d done something wrong. She then called two other people, her associates. They came, and the three musketeers started analyzing the books and making various comments to each other, like “this mark right here, is it new or is it because of other books on top of it here on the shelves”, “does the book come with a wrapper?” and “would we be able to sell it back without any problems?” The books were perfectly fine, clean, no marks, no highlights, and hadn’t even been browsed through yet. I’d no idea why they were acting in such a fashion, as if they were trying to find an excuse not to offer refunds.

In the end they talked behind the counter in a low voice, and the first cashier asked me politely, “did you pay with cash?” I had paid with cash, and I got my refund after 13 minuts of deliberation for brand new books that were still in the same exact position and order inside the plastic bag that I’d gotten at that bookstore less than 24 hours ago. Now compare this to returning new or used books at any big bookstore; ever hear a story where you had to go through an interview to explain why you’d left your fingerprint on the crime scene; that is, buying a book at that place? Me neither.

Not all independent bookstores are like the above one, and independent bookstores do offer competition. Bigger chains would, in the absence of competing bookstores, charge higher prices on regular things like stationary and merchandize alongwith several books. However, the above bookstore definitely gets a bad grade for returns in my book.