Dymocks – Parramatta

I buy a lot of books and I get them most of the time based on the price v the quality read. I read some e-​books and have owned a kindle at some point. However the Australian e-​book storefront is an embarrassment to global business. It is akin to a Stalinist Gulag of empty shelves and extremely poor range. Regardless reading an e-​book has some positive points but reading a paperback has more. Yet, I think 2015 will be a conversion year because I cannot keep buying books of meat. My house is loaded with books and in October I culled what I thought was dead literature, still I have books doubled up on the shelves. To get to the review at hand Dymocks Book Shop Macquarie Mall is small (not what one would call intimate, more crammed), the aisles are a real pain in the arse because the browse space between the main fiction and literature shelf (and yes there’s a difference), is far to narrow to engage in some serious browsing without leaning, standing or squeezing past another book buyer. True browsing requires a methodical scan of the entire book area (like searching for a lost boat at sea) because you can easily miss juicy books you’ve never heard of or have been searching for. Macquarie Dymocks truly needs to widen this browsing aisle.
Their book collection covers first and foremost the major hits of the day/​month/​year. The Man Booker Prize is by far the most important date on the sell by intimidation or ‘move units’ by the bucket loads. All book shops of course need these addictive days to get through the non-​prescribed book buying days (father’s day, Mother’s Day and amongst many others Xmas. The good outcome of a limited library is your available choice, if you are going to buy.
Dymocks Macquarie has out the front its standard read now or die blocks of books and some sale items that never seem to draw me in. Titles like ‘Authentic German Backpacking food and sandals: A Guide’, or ‘Real Space Holidays: The A-​Z’. Book prices have fallen for some titles, particularly blockbusters and books mass produced. However, in Australia (and this is my opinion), books are very expensive, have always been expensive and from what I have experienced have not learned that to compete you have to reduce prices. Quite frankly I do not think the voices behind Australian authors and publishers should force me to buy local just because they are home grown. It’s boring and at the village mentality.